Monetization growth for the broader market exceeded 20%, short-form video exposure surged threefold, and WeChat mini-games remained steady

Today (the 29th), the WeChat Marketing Ecosystem Partner Conference was held in Shanghai. During the Mini-Games session, officials released the latest operational data on the WeChat Mini-Games ecosystem.

Overall, WeChat Mini Games continue to grow steadily: In the first half of 2026, the ecosystem’s total monetization revenue grew by more than 20% year-over-year, user monetization ARPU increased by more than 25%, and both impressions and DAU rose in tandem.

In terms of user demographics, female players now account for 60% of the total, and revenue from the senior demographic has shown impressive growth; female and senior users have become the two key sources of growth for the ecosystem.

User acquisition remains the core channel for acquiring users in mini-games; the number of registered users acquired through paid user acquisition rose 45% year-over-year, accounting for 80% of all new users. Users have also gradually developed stable habits around playing mini-games, with players averaging more than two mini-games per day, and total user playtime increasing by 10% year-over-year.

In terms of category composition, the educational toys segment continued to expand. Driven by hit products such as arrow games, word games, sand art, and tower defense games, its market share rose from 40% to 60%, solidifying its position as the largest segment.

Long-term operation has become the consensus among top products; the number of top mini-games with an operational cycle of three years or more has continued to rise over the past three years, with another 20% year-over-year increase this year.

The number of traffic partners has also expanded, with the number of traffic partners joining the WeChat ecosystem in 2026 increasing by more than 30%; among them, the growth rate of S-level groups with daily revenue exceeding 500,000 reached as high as 60%.

Innovative ad formats such as “Play Now” and “Try Now” are rapidly gaining traction in mini-game advertising scenarios. “Play Now” ad spend is rising rapidly, with a penetration rate of 85% among the top IAA groups and 70% among the top IAP groups.

Trial versions are the ad format with the best CPM performance within the incentivized marketing ecosystem, with a CPM 170% higher than the overall market average for incentivized ads and an 80% reach among top gaming companies.

It is worth noting that, driven by AI-generated animated series, the exposure of short videos in September this year was four times that of January, demonstrating particularly strong growth momentum and emerging as a key breakthrough for casual games to expand their reach and gain traction.

In summary, within the current WeChat Mini Games ecosystem, the puzzle genre maintains a solid foundation, high-quality long-term titles continue to evolve, and new advertising formats are driving greater efficiency.WeChat Mini Games are entering a new phase of higher-quality, more diversified, and more sustainable growth, while also providing small and medium-sized developers and leading teams with a wider range of monetization and growth opportunities.