Bilibili hoping to break even by 2024 as revenue soars

By He Wei in Shanghai | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2022-03-04 10:44

Bilibili Inc is aiming to break-even by 2024 in non-GAAP financial measures. [Photo/IC]

Chinese video site Bilibili Inc is aiming to break-even by 2024 in non-GAAP financial measures, as the company has seen a steady increase in both paying users and advertisement revenue in its latest earnings report.

Bilibili raked in 5.78 billion yuan ($907.1 million), in the quarter ending on Dec 31, up 51 percent year-on-year, the company said on Thursday. Total revenue for the year jumped 62 percent to reach 19.38 billion yuan.

Some 272 million monthly active users spent an average 82 minutes per day in the app to consume all sorts of videos. The company previously vowed to have 400 million MAUs by 2023.

The number of paying users jumped 37 percent year-on-year to 24.5 million, with the overall payment ratio reaching nine percent.

"Our growth has been substantial with MAU more than doubled, topline near tripled in the past three years," said Chen Rui, chairman and chief executive officer of Bilibili.

"Stepping into 2022, we are committed to our healthy growth strategy to further expand our user base and we will actively explore commercialization opportunities within our tight bonded video community."

One such growth engine is advertising, logging about 1.59 billion yuan in the fourth quarter, representing a 120 percent increase from the same period in 2020. Ad revenue for the entire year expanded 1.45 times to 4.52 billion yuan.

Chief Financial Officer Fan Xin said in a call to analysts following release of the results the company is hoping to break-even in 2024 in non-GAAP measures by raising the monetization rate of MAUs and exerting better control over operating costs.

Non-GAAP figures usually exclude irregular or non-cash expenses, such as those related to acquisitions, restructuring, or one-time balance sheet adjustments. This could smooth out high earnings volatility that can result from temporary conditions, providing a clearer picture of the ongoing business.

The company reported an adjusted net loss of 5.5 billion yuan in 2021, compared with 2.6 billion yuan in 2020.