Expenses by nature

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024


	Year ended December 31,
	2022		2023		2024
	RMB’million		RMB’million		RMB’million
Service costs (note i)		16,540		14,176		11,974
Advertising agency fees		609		790		1,015
Employee benefits expenses (note ii and note iii)		4,224		3,990		3,819
Promotion and advertising expenses		852		603		611

Notes:

(i)

Service costs mainly comprised content costs of royalties, revenue sharing fees paid to content creators and content delivery costs that primarily consisted of server, cloud services and bandwidth costs.

(ii)

During the years ended December 31, 2022, 2023 and 2024, the Group incurred expenses for the purpose of research and development of approximately RMB2,580 million, RMB2,525 million and RMB2,280 million, which comprised employee benefits expenses of RMB2,297 million, RMB2,303 million and RMB2,084 million, respectively. No material development expenses had been capitalized for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

(iii)

Employee benefits expenses


	Year ended December 31,
	2022		2023		2024
	RMB’million		RMB’million		RMB’million
Wages, salaries and bonuses		2,688		2,562		2,539
Welfare, medical and other expenses		508		566		491
Share-based compensation expenses		823		670		596
Contribution to pension plans		205		192		193
		4,224		3,990		3,819

Majority of the Group’s contributions to pension plans are related to the local employees in the PRC. All local employees of the subsidiaries in the PRC participate in employee social security plans established in the PRC, which cover pension, medical and other welfare benefits. The plans are organized and administered by the governmental authorities. Other than the contributions made to these social security plans, the Group has no other material commitments owing to the employees. According to the relevant regulations, the portion of premium and welfare benefit contributions that should be borne by the companies within the Group as required by the above social security plans are principally determined based on percentages of the basic salaries of employees, subject to certain ceilings and caps imposed. These contributions are paid to the respective labor and social welfare authorities and are expensed as incurred.