Bilibili Q1 2022: Total revenue is 5.054 billion yuan, and the proportion of average monthly paying users has reached a new high

On June 9th, Beijing time (June 9th, Eastern Time), Bilibili (NASDAQ: BILI, HKEX:9626; hereinafter referred to as "Bilibili") announced the Unaudited financial report for the first quarter on the 31st. The financial report shows that Bilibili’s revenue in the first quarter reached 5.054 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30%.

In the first quarter of 2022, the average monthly active users of Bilibili increased by 31% year-on-year to 294 million; the average monthly active users of mobile terminal increased by 33% year-on-year to 276 million; the average number of daily active users reached 79.4 million , a year-on-year increase of 32%, and user activity further increased.

Chen Rui, chairman and CEO of Bilibili, said: "In the first quarter of 2022, in the face of the challenges caused by the epidemic, our business still achieved steady and resilient development. In this quarter, Both user scale and community activity have maintained high-quality growth. The average monthly paying user ratio of Station B has further increased to 9.3%. On the premise of maintaining healthy user growth, the company's strategic focus will focus on accelerating the commercialization process. And further reduce costs and increase efficiency. As the epidemic in Shanghai eases, we believe that various businesses will return to the normal growth track as soon as possible."

This quarter, the average daily video views of Station B are close to 3 billion. times, a year-on-year increase of 84%; the average daily video playback time also increased by 52% year-on-year in this quarter, reflecting the rapid growth of the overall community traffic; the average monthly community interactions reached 12.3 billion times, a year-on-year increase of 87%. The average daily usage time of users is as high as 95 minutes, setting a record high.

In terms of the growth of core user groups, at the end of the first quarter, the number of formal members who passed the 100 community exams increased by 41% year-on-year to 158 million. The retention rate in the twelfth month was 83%.

Since 2021, Station B has further satisfied users’ viewing needs for different content categories in different scenarios by launching Story-Mode vertical screen videos and promoting smart TV applications. Among them, Story-Mode vertical screen video has brought new playback increments to the platform. The proportion of vertical screen video playback volume has exceeded 20% of the total playback volume, and has shown a continuous upward trend.

High-quality PUGV (Professional User Generated Video) content and a large number of high-quality creators are the core driving force for the sustainable development of the Bilibili community. In the first quarter of 2022, the average number of monthly active UP owners on Station B reached 3.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 75%; the average monthly submission volume reached 12.6 million, a year-on-year increase of 63%. The number of creators with more than 10,000 followers increased by 44% year-on-year.

In the first quarter, life, games, entertainment, animation and knowledge became the top five content categories most popular among users.

This quarter, ***1.1 million creators earned income from Bilibili, a year-on-year increase of 90%. In addition to the creative incentive plan, Bilibili also provides UP owners with a variety of commercial channels, including live broadcasts, fireworks commercial platforms, UP owner recommended ads, and user rewards. In recent years, the professionalization of UP hosts has also become a new trend in employment. The "2022 Youth Job Search Behavior Insight Report" jointly released by Bilibili and Zhaopin Recruitment shows that video UP hosts have become the emerging profession that post-00s generation most want to pursue.

On the other hand, as an enrichment and supplement to the PUGV ecosystem, OGV (Occupationally Generated Video, videos created by professional institutions) content has become an important driving force for user growth and payment conversion. As of March 31, the number of "big members" at Station B reached 20.1 million, a year-on-year increase of 25%, of which nearly 80% are annual big members or automatically renewing members.

Accelerating the commercialization process is one of the important goals of Bilibili this year. In the first quarter of 2022, Bilibili’s revenue reached 5.054 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30%. Among them, Bilibili’s advertising business continues to increase its market share, and its value-added services also show monetization potential. The average monthly paying users of its live broadcast business increased by 60% year-on-year in this quarter.

In the first quarter, game business revenue increased by 16% year-on-year to 1.358 billion yuan.

Currently, Bilibili has obtained version numbers for three new games. At the same time, Bilibili will launch three new high-quality games in overseas markets in the second quarter.

The good development of live broadcast and membership business further promoted the revenue growth of value-added business. Value-added business revenue in this quarter reached 2.052 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37%. Station B's rich PUGV content and live broadcast ecosystem form a positive cycle, and the development of Story-Mode also helps users discover high-quality live broadcast content faster. In the first quarter, the number of active anchors at Station B increased by 88% year-on-year. High-quality live broadcast content has promoted the conversion of paying users, and the average monthly paying users of the live broadcast business has increased by 60% year-on-year.

By continuously enriching advertising scenarios and products, Bilibili’s advertising business efficiency continues to improve. In the first quarter, advertising business revenue was 1.041 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46%. Games, beauty and skin care, 3C digital, automobiles and food and beverages were the top five advertiser industries. In April, Bilibili launched the Story-Mode vertical screen advertising product. Compared with graphic ads, vertical screen ads have a stronger sense of immersion and better conversion efficiency. In the future, Bilibili will further improve advertising efficiency by optimizing algorithms and product capabilities.

The e-commerce logistics problems caused by the epidemic have affected the performance efficiency of goods to a certain extent since March. Bilibili provides affected users with services such as delayed delivery and automatic refunds. As logistics gradually recovered in May, e-commerce transaction volume also continued to rebound. In the first quarter, e-commerce and other business revenue was 603 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16%.

Station B stated that as the epidemic eases, on the basis of ensuring high-quality user growth, the company will continue to focus on improving commercialization capabilities and will continue to promote cost reduction and efficiency improvement. This quarter's marketing and sales costs decreased by RMB 508 million compared with the previous quarter.

As of March 31, 2022, the company held a total of 24.7 billion yuan in cash and cash equivalents, time deposits and short-term investments. In the first quarter, Station B’s adjusted non-GAAP net loss was RMB 1.65 billion.

In early March, Station B announced a US$500 million stock repurchase plan within the next 24 months. As of March 31, 2022, Bilibili has repurchased approximately 1.4 million American depositary shares under the plan at a total cost of approximately US$30 million. In order to continue to optimize debt levels, in the first quarter, the company repurchased and canceled convertible senior notes due in December 2026 with an aggregate principal amount of US$204 million, at a total cash cost of US$148 million.

In March this year, Bilibili applied to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for conversion to a primary listing in Hong Kong. It has been confirmed by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is expected to take effect on October 3, 2022. After taking effect, Bilibili will become a dual-primary listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ in the United States.

In the financial report, Station B provided an outlook for revenue in the second quarter of 2022, which is expected to reach 4.85 billion to 4.95 billion yuan.