China’s video hosting platform Bilibili earned RMB1.37 billion (USD 204.7 million) in revenue in the first quarter of 2019, a 58% increase from the same period in 2018, according to a statement from the company.
Specifically, revenue from e-commerce reached RMB 95.9 million, representing an increase of 621% from the first three months of 2018. This beat revenue growth in all of Bilibili’s other business segments—mobile games, live broadcasting, and advertising.
Taobao, an Alibaba subsidiary, holds a stake in Bilibili. The tie-up is aimed at tapping young consumers’ consumption and drawing revenue from the connections between video creators, merchandise, and both platforms’ users.
Bilibili’s average monthly active users reached 101.3 million in the first quarter, representing an increase of 31% from the same period in 2018. Its average monthly paying users for games, premium memberships, and comic businesses reached 5.7 million, a 132% increase from the first quarter in 2018.
The company attributed this user growth to an increasing number of content creators producing diverse, high quality content, as well as the company’s expanding live-broadcasting and comics offerings.
However, despite growth in revenue user numbers in the first quarter, the company booked a net loss of RMB 195.6 million, compared to RMB 57.8 million in the same period of 2018.
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