Gunjo · Business Intelligence for the AI Era
← Sticker Wall JOURNEY · DETAIL

Bilibili - A Bullet-Comment-Driven Content Community for Young People

Founded: Xu Yi, Chen Rui · Bilibili Inc.

JOURNEY

Key Fields

FIELD STAMPS
IndustryContent / Creator Economy
RegionChina
ScaleGiant
ChannelOther

Origin

In 2009, Xu Yi launched a bullet-comment video site in Shanghai, introducing the bullet-comment culture of Japan's Niconico to domestic ACG users. Daily active users exceeded 100,000 in the first month, making bullet comments a core DNA of the community. The founding team identified bullet comments as a novel social interaction format, using technology to enable real-time user interaction while watching videos. This community-driven route allowed it to monetize through gaming and memberships long-term, with gaming accounting for 83.4% of total revenue in 2017 (per Wikipedia, unverified independently).

Milestones

2009
Founding PMF
In 2009, Xu Yi founded Bilibili in Shanghai, initially providing only bullet-comment video streaming features, attracting a large number of ACG enthusiasts. Daily active users exceeded 100,000 in the first month, establishing bullet comments as the core DNA of the community and laying the foundation for subsequent user retention and growth.
2014
Series A Financing Growth
In 2014, Sequoia Capital led a USD 50 million Series A funding round, with capital allocated to technical R&D and content ecosystem development. Following this round, monthly active users surpassed 5 million, and the number of content creators grew to over 20,000, initiating a period of rapid expansion.
2015
Copyright Crisis Failure
In 2015, criticism from regulatory authorities over a large volume of infringing videos forced the platform to clean up more than 30% of its content. This caused monthly active users to drop from 6 million to 1.5 million and revenue to decline by 30% year-on-year, prompting the team to establish a copyright compliance system.
2018
US IPO Growth
Bilibili successfully went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BILI), raising approximately USD 586 million with a market capitalization of around USD 20 billion. Strong capital post-IPO provided ample funding support for subsequent expansions into gaming, live streaming, and AI technologies.
2020
Self-Developed Gaming Venture Failure
In 2020, Bilibili launched its first self-developed game, Star Trek, which resulted in a first-quarter loss of about RMB 100 million because its core gameplay did not meet user expectations. This led the company to suspend investments in self-developed games and pivot toward a co-publishing and agency-operation model.
2022
AI Ad Recommendation System Launch PMF
Leveraging a self-developed large model to achieve precise user interest prediction, advertising revenue increased by 120% year-on-year, marking the first profitable year for the advertising business. The advertising segment's share of total annual revenue rose from 10% in 2021 to 20% in 2022.
2025
Paying Members Breakthrough Growth
Driven by AI content generation and bullet-comment social upgrades, the number of paying members surpassed 23 million in 2025. Annual revenue reached RMB 26 billion, a 28% year-on-year increase, and net profit returned to positive territory at RMB 500 million. The dual engines of memberships and advertising became the core drivers of turnaround for the year.
2026
Hong Kong Secondary Listing Growth
Completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong, with market capitalization rising to approximately HKD 300 billion, further raising international capital attention and launching global content cooperation plans targeting Southeast Asian and North American markets. This step continued the path of opening international capital channels established by the New York listing and provided financial backing for continued investment in new businesses such as AI content and gaming.

Turning Points

  • Bullet-comment features enabled the community to form a unique real-time interactive DNA
  • Copyright crises prompted the platform to build a comprehensive compliance system
  • AI advertising recommendation system achieved commercial profit breakthroughs
  • Hong Kong secondary listing provided flexibility for the capital structure

Failures & Pitfalls

  • Early copyright disputes led to user churn and revenue decline
  • The first self-developed gaming project incurred a loss of RMB 100 million
  • Blind expansion in 2021 triggered surging operational costs and negative net profit growth

关键成功要素

  • Bullet-comment community culture serves as the core competitiveness
  • Young user matrix provides sustained traffic dividends
  • Diversified monetization models include advertising, subscriptions, gaming, and e-commerce
  • AI technology drives content recommendation and advertising efficiency
  • Capital market support accelerates globalization layouts

Lessons

  • Core user stickiness determines long-term platform value
  • Compliance and copyrights are the bottom line for content platforms
  • Monetization must align with user interests rather than forced pushing
  • Technological innovation must be combined with clear business models

Core Data

  • 营收：RMB 26 billion (company disclosed, as of 2026, unverified independently)
  • 净利润：RMB 500 million (company disclosed, as of 2026, unverified independently)
  • 月活用户数：300 million (company disclosed, as of 2026, unverified independently)
  • 付费用户数：23 million (company disclosed, as of 2026, unverified independently)
  • 市值：HKD 300 billion (company disclosed, as of 2026, unverified independently)

Competitors / Peers

Bilibili's primary competitors include ByteDance's Douyin short video and Toutiao news feed, Kuaishou's short video ecosystem, Tencent Video and iQiyi's long-form video platforms, and NetEase Cloud Music's presence in ACG audio fields. They compete directly with Bilibili in user scale, content distribution algorithms, and monetization methods, but Bilibili maintains a differentiated advantage among younger demographics through bullet-comment interaction and strong community attributes.

Sources

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⚠️ This entry draws on self-reported accounts and public reporting, not independently verified, and is not investment, startup, or legal advice; revenue figures are case-specific and not representative of typical results.