What is Bilibili’s advertising focus for 2025?
To answer this, one only needs to examine the themes of Bilibili’s annual “Ad Talk” conference for marketing partners.
Over the years, the tone and focus of the conference have shifted significantly. In 2020, Bilibili brought top creators on stage to showcase their content production skills. By 2021, the emphasis had moved to Bilibili’s original content, including variety shows, dramas, and animated series, highlighting “occupationally generated video” (OGV) content for advertisers to sponsor. In 2022, the focus transitioned to vertically oriented videos and “open loop” strategies designed to integrate with e-commerce platforms. More recently, the conferences have leaned toward advertising methodologies tailored to specific industries.
Reflecting on these conferences reveals how Bilibili’s advertising strategy has matured. The company has moved from persuading advertisers of its commercial value to concentrating on lowering entry barriers and improving advertising efficiency.
This year’s conference spotlighted advancements in Bilibili’s commercial infrastructure, focusing on advertising scenarios, traffic optimization, content materials, and performance measurement.
By the end of last year, some marketers expressed frustration with Bilibili’s advertising tools. An employee responsible for marketing at a major e-commerce platform told 36Kr: “Bilibili’s direct advertising system doesn’t feel up to par yet—it’s overly complicated. I prefer creating content in-house and relying on third-party agencies for ad placements.”
Bilibili has taken steps to address these issues. During the conference, Zhang Yi, general manager of commercial products and operational strategy, acknowledged the challenges: “People have always complained that Bilibili has too many advertising platforms, and they’re unsure which one to use. This issue has now been resolved.”
To simplify the process, Bilibili has consolidated its professional advertising tools into a single PC-based platform called Sanlian, designed for advanced users. For self-service clients, the company launched Bihuo, a managed advertising platform. These changes aim to make the platform more accessible and efficient, reflecting Bilibili’s commitment to refining its advertising ecosystem.
To address concerns about imprecise audience targeting, Bilibili introduced the MATES model, a marketing funnel that tracks the audience journey from initial brand awareness to final purchase or conversion. Each stage—awareness, interest, trust, acceptance, and conversion—is designed to guide marketers in crafting more effective campaigns.
The MATES model provides industry-specific recommendations based on time windows and user behavior patterns. It offers actionable insights for planning campaigns, targeting audience interactions, and analyzing user behavior. Users are categorized into approximately 15 distinct groups, with the model integrated into Z-Index, a platform that helps advertisers track content trends and audience preferences on Bilibili.
Like other platforms, Bilibili faces the challenge of slowing growth. To help advertisers acquire new customers, the company is focusing on expanding entry points and capabilities:
- More entry points: Bilibili has extended its traffic channels beyond mobile to include PC, tablets, over-the-top (OTT) devices, and in-car systems. Currently, daily active users (DAUs) on PC and tablet platforms number in the tens of millions.
- More capabilities: Bilibili has introduced mini programs, similar to WeChat’s. These allow third-party developers to offer services within Bilibili’s ecosystem. Gaming companies have been early adopters of this feature.
According to Zhang, Bilibili’s mini games have seen rapid growth since testing began less than two months ago, with hundreds of games now active daily. “Even without a full rollout, we’ve unlocked substantial new inventory and incremental traffic, addressing our longstanding lack of incentivized ad placement options,” Zhang said.
She added, “Paying users from our mini games provide exceptionally high conversion value for advertisers. For some test clients, the average revenue per user (ARPU) has been the highest across all media platforms.”
Gaming is a cornerstone of Bilibili’s revenue. In Q3 2024, gaming and related advertising accounted for 29% and 25% of total revenue, respectively. Notably, gaming advertisers remain the largest contributors to Bilibili’s advertising revenue. Simply put, without gaming advertisers, Bilibili’s growth in both areas would be severely constrained.
Looking ahead, Zhang revealed plans to expand Bilibili’s mini programs to include additional features such as short dramas and novels. “We’re actively developing more capabilities for [Bilibili’s] mini programs, which will gradually roll out in the future,” she said.
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In some respects, creators’ earnings and Bilibili’s advertising revenue can be at odds. Historically, Bilibili’s Huahuo sponsored content platform, which connects creators with advertisers, has maintained a 5% commission rate—one of the lowest in the industry. While this policy is favorable for creators, it has not been a significant revenue generator for the platform. To address this, Bilibili launched Qifei, an advertising traffic system designed to allow the platform to generate revenue without directly competing with creators for ad budgets.
According to a Bilibili ad agency representative, the current trend is to utilize both Huahuo and Qifei. Advertisers typically allocate 70% of their budgets to creators through Huahuo and the remaining 30% to Qifei for campaign amplification.
From this year’s conference, it’s clear Bilibili wants to move beyond fixed traffic and OGV ad placements. The platform now seeks to co-create integrated marketing campaigns with creators through Huahuo. Two approaches stand out:
- First, Bilibili is combining user-generated content (UGC) with OGV and professionally user-generated video (PUGV) through topic-based campaigns, encouraging creators across the ecosystem to participate.
- Second, Bilibili is leveraging ad resources such as splash ads, trending topics, and popular content sections to amplify premium content’s visibility and influence.
This approach doesn’t necessarily pit Bilibili against creators for ad budgets. Instead, it provides advertisers with more options for large-scale campaigns while creating opportunities for the platform to increase its advertising revenue.
Bilibili is also introducing automated advertising features to reduce barriers for advertisers and streamline long-term campaign management, aligning with strategies employed by other mature platforms.
One notable enhancement is the development of bidding system features that enable advertisers to analyze competitors’ bids, assess user value, and make real-time strategy adjustments. This functionality supports millisecond-level dynamic optimizations, which have the potential to significantly lower marketing costs.
Bilibili’s advertising business is now entering a phase of maturity. In the third quarter of 2024, the platform achieved single-quarter profitability, driven by seven consecutive quarters of advertising revenue growth over the past two years.
Looking ahead, Bilibili is expected to focus on refining its infrastructure and backend systems to further enhance advertising efficiency. Notably, its partner base grew by over 30% in 2024, while gross merchandise value (GMV) during the Singles’ Day shopping festival surged more than 150% year-on-year. High-value orders exceeding RMB 1,000 (USD 140) doubled compared to the same period last year, highlighting the platform’s continued growth trajectory.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Wang Yuchan for 36Kr.