Bilibili revenue up 70% in second quarter

Ti Gong

Shanghai-headquartered online entertainment and gaming platform Bilibili said its revenue in the second quarter surged 70 percent, with net losses also picking up due to higher promotional expenses.

Net losses amounted to 475.7 million yuan (US$67.3 million) from 256.1 million yuan a year earlier, excluding share-based compensation expenses and amortization expense, and revenues reached 2.6 billion yuan, the NASDAQ-listed company said in its earnings release.

Self-produced variety shows and domestic animation series also brought more viewers in addition to user-generated content. 

Selling and marketing expenses nearly doubled to 675 million yuan as a result of increased channel and brand marketing expenses and promotional expenses for mobile games.

Revenue from mobile games was up 36 percent to contribute nearly half of total income with new title launches. 

Average monthly active users reached 171.6 million, and the mobile active user base reached 152.9 million, adding 55 percent and 59 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.

“We believe the content pool we offer is deep and diverse enough to host a much wider user base, and our friendly and vibrant community can retain those newcomer," Chairman and CEO Chen Rui said. 

Through connecting with key opinion leaders and multi-channel networks, the company forged closer ties with brands and also with top e-commerce sites. 

It has also been focusing on raising user retention and converting those into paying members who took up new digital entertainment formats during the lockdown period. 

“We expect more online viewers to shift to consume and express content on video platforms to put us on the fast track and we have set our eyes on further executing our growth strategy to build an even more dynamic and robust community," Chen said.

Live broadcasting and value-added service lifted 153 percent to 825.3 million yuan with more monetization efforts and increases in the number of paying users.