Bilibili continues to soar on the path of reducing losses and emphasizes the need to achieve profitability this year.
On March 7th, Bilibili (Nasdaq: BILI, 09626. HK, hereinafter referred to as "Bilibili") announced its performance for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. According to the financial report, in 2023, Bilibili's total revenue was 22.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3%; Net loss of 4.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 36%; After adjustment, the net loss was 3.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 49%.
Bilibili's revenue in the fourth quarter was 6.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3%, with a net loss of 1.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 13%; The adjusted net loss was 560 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 58%.
In a conference call, Bilibili CEO Chen Rui reiterated that Bilibili aims to achieve profitability this year: "There are two most important tasks for Bilibili this year: first, to achieve profitability goals. Bilibili will continue to strengthen its commercialization capabilities, improve operational efficiency, further optimize gross profit margins, and manage expenses reasonably." Chen Rui said that he is confident that in the third quarter of 2024, adjusted operating profits will turn positive and begin to make profits.
Chen Rui also stated that Bilibili will maintain the healthy development of the content ecosystem while ensuring profitability, and ensure a good reputation and intelligence in high-quality content.
Last year, 9.5 billion yuan was distributed to UP owners, an increase of 4% year-on-year
From a business perspective, in the total revenue of Bilibili last year, the value-added service revenue was 9.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14%, mainly due to the increase in revenue from live streaming and other value-added services; The advertising revenue was 6.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27%, mainly due to the optimization of advertising products and the improvement of advertising efficiency.
Game revenue was 4 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 20%; The revenue of e-commerce and other businesses was 2.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 29%, mainly due to a decrease in revenue from the transfer of esports copyrights and the sale of IP derivatives.
Games were once the core business of Bilibili and were personally managed by Chen Rui. When it comes to the decrease in game revenue, the financial report explains that it is mainly due to a decrease in the number of new game launches and a decrease in the revenue of several games. Last year, the best performing games such as Blue Line and FGO maintained relatively stable revenue. At present, three proxy games in Bilibili's game reserve have obtained licenses and are planned to be launched and operated in the next few quarters.
The financial report shows that the main reason for the narrowing of losses on Bilibili is the continuous reduction of expenses. Last year, the operating cost was 17.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5%, mainly due to the decrease in server and bandwidth costs, employee costs, content costs, and other costs due to effective cost control measures.
In terms of external attention to UP's main revenue, the financial report disclosed that Bilibili's revenue sharing cost was 9.5 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 4%. This means that Bilibili paid a total of 9.5 billion yuan in content compensation to UP's main revenue last year.
According to data disclosed by Bilibili, over 3 million UP owners earned revenue from Bilibili through various monetization channels last year, a year-on-year increase of 30%. Among them, the number of UP owners who earned revenue through advertising increased by 94% year-on-year.
Continue to focus on live streaming sales and advertising
From the financial report data, it can be seen that live streaming and advertising have become the core sources driving Bilibili's revenue.
Data shows that during the Double 12 period, the sales volume of single live streaming sales on Bilibili UP exceeded 50 million. In addition to commercial cooperation, content payment has also become a source of income for many UP owners. Last year, over 1.8 million UP owners earned revenue through live streaming, with over 200 UP owners producing paid courses that earned over 1 million yuan in revenue, and even UP owners receiving nearly 4 million yuan in revenue from a single charging exclusive video.
In a conference call, Bilibili executives stated that Bilibili has become an important new increment in the e-commerce industry. During the Double 11 promotion period, Bilibili's GMV for sales increased by over 250% year-on-year, and the number of live streaming sales venues increased by 105% year-on-year.
"In terms of advertising business, we are confident in maintaining the same growth rate as last year in 2024," said a Bilibili executive.
However, in the highly anticipated game development by the outside world, Bilibili seems to have been unable to find a direction. On March 5th, Bilibili released an internal email to establish a company's first level department to independently develop a game distribution department. Former "Fantasy Tower" distribution producer Chen Tongpeng parachuted in as the person in charge and reported directly to Chen Rui. The original game distribution center's self-developed operation department, as well as the Guangzhou and Beijing branches, will be integrated into the self-developed game distribution department and reported to Chen Tongpeng.
Previously, it was reported that the six self-developed game studios on Bilibili have significantly shrunk to only retain one game studio. However, Bilibili did not respond to this matter.
After the announcement of Bilibili's performance, the US stock market fell more than 7% before trading. As of the close of the 7th, Bilibili's US stock market fell 1.94% to close at $10.6.