Bilibili's uncertain road to profitability: slowed growth, promising loss reductions

On June 1, Bilibili reported its first quarterly earnings of 2023, showing continued flat growth in revenue but far reduced net losses. Despite continued improvements in cutting its losses, Bilibili is facing persistently slower revenue growth over the past several years. Bilibili understands its strength and sees the engagement of users within the community as the foundation of its business. Bilibili integrated its internal units to convert more gaming-interested users to spend more on game-related items on the platform, after seeing that more than 40% of mobile users on Bilibili watched gaming content daily. Li said the platform also saw 110% yearly growth in ad revenue growth in the online shopping segment after sharing data and ads with Alibaba, Pinduoduo, and JD. Bilibili currently uses Huahuo, an advertising platform established in late 2020, to connect advertisers directly to its content creators. The second is more long-term and structural: Bilibili faces increased competition from other rising content platforms - short video platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, social e-commerce platforms like Xiaohongshu, and others. Bilibili faces a more entrenched threat: the rise of short video platforms and social content platforms that increase competition in the content sector, making it harder for Bilibili to grow profits.