Chinese entertainment company Bilibili reported RMB 3.84 billion (USD 588 million) in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020, up 91% year-on-year (YoY), according to its earnings release on Wednesday.
The number of average monthly active users on its video-sharing site and app reached 202 million, up 55% YoY. More than 87% of its users are aged below 35, the company said.
Bilibili gained RMB 1.129 billion (USD 173.1 million) from mobile games, up 30% YoY, mainly due to the popularity of its newly launched titles. It generated RMB 1.247 billion from livestreaming, premium membership, and other value-added services, up 118% YoY, mainly attributable to enhanced monetization efforts.
Advertisers brought in RMB 722.4 million (USD 110.7 million), 149% more than a year earlier, a recognition of Bilibili’s strong brand in China and result of an improved advertising efficiency.
“As GenZ is having more say and spending power, the next 10 years will witness the rise of consumer brands and Bilibili becoming the must-go-to ad platform,” vice chairman and COO Li Ni told investors during the earnings call on Thursday, claiming that the platform gathered half of the active young in China. Despite the promising future, the company will maintain the ad load at around 5% this year, she added.
E-commerce contributed about RMB 740.8 million (USD 113.5 million), up 168%, primarily due to the increase in sales of products through its platform and the licensing of content.
Despite the strong revenue growth, the company registered a net loss of RMB 843.7 million (USD 129.3 million), which is widening from RMB 387.2 million in the same period of 2019. “2020 was a year of solid execution on our growth strategy as we brought our business to new heights,” said chairman and CEO Rui Chen.
He pointed to the fact that video has become more and more integrated in various facets of the everyday life: “Benefiting from the inevitable trend of ‘videoization,’ a broad audience of young users, and China’s strong economic growth projections, we are in the right place at the right time to capture the opportunity and increase our leadership in China’s large video-based market.”