Image copyright AFP Image caption Tencent's WeChat app has 650 million users in China

Revenue at Tencent, China's biggest social network, has risen at its fastest pace for five quarters helped by a surge in advertising income.

The online giant's revenue jumped 34% from a year earlier to 26.6bn yuan ($4.2bn; £2.7bn) in the July to September period.

Its net income was 7.45bn yuan, a near-40% increase from a year earlier.

The number of users of its popular messaging app WeChat rose by 39% in the period to 650 million.

Tencent also runs another messaging service called QQ, which had close to 640 million users.

"Our social networks business achieved 32% year-on-year revenue growth as we improved mobile privileges and enriched digital content subscription services," the company said.

Revenue from its online advertising business doubled to 4.9bn yuan, with 65% of the sales made on mobile devices.

The popularity of its online games and streaming of content such as HBO shows also helped boost earnings as it faces stiff competition from rivals Alibaba and Baidu for more than half a billion Chinese internet users.

Tencent's streaming rights in China include National Basketball Association (NBA) games, Sony Music, and James Bond films.