Performance Flash | Bilibili Releases 2024 Q3 Financial Report: Gross Profit Increased by 76% Year-on-Year, Achieving Profit in a Single Quarter for the First Time

On November 14, Beijing Time (November 14, Eastern Time in the US), Bilibili (NASDAQ: BILI, HKEX: 9626; hereinafter referred to as "Bilibili") announced its unaudited financial report for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024. In the third quarter, Bilibili's total revenue increased by 26% year-on-year to 7.31 billion yuan. Among them, value-added services, advertising, games, IP derivatives and other businesses contributed 38%, 29%, 25% and 8% of the revenue respectively.

In the third quarter, Bilibili's average daily active users reached 107 million, and the average monthly active users reached 348 million. The average daily usage time increased from 100 minutes in the same period last year to 106 minutes.

Bilibili's advertising business revenue was 2.09 billion yuan, an increase of 28% year-on-year; the game business revenue was 1.82 billion yuan, an increase of 84% year-on-year, driving Bilibili's gross profit to increase by 76% year-on-year, and the gross margin continued to increase quarter-on-quarter for 9 consecutive quarters to 34.9%. In this quarter, Bilibili achieved an adjusted net profit of 240 million yuan, achieving its first single-quarter profit since going public.

In terms of advertising, the revenue in the third quarter increased by 28% year-on-year to 2.09 billion yuan, of which the effect advertising increased by nearly 50% year-on-year. Games, e-commerce, digital home appliances, network services, and automobiles became the top five industries contributing to advertising revenue. The advertising revenue from emerging industries such as education, mother and baby, and culture and tourism increased rapidly, with a year-on-year growth of more than 100%.

During the "Double 11" period, Bilibili's GMV of goods sold increased by 154% at a high speed compared with the same period of the previous year's promotion, and the number of advertisers was 6.6 times that of the same period last year. At the same time, Bilibili adheres to the "big open loop" strategy, and the new customer rate brought to all vertical industries exceeds 50%, becoming an important source of new customer growth for major platforms.

In terms of games, the game revenue in the third quarter increased significantly by 84% year-on-year to 1.82 billion yuan. The revenue of long-term operating games such as "Fate/Grand Order" and "Azur Lane" is stable. "Three Kingdoms: Deciding the World" returned to the second place on the iOS bestseller list on the day of its S3 launch, proving its potential for long-term operation.

In addition, the value-added services also achieved steady growth, with revenue reaching 2.82 billion yuan. By the end of the third quarter, the number of valid annual members was 21.97 million, of which more than 80% were annual subscribers or automatic renewal members.

In the third quarter, the company's gross profit increased by 76% year-on-year to 2.55 billion yuan. The gross margin increased from 25.0% in the same period last year to 34.9% in this quarter, achieving a sequential increase for nine consecutive quarters. In the third quarter, the company achieved a profit for the first time, with an adjusted operating profit of 270 million yuan and an adjusted net profit of 240 million yuan.

In addition, the company's cash flow situation is good, achieving a positive operating cash flow of 2.23 billion yuan in the third quarter. As of September 30, 2024, the company held a total of 15.2 billion yuan in cash and cash equivalents, time deposits and short-term investments.

On the basis of a continuously healthy cash flow, Bilibili announced a new share repurchase plan to cumulatively repurchase stocks worth no more than 200 million US dollars within the next 24 months.

In the third quarter, Bilibili's average daily video views exceeded 5.7 billion times, a significant increase of 23% year-on-year, and the average monthly interactions exceeded 19.3 billion times. By the end of the third quarter, 251 million users had passed the entry examination and became "official members" of Bilibili, and the retention rate in the 12th month continued to be stable at 80%.

In terms of content, in the third quarter, the playback volume of game, knowledge, technology and other categories all maintained a growth of more than 20% year-on-year. Four years ago, the first real machine demonstration video of "Black Myth: Wukong" was uploaded on Bilibili, with a playback volume of more than 60 million; after the game was officially released, a number of hit contents with a playback volume of more than 10 million were born in the community, setting off a craze for "Black Myth" across the entire network. In 2024, the viewing volume of Bilibili's AIGC-related content exceeded 30 billion times, and many cutting-edge AI researchers, such as Zheng Weimin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Li Mu, the former chief scientist of Amazon, Weng Li, the former vice president of Open AI's safety research, and Professor Zhao Bin from Fudan University, also came to Bilibili.

The growth of the user age has driven the prosperity of consumer content. In the third quarter, the average daily number of viewers of consumer content exceeded 40 million, which also made the video playback volume of the automotive category increase by more than 40% year-on-year, and the sports and fitness category increase by more than 80% year-on-year. At the same time, female users showed a strong demand for content consumption. The playback volume of the fashion category increased by nearly 30% year-on-year, and the playback volume of the mother and baby and parent-child category increased by more than 60% year-on-year.

Since this year, nearly 2.7 million UP hosts have earned income on Bilibili. Among them, the total income obtained through advertising and value-added services increased by 24% year-on-year; paying for high-quality content has gradually become a consensus. The total income obtained by UP hosts through charging increased by more than 400% year-on-year, and the number of charging people for top UP hosts can even reach the million level.