Kuaishou’s artificial intelligence video generation business continued its rapid ascent in the second quarter of 2026, with Kling AI booking more than RMB 850 million in revenue. The company said the unit’s top line rose by over 200 percent year on year and 30 percent quarter on quarter, and Kling AI reached RMB 1.5 billion in total revenue for the first half of the year. According to TechNode, the figures and growth rates underscore the pace at which Kling AI has gained commercial traction since its launch into revenue-generating services.
The AI milestone arrived alongside a mixed set of headline results for Kuaishou’s broader business. Total revenue in the second quarter came in at RMB 35.5 billion, up 1.4 percent from a year earlier. Adjusted net profit declined by 30 percent year on year to RMB 3.9 billion. Advertising revenue reached RMB 20.6 billion in the quarter, a rise of 4.4 percent year on year, while livestreaming revenue fell 13.5 percent from the year-ago period. As Caixin reported, the overall performance trends for the quarter highlight the divergence between growth in ads and pressure in livestreaming.
AI Unit Extends Momentum With Triple-Digit Growth
Kling AI’s second quarter performance adds a fresh data point to a multi-quarter build in revenue. With more than RMB 850 million in the June quarter and RMB 1.5 billion in the first half, the business has moved from pilot phase to material contribution on Kuaishou’s income statement. The consistent acceleration helps explain why the company has emphasized AI as a pillar of its product roadmap and monetization priorities, since it now represents a line item that is growing at a pace well ahead of the group average.
The trajectory also follows previous signs of momentum earlier in the year. As detailed in oure report on Kling’s first-quarter revenue milestone, this development foreshadowed the stronger second quarter now on the books and signaled that paying demand for AI video capabilities was taking shape inside Kuaishou’s ecosystem. The first half total indicates the business has built on that base across back-to-back quarters, with the second quarter adding a substantial share of the half-year tally.
The sequential increase of 30 percent from the first quarter to the second suggests that Kling AI is scaling not only off a low comparison point but also on a quarter-to-quarter basis. That is a relevant marker for a product line that must prove repeatability and broader customer uptake as it grows. The year-on-year growth exceeding 200 percent emphasizes how small the business was a year ago, yet the absolute level of revenue now highlights that it is beginning to matter in the context of the company’s multiple lines of business.
Mixed Quarter for the Core Business
Kuaishou’s overall revenue rise of 1.4 percent year on year in the second quarter shows a company still expanding, but at a measured pace compared with the AI unit’s surge. Advertising revenue improved by 4.4 percent year on year to RMB 20.6 billion, underscoring the continuing appeal of the platform to marketers and the durability of ads as a key monetization channel. In contrast, livestreaming revenue decreased by 13.5 percent year on year, a reminder that some legacy formats remain under pressure even as newer categories, including AI services, scale up.
The divergence between ads and livestreaming frames the challenge and opportunity in Kuaishou’s revenue mix. Advertising proved more resilient in the period, helping to support the top line as livestreaming softened. Against that backdrop, Kling AI’s contribution adds a third vector of growth, one that is expanding at a faster clip than either of the more established lines. The combination suggests Kuaishou is operating through a transition in which AI products can supplement the core while not yet offsetting declines in certain legacy segments.
Profitability was the weak spot in the quarter, with adjusted net profit falling 30 percent year on year to RMB 3.9 billion. The drop contrasts with the modest top line increase and emphasizes that the company’s margin profile has come under pressure. While Kuaishou did not disclose detailed line-item drivers in the figures cited here, the outcome leaves management with a clearer balancing act. The company is adding new growth engines, as evidenced by Kling AI, while navigating cost and revenue dynamics in existing businesses that directly affect the bottom line.
What the Numbers Signal for Kuaishou
The first half total of RMB 1.5 billion for Kling AI sets a higher base as Kuaishou moves through the remainder of 2026. It indicates that the AI video generation service has moved beyond early experimentation into broader monetization, serving as a counterweight to slower growth elsewhere in the portfolio. The sequential growth rate in the second quarter further indicates that momentum carried into midyear, rather than fading after an initial burst of demand.
For the group as a whole, the second quarter results point to stability in aggregate revenue and resilience in advertising against a weaker livestreaming backdrop. Advertising’s year-on-year growth provided an anchor for the quarter, while livestreaming’s decline underscored the need for diversification in revenue sources. Kling AI’s figures, taken together with those two trends, imply that incremental contributions from newer products are becoming more visible in Kuaishou’s financial profile, even if they remain a smaller piece of the company’s total.
Investors and industry watchers will likely focus on two threads in the coming periods. First, whether Kling AI can sustain sequential growth as it expands its customer base and product use cases within the company’s ecosystem. Second, whether Kuaishou can stabilize and reaccelerate areas under strain, particularly livestreaming, while preserving the gains seen in advertising. The interaction of these elements will shape not only top line performance but also the company’s capacity to improve profitability after a quarter in which adjusted net income declined.
Kuaishou’s latest numbers show a company at an inflection point. The AI initiative is expanding quickly and delivering meaningful revenue, advertising continues to grow, and livestreaming is contracting. That combination leaves the company with a clearer roadmap, in which scaling newer categories such as Kling AI and maintaining ad growth must work in tandem with efforts to manage profitability. The second quarter’s data, with its blend of promise and pressure, sets the stage for how those priorities are likely to be measured through the rest of the year.