Shanghai Vision Star aims for global spotlight with Hong Kong IPO

The marketing services company has abandoned its listing on Beijing’s NEEQ market and is looking to Hong Kong in a bid to attract international capital

Key Takeaways:

• Shanghai Vision Star has applied to list in Hong Kong, reporting its profit surged by 186% in the first quarter of 2026
• The market services company’s gross margin remained low at just 4.1% in the first quarter

By Bai Xin Rui

The rise of social media platforms like Douyin,  Weibo and RedNote, with their short video capabilities, has replaced traditional media, driving a parallel change in marketing services over these newer channels. One company from that new generation of marketing services providers, Shanghai Vision Star Media Co. Ltd., is now seeking a place in the financial spotlight with its recent application to list in Hong Kong.

Established in 2011, Star Media started off in IP-based brand marketing, before expanding into social media, performance-based advertising placement, livestream e-commerce and overseas cross-border marketing to offer more comprehensive services.

The company was previously listed on the thinly traded, over-the-counter-style National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) board in Beijing from 2015 to 2023. But it terminated that listing in April 2023, and hopes to re-list in Hong Kong, citing working capital requirements and a desire to raise its global profile and pursue international capital.

Two major revenue streams

Vision Star derives its revenue from five major areas, including: IP-based brand marketing services; celebrity and influencer marketing services; performance-based marketing services; livestream e-commerce marketing services; and overseas marketing services, according to its listing document. Among these, IP-based brand marketing services and performance-based marketing services are its two biggest cash cows, accounting for 49.2% and 38.4% of its revenue, respectively, in the first quarter of 2026.

IP-based brand marketing services are not only Vision Star’s original business, but also accounted for more half of its revenue in both 2024 and 2025 before dipping below the 50% threshold this year. Its IP-based brand marketing services involve assisting clients in embedding their brands into various IPs. Throughout the process, the company matches suitable IPs based on different brand positionings and product characteristics, and coordinates the planning and execution of marketing campaigns across multimedia channels to further enhance brand exposure and recognition.

That business segment has logged impressive revenue growth, including a 34% year-on-year increase in the first quarter of 2026 to 1.13 billion yuan ($168 million).

The second top revenue source provides performance-based marketing services to clients seeking customer acquisition and quantifiable conversion results. Revenue from such services, which typically involve the placement of ads on domestic media platforms, has grown even faster, rising 67% year-on-year to 884 million yuan in the first quarter of this year.

Strong growth from those two core segments helped to lift Vision Star’s total revenue by 44.1% in the first quarter to 2.31 billion yuan, while its net profit nearly tripled to 20.83 million yuan. Despite its status as an asset-light company, Vision Star’s reliance on third-party platforms to serve its clients translates to low gross margins – a common feature of marketing services companies. Its gross margin stood at just 4.1% in the first quarter of this year, which is even lower than asset-heavy industries like infrastructure stocks, which typically range from 8% to 10%, and property stocks, which average 9% to 14%.

Subpar gross margins

Vision Star’s core revenue generator, its IP-based brand marketing service business, had an especially low first-quarter gross margin of just 3.8%. Its performance-based marketing services segment, its second biggest breadwinner, was even worse with a gross margin of just 1.7%.

The low margins also owe to the hugely competitive market for such services, since barriers to entry are low. Despite ranking fifth in China for integrated marketing solutions Vision Star holds just 0.4% of the market, reflecting the high degree of fragmentation and stiff competition. The industry leader holds just 3.7% of the market, and the top 10 players collectively hold just 8.2%. Price wars are common in such a fragmented, competitive landscape, which will only further squeeze Vision Star’s gross margin and bottom-line profit.

Fortunately for everyone, China’s marketing solutions market continues to grow at a healthy pace, rising from 1.18 trillion yuan in 2020 to 1.87 trillion yuan in 2025, equal to nearly 10% annual growth. Boosted by ongoing development of social media, short-video platforms, and content e-commerce, as well as rising demand for marketing services over those channels, the market is expected to further grow to 2.95 trillion yuan by 2030.

In such a low-margin and highly competitive landscape, one of Vision Star’s greatest assets is its full suite of marketing services. That, combined with its relatively large size, helps it secure advantageous position for its clients in the sea of short videos and social e-commerce now flooding the Chinese market. With China’s marketing services market fast approaching the 3 trillion yuan threshold, the company looks well positioned to profit from a rising tide that lifts all boats, especially the larger ones.

Its new pivot to a Hong Kong listing could help to bolster its position if it can leverage the global capital market to extend its reach beyond just China. How the company manages to improve its gross margin through more efficient operations, while simultaneously growing its revenue, will be the key to determining whether it can command a long-term valuation premium over its listed peers.

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