Head of Tencent’s Animation and Comics Department Replaced

Hou Xiaonan, President of China Literature and Vice President of Tencent’s online video division, has reportedly begun to serve as the general manager of Tencent’s Animation and Comics Department, reporting to firm COO Mark Ren, LatePost reported on August 4. Meanwhile, Zou Zhengyu, the former head of the animation business, has left Tencent.

The personnel change, which took place this month, suggests that China Literature will further strengthen the animation adaptation of online novels. According to the established goal, both parties will aim to adapt more than 100 online novels into animation in the future.

In 2020, the management team of China Literature changed. Cheng Wu, the vice president of Tencent, and Hou Xiaonan, the vice president of Tencent’s Platform and Content Group, served as the new CEO and president, respectively, for a term of three years. In terms of division of labor, Cheng is responsible for formulating the company’s overall strategy and focusing on copyright and IP development, while Hou assists Cheng in management and is directly responsible for its free and paid reading business.

In the past two years, several online reading products of China Literature have reorganized. Therefore, the number of monthly active users have began increasing. In the whole year of 2021, the monthly active users of online reading products increased by 8.6% year-on-year, among which the daily active users of free reading exceeded 10 million, an increase of 50%.

However, with the maturation of China’s online reading market, copyright and IP development have become increasingly important areas for China Literature. According to the firm’s 2021 financial report, the operating income of China Literature’s own copyright reached 2.14 billion yuan ($317 million), up 30% year-on-year, much higher than the growth rate of online business income.

In 2021, driven by Cheng Wu, China Literature cooperated closely with Tencent Animation and Tencent Pictures. Zou Zhengyu, the head of Tencent’s animation business at that time, once took up a post in China Literature. Zou joined Tencent in 2005 and served in several positions, including in the Marketing Department and Copyright Business Department.

After Zou entered China Literature, he led the core team of Tencent Animation to set up an animation decision-making committee to promote the animation of online literature. Since then, China Literature has merged the Copyright Marketing Department and the Copyright Development Department.

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In recent years, Chinese government supervision of the film and television industry has been strengthened, and animation has become an increasingly important form for the adaptation of online literature. In the past few years, Tencent has acquired a large number of IP assets, and the opportunity to carry out in-depth cooperation with senior animation teams through investment and acquisition.