Bilibili Makes Money

In the third quarter, Bilibili made money.

On the evening of November 14, Bilibili released its third-quarter financial report. The highlight was that the company's adjusted net profit was approximately 240 million yuan, achieving its first quarterly profit since going public.

In the third quarter, advertising revenue was 2.09 billion yuan, game revenue was 1.82 billion yuan, and gross profit increased significantly by 76% year-on-year, rising to 34.9% quarter-on-quarter. In the third quarter of 2024, Bilibili's value-added services, advertising, gaming, IP derivatives, and other businesses contributed 38%, 29%, 25%, and 8% of revenue, respectively.

In terms of advertising, Bilibili's online advertising revenue in the third quarter was 2.09 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28%. Performance-based advertising revenue increased by nearly 50% year-on-year, and advertising revenue from emerging industries such as tourism, education, and mother and baby products increased by over 100% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, during the "Double 11" shopping festival, Bilibili's gross merchandise volume (GMV) of livestreamed sales surged 154% year-on-year, with consumer goods orders over 1,000 yuan doubling compared to the same period last year. The number of UP accounts with GMV exceeding 10 million yuan was nearly five times that of the same period last year, and the number of advertisers even reached 6.6 times.

According to the "2024 China Advertiser Marketing Trends Survey Report," 75% of advertisers plan to maintain their current advertising budgets to avoid overexpansion. However, Bilibili's advertising revenue has bucked the trend, demonstrating its unique position in the eyes of advertisers and proving the continuous optimization and improvement of its advertising strategy.

It is an indisputable fact that Bilibili's profit models are becoming increasingly diversified.

01

Brand recognition leads to consumer decisions, and Bilibili has new strategies

Bilibili's community culture, based on content recognition, has always been its unique advantage that distinguishes it from other content platforms. This has made the community a key battleground for brands to establish brand identity and seek recognition.

Traditionally, brands would initially gain broad brand awareness through the purchase of advertising space and traffic resources, then promote brand trust through evaluations and analyses, and finally drive consumer decisions through promotional videos.

With the improvement of Bilibili's open-loop infrastructure, many brands, especially those with high customer acquisition costs and decision-making thresholds, have experienced explosive growth in brand effectiveness on Bilibili.

The domestic laptop brand MECHREVO is a prime example. They comprehensively covered the high-quality content preferred by their target audience on Bilibili, deeply interpreting the brand's product quality, features, and competitiveness through various content dimensions, presented by different UP accounts to diverse audiences.

MECHREVO emerged as a dark horse in the digital category during the Double 11 sales event, surpassing international brands like Lenovo and Dell at one point and ranking among the top three on JD.com, Tmall, and Pinduoduo's best-selling laptop lists.

Bilibili's ability to turn the tide in brand effectiveness conversion is inseparable from the in-depth promotional content created by UP accounts. Of course, infrastructure tools represented by "Spark" and "Takeoff" also make brand investment returns more controllable and quantifiable.

The UP account "Notebook Review Room" with over 2 million followers launched a review video of MECHREVO's July new product, Aurora X, providing a detailed introduction and recommendation from perspectives such as design, hardware configuration, and actual usage experience. This video ultimately garnered over 850,000 views and nearly 8,000 comments.

The mid-tier UP account "Tech If" recommended laptops in a side-by-side comparison video in October, recommending different models based on various needs and price ranges. This promotional video generated over 120 million yuan in GMV.

In October, MECHREVO sold nearly 70,000 units on Bilibili, with a GMV exceeding 400 million yuan, on par with HP's monthly sales on JD.com. One promotional video generated over 10 million yuan in GMV, equivalent to the monthly sales of about 20 offline stores and comparable to the peak sales of influencers like Li Jiaqi and Luo Yonghao.

The explosion of promotional content from UP accounts has not only gained high user recognition but has also attracted more brands to test the waters on Bilibili.

During this Double 11, the TV brand Hisense drove the sale of 145 TVs priced over 7,000 yuan through promotional videos by the UP account "Chainsaw Grandpa" with 100,000 followers, achieving an average ROI of over 70. The local Yunnan potato chip brand "Lumila" became popular on Bilibili through humorous videos featuring cats, boosting store GMV by 671% compared to the previous month. Especially on Double 11, searches for "Lumila's" store surged fivefold during the live stream event.

By linking promotional videos from UP accounts and using "Takeoff" to target and heat up these links, traffic is directed to the brand's official store on the platform. While achieving immediate conversions, brands can verify the effectiveness of their promotions through multi-dimensional data indicators and provide continuous feedback to the marketing side.

Bilibili also continuously invests in traffic to support high-quality promotional content, helping brands gain more exposure and drive consumer decisions.

For example, when Proya promoted its Double Anti-Aging Eye Cream 2.0, it collaborated with the pet-themed UP account "Round Zhizi" with 400,000 followers to release a video titled "Mom! You Left Me in the Sewer!!" about rescuing and adopting stray cats.

This video ranked first among nearly 130 videos related to Proya's Double Anti-Aging Eye Cream 2.0 and reached the 82nd position on Bilibili's ranking list, enabling the brand to reach a large number of potential customers.

As UP accounts on Bilibili gain increasing recognition from brands and experience sustained revenue growth, high-quality content naturally flows in abundance, driving the entire platform's commercialization path and forming a positive business cycle.

02

Small and medium-sized streamers and brands begin to support their families

From previous years' e-commerce promotions, it is evident that small and medium-sized merchants usually incur losses to attract attention, playing a supporting role during sales events.

Especially on Bilibili, which previously relied heavily on gaming, live e-commerce, e-commerce advertising, and content collaborations are now finding more incremental markets under the "open-loop" e-commerce strategy. In this process, both the creative abilities of UP accounts in producing promotional videos and the platform's precise conversion strategies are indispensable.