On the afternoon of August 26, Zhihu released its financial results for the second quarter of 2026. According to the report, the company generated revenue of 690 million yuan in the second quarter, reflecting a sequential growth of 5.9%. Following its first full-year non-GAAP profitability achievement in 2025, Zhihu sustained this momentum into the first half of 2026, recording an adjusted net profit of 6.906 million yuan.
During the second quarter, Zhihu continued refining its revenue mix while actively exploring new avenues for AI-driven commercialization. Revenue from paid content and IP operations reached 426 million yuan, accounting for 61.7% of total revenue. Marketing services contributed 199 million yuan, representing a 28.8% share, while other revenue streams—including expert data solutions, vocational education, and consumer products—amounted to 65.2 million yuan, making up 9.5% of the total.
As of the end of the second quarter, Zhihu's cumulative content volume stood at approximately 993 million items, marking a year-on-year increase of about 9%. Notably, AI-related professional content grew by roughly 37% year-on-year during this period. The platform also saw daily new high-quality content grow by over 16% year-on-year in the second quarter, sustaining double-digit growth for several consecutive quarters.
Zhihu's network of experts and creators continued to expand, with cumulative content creators reaching 81.5 million by the end of the second quarter, up 3.1% year-on-year. In the first half of 2026, the number of certified creators grew by 9.8% year-on-year, underscoring the enduring appeal of its high-quality community ecosystem for professional contributors.
In the paid content and IP operations segment, core paying user numbers and willingness to pay remained stable, with monthly average subscribed members totaling 13.11 million. Meanwhile, the Yanyan Story IP operations are evolving from simple copyright sales toward multi-format, full-lifecycle development, further validating the cross-industry influence and commercial potential of premium content.
AI is also opening new commercialization opportunities for Zhihu. In the first half of 2026, its Data Lab—positioned to support frontier model capabilities—completed project deployments across multiple areas, including code generation, search and deep research, visual reasoning, and intelligent agents. In the next phase, Zhihu plans to validate the recurring value of these capabilities across diverse clients and model iterations, while gradually extending into solutions for data products, model evaluation, and complex task environments.
By the end of the second quarter, Zhihu held total cash and cash equivalents, time deposits, and short-term investments amounting to 4.424 billion yuan.
Zhou Yuan, founder, chairman, and CEO of Zhihu, commented: "In the second quarter, Zhihu's authentic, professional, and trustworthy community fundamentals remained resilient, with core user engagement depth staying stable and high-quality content and professional creators continuing to grow. AI is emerging as a new medium connecting users with content, propelling Zhihu's long-accumulated content, IP, and expert capabilities into broader applications and commercial scenarios. Currently, new businesses remain in the commercialization validation phase. We will allocate resources based on real market demand, customer value, and return on investment, working to stabilize core operations while prudently assessing the sustainability of new ventures."