Tencent Music beats revenue estimates on advertising, paid subscriber boost

China’s Tencent Music Entertainment Group beat expectations for quarterly revenue Monday as its advertising business rebounded and more people subscribed to its music streaming platform.

Tencent Music, China’s answer to Spotify, has tried to attract more paying users in recent months by focusing on long-form audio and expanding its library through licensing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music.

Total revenue of the Tencent Holdings Ltd-controlled company rose by 15.5% to 8.01 billion yuan ($1.24 billion) in the second quarter. Analysts were expecting a figure of 8.13 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv IBES data.