When AI Sun Wukong broke into the gold stage, Payback (01753) turned the AI skit into a “money printer”: mid-report revenue increased significantly, second on Douyin

On the evening of August 31, a conference call was underway on the 2026 interim results of Dueba (01753) and the AI skit business. On the other end of the phone are analysts and investors from the brokerage organization; on the other end, the company's founder and chairman Chen Xiaoliang and other company management.

Before the conference began, Duiba announced its 2026 interim results: total revenue of 435 million yuan, up 24.3% year on year; gross profit of 74.54 million yuan, up 30.2% year on year, gross margin rising to 17.1% from 16.4% in the same period last year; the AI skit business line contributed 223 million yuan in revenue, accounting for 51.2% of the group's total revenue, and quickly became the core growth engine.

This is a set of data that is quite rare in the Hong Kong stock internet sector — a technology company that has been running SaaS and Internet advertising by users for more than 10 years. It took half a year to turn a business from scratch into a major pillar of the group's revenue growth.

What is more remarkable is that after the voluntary announcement of the AI skit business was announced on August 24, Duiba's stock price was active. On August 31, the stock price closed at HK$0.38, up 5.63%, and increased 173.72% throughout the August range. Compared to the asset side — net assets of RMB 1.09 per share — the stock price is still clearly discounted.

From an announcement of expectations to an interim report verification, Dueba answered the market's biggest concern with a report card: Why did it take 6 months to run second in the industry on the AI skit track?

51.2% revenue share: half a year from 0 to 223 million

Revenue from AI skits is exploding, and it is the most prominent in the interim report.

By business, the AI skit business went from scratch, contributing 222.6 million yuan in revenue in half a year, accounting for 51.2% of the group's total revenue — the group's revenue focus, and the transition was completed within half a year.

“The AI skit business has shown strong growth since its launch in January 2026.” Management defined this half year as such during a conference call. Zhu Jiangbo, CEO of the company and head of the AI skit business, reviewed this process in four stages: after the market broke out in October last year, researched and determined the “single producer model” — one person completed the entire process from IP selection to the final film; established a content production process and full-platform distribution team from January to April this year; built an efficient workflow from February to June; and rapidly expanded the team from April to June to build an efficient team with a “3% explosion rate, 5 to 6 times higher than the market”.

“80% of our production can now be completed using one-click workflows and one-click generation methods.” Zhu Jiangbo said during a conference call. The AI script workflow has increased screenwriting efficiency by 5 to 8 times compared to traditional screenwriters — traditional screenwriters make 1 to 2 adaptations a month, and Paiba increases efficiency by 5 to 8 times based on tradition.

The combination of “single player mode+one-click workflow” was actually a bet at the time. There are two production modes in the market, multiplayer collaboration and single player, so Dueba is determined to choose the single-player mode. The reason is extremely simple: as model capabilities improve, production complexity will continue to decrease, and the single-player mode is more conducive to improving efficiency and team development. According to third-party data, Daiba's AI skit has entered the highest number of broadcasts in the industry, second only to the unlisted Kyushu culture.

The interim report data confirms the effectiveness of this style of play: as of June 30, the total number of broadcasts of the AI skit show has exceeded 5 billion times, 13 hit dramas have been broadcast over 100 million times, 74 hit dramas have been broadcast over 10 million times, and the maximum number of single dramas has been broadcast 1.04 billion times (“Let It Shine, The Interpreter”). Revenue increased by more than 100% month-on-month in June.

60% tokens and a “3% explosion rate”

The cost structure of AI skits is the key to understanding this company's business model.

“Our labor costs now account for 40% of the total production cost, and the token cost accounts for 60%.” Zhu Jiangbo revealed during a conference call. And token costs are falling month by month — since May, the billing costs for the volcano engine used by the company have been lowered month by month, and “production costs will be further reduced in the future, and the overall gross profit level will rise accordingly.”

This cost structure reveals two things. First, labor costs account for only 40%, which means that production capacity expansion mainly depends on computing power rather than manpower, and the marginal cost curve is much smoother than traditional film and television. Second, token costs account for 60% and continue to decline. The scale effect is compounded by model price reduction, and gross margin has structural upward space — the reported gross margin has risen from 16.4% to 17.1%, which is already evident.

On the production capacity side, following the big explosion in the first half of the year, third-party data showed that by August, the total number of hit dramas over 100 million over 100 million had exceeded 30, and more than 200 series had been broadcast.

The impact is even more intuitive: in the first half of 2026, 221,900 new AI dramas will be released across the industry, breaking 100 million with a rate of only 0.48%, and about 90% of the production team lost money. At a rate of 0.48% breaking 100 million, a company can run 13 dramas over 100 million — this is no longer something that “luck” can explain, but a direct proof of the replicability of the production system.

Just like the core signal that the phone call will send: the competition for AI skits is not “who is better at making content,” but “who can solve all problems with industrialization, understand traffic, and use AI.” Players who used to do content may not win; only players who understand traffic+industrialization can win.

Gross profit of 70 million yuan from traditional business: basic two-wheel drive

The high growth of AI skits makes it easy for people to overlook that there is another traditional business.

Chen Xiaoliang gave a clear position during the conference call: “The SaaS business has already been profitable in 2025. Judging from the financial performance in the first half of 2026, traditional businesses other than AI skits contributed nearly 70 million yuan in gross profit.”

In other words, Duiba is not a company that is desperate to bet on AI skits; it is a two-wheel company with “traditional business hematopoietic+new business attack”. The SaaS business serves major enterprise-level customers such as banks and insurance, and the customer structure is stable; management expects that traditional business will continue to contribute solid profit support to the Group in the second half of the year. However, the first half of the AI skit is in the infrastructure investment stage. As the scale effect increases, “our overall profitability will also be reflected quite significantly in the second half of the year.”

What is even more interesting is the rare business model described by management in the industry — allied distributed theaters. Chen Xiaoliang revealed that in the accumulation of SaaS and ad network business over the past ten years, the company has cooperated with tens of thousands of app media customers. These customers all have clear needs to enhance user activity and commercial revenue through skit scenarios. “In the second half of the year, we will integrate the content, products, operation and commercialization of skits into an SDK solution and embed it into our cooperative media to form an allied and distributed theater.”

If this plan is implemented, Daiba's AI skit will no longer just “make your own drama and sell money,” but will become an infrastructure for “content+distribution+commercialization” — tens of thousands of apps are both channels and customers. This is a rare business model among Hong Kong stock short dramas.

Overseas markets are also starting at the same time. Chen Xiaoliang said that based on proven production capacity that can be replicated, overseas markets will be launched in the second half of the year, just like the domestic market was launched in the first half of the year. In 2026, the overseas AI drama market is expected to exceed 4 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 390% — management refers to going overseas as “a great space and opportunity.”

Question about the valuation of HK$0.38 and $400 million in cash

In the final part of the call, the topic inevitably turned to capital markets.

On August 31, Duiba's stock price closed at HK$0.38, up 5.63%. The total market value was about HK$400 million. The daily turnover was HK$17.29 million, with a turnover of 38.88 million shares. Since the voluntary announcement of the AI skit business was announced on August 24, the stock price performance has been active — the host of the conference call also mentioned that recent stock price performance is “very good”.

However, compared to the asset side, the gap is still significant. As of June 30, Duiba's net assets were $1,175 million, with a total share capital of 1,077 million shares, with net assets of over RMB 1 per share — while the share price was only HK$0.38. The total amount of account deposits and short-term financial management is about 400 million yuan. In addition, advance payments of close to $345 million can be compared to cash and flexibly supplement working capital. If this portion is included, the company's flexible liquidity reserves exceed 700 million yuan.

One striking comparison is that the company's liquidity reserves are close to its total market value.

“We have always believed that market capitalization will ultimately be supported by the intrinsic value of listed companies.” In response to valuation questions during the conference call, management said, “We are confident in the long-term development of the company.”

Peer comparisons give another frame of reference. In the A-share market, Chinese Online (300364.SZ) earned 411 million yuan of skits and IP derivatives in the first half of 2026, surpassing Internet articles as the largest source of revenue for the first time; in the first half of the year, the revenue from short dramas and other derivatives was 1.185 billion yuan, up 41.45% year on year, but net profit still lost 50.14 million yuan; Yuewen Group (00772.HK) earned 430 million yuan in the first half of the year, an increase of 3.2 times over the previous year. 603533.SH In the Hong Kong stock market, Chizicheng Technology (09911.HK) had revenue of US$595 to US$615 million in the first half of the year. The innovative business already included short stories.

What these companies have in common is that the short drama business is growing rapidly, but most of them are still losing money on the reporting side. Kunlun Wanwei (300418.SZ)'s 2025 short drama revenue was 1,617 billion yuan (+864.9%), with a net loss of 1,593 billion yuan. It is common for the industry to “increase revenue without increase in profit”. Losses in trading have narrowed by 5.25%, which is already a marginal improvement.

Meanwhile, A-share peers were given significant valuation premiums by the market. As for the exchange of Hong Kong stocks, the market still seems to be using the “SaaS company” model to price it — even though AI skits have contributed more than half of the revenue.

epilogue

The conference call on August 31 was a ceremony to switch status from a “credit SaaS company” to an “AI content technology company.”

In a racetrack with 220,000 AI skits breaking 100 million, during the reshuffle period when 90% of the production team lost money, the combination of “advertising genes+AI full link industrialization” proved that technology companies that understand traffic, data, and industrialization are the true practitioners of this revolution.

With the official implementation of the “Administrative Measures on the Development of Short Dramas” on September 1, the industry compliance threshold will be further raised, and the leading effect will be further highlighted. And the story of Duiba Group, which is the only AI skit on the Hong Kong stock market, has probably just turned the first page.

In the second half of the year, the launch of overseas markets, the launch of the media alliance SDK, and the overall profit of the domestic AI skit business—these three catalysts will determine whether the “Hong Kong Stock AI Short Series First Stock” label will move from concept to valuation restructuring, or simply become a wonderful moment for the Hong Kong stock market in 2026.

At least on the night of August 31, 2026, the voice coming from the conference call was firm: “We anticipate that Daeba will have the opportunity to form a very important ecological position in the overall industry market.”