The daily active users exceeded 100 million, which became the biggest highlight of the third quarterly report of station B.
Recently, Bilibili (hereinafter referred to as Bilibili) released its third quarter report for 2023, which shows that the revenue of Bilibili in the third quarter was 58100 million yuan, a slight increase of 02%。Net profit attributable to the parent company - 135.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2113%。The total revenue of station B in the first three quarters was 161800 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 268%, net profit attributable to the parent company -352.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4129%。The loss continued, but compared to -60 in the same period last year0.2 billion yuan narrowed significantly.
The third quarterly report of Bilibili disclosed the milestone of daily active users exceeding 100 million. However, the stellar performance and daily active users failed to boost its stock price, which stood at 11$51, compared to $157 in February 2021The high of $66 has fallen to 927%, the market value evaporated by $60.7 billion, and now the market value is only 47$800 million. In the case of gross profit margin growth for 6 consecutive quarters, why has Station B still failed to win back the confidence of the capital market?
The significant narrowing of the net profit attributable to the parent company of station B is due to the continuous improvement of gross profit margin, and the gross profit margin of station B in the third quarter of 2023 will be 2499%, compared to a gross margin of 18 in the same period last year20%, an increase of 6 year-on-year79 percentage points, compared with 23 percent in the second quarter of 2023The gross profit margin of 14% and the gross profit margin in the third quarter also increased by 185 percentage points. Previously, the gross margin in the second quarter of 2022 was only 1504%, 24 in the third quarterThe gross profit margin of 99% has increased by nearly 10 percentage points compared with it.
In the past 6 quarters, the gross profit margin of station B was respectively. 14% and 2499%, it can be seen that the gross profit margin of station B is on the rise. But if you look at the net profit margin is not so optimistic, in the past 6 quarters, the net profit margin of station B has been negative, respectively -4095%、-29.62%、-24.37%、-12.42%、-29.19% and -2304%, which means that station B has been in a state of loss in the past 6 quarters, and the specific losses are 200.7 billion yuan, 171.3 billion yuan, 149.5 billion yuan, 627.7 billion yuan, 154.7 billion yuan and 135.1 billion yuan. Among them, the net profit margin in the first quarter of 2023 is -1242% was a new low in recent quarters, and a net loss of 627.7 billion yuan is also a new low loss in recent times.
On the whole, the gross profit margin of station B has increased greatly, but it is still not at a high level in the industry. In the just-released iQIYI's 2023 third quarter report, it was disclosed that iQIYI's gross profit margin in the quarter reached 2714%, also compared with 2303% increased by 411 percentage points. In terms of iQIYI's overall gross profit margin in the past 6 quarters, it is much higher than that of station B in the same period, especially iQIYI's loss in the past 6 quarters only in the third quarter of the same period last year, and the other quarters have achieved profitability. is also a ** platform, iQiyi has been profitable for 4 consecutive quarters, and the loss of station B does not know when it will really turn losses into profits.
In terms of longitudinal comparison in the industry, although the gross profit margin of station B is steadily improving and gradually improving, it is still at a low level in the industry. Apple Supermedia's gross profit margin in the three quarters of this year was respectively. 11% and 358%, about 10 percentage points higher than station B, and the gross profit margin of Mango Supermedia is also increasing.
It is worth mentioning that in the past 6 quarters, the growth rate of net profit attributable to the parent company of station B is actually good overall, only in the second quarter of 2022, it is -791%, and the other 5 consecutive quarters have been positive growth, respectively. 42% and 2113%。The narrowing of losses is becoming more and more obvious, but it doesn't seem to be enough, because iQiyi, another major platform in the industry, has seen a more rapid growth in net profit attributable to the parent company in the same period. 66% and 22031%。In this comparison, although station B has developed rapidly, compared with other competitors in the industry, the speed is obviously not enough, at least in terms of turning losses into profits, station B is far from enough.
The biggest highlight in the three quarterly reports of station B is that the daily active users exceeded the 100 million mark, reaching 10.3 billion people, a year-on-year increase of 14%. This value is close to the number of daily active users of iQIYI, which has always ranked first in the total number of long** members, and the daily active users of iQIYI in the third quarter were 107.5 billion people, with an average monthly active user base (hereinafter referred to as MAU) of 34.1 billion people, a record high. iQIYI's daily active users in the third quarter performed poorly, compared with 111.2 billion people have declined to some extent. However, the largest number of daily active users in the industry is still Tencent**, Tencent did not announce the number of specific Tencent** daily active users in the third quarterly report, and it was previously reported that Tencent**'s daily active users were 13.7 billion people. Compared with the daily active users of iQiyi and Tencent**, it is more difficult for Station B to break through 100 million, and the record 100 minutes of daily active user usage time disclosed in the financial report ranks among the top of many ** platforms.
Relying on the traffic of WeChat and , the total number of members of Tencent** and iQiyi far exceeds that of station B, and in the era of the stock of daily active users, the number of daily active users can exceed 100 million, which is particularly important for station B. Chen Rui, chairman and CEO of Bilibili, said bluntly that the daily active users exceeded 100 million, which is a new beginning. The reason why Chen Rui attaches so much importance to daily active users is because he believes that this is related to the life and death of station B.
After 2020, the mobile Internet has gradually developed to its peak, whether it is a major e-commerce platform or a first-class platform, user growth has almost reached the ceiling, and the entire Internet platform has entered the stock era. It has become more and more difficult to rely on throwing money for increments, and refined user management has become the consensus of many Internet companies, and maintaining and improving user stickiness and maximizing user value has become a new topic for platforms. Because in the same period, even short ** such as Douyin and Kuaishou, which used to have an amazing user growth rate, also slowed down. Kuaishou's daily active users in the third quarter of this year increased by 6% year-on-year4%, and Douyin's daily active users in May this year only increased by 8% year-on-year, and the growth rate was lower than expected, and the competitive pressure on the ** platform at this time was significantly enhanced compared with a few years ago, such as another ** platform Xiaohongshu, which also exceeded 100 million daily active users in October 2023, but it has never been able to find a second profit point in addition to e-commerce. Duoduo**Under the support of Pinduoduo, the monthly active users exceeded 100 million in more than 1 year, but it still continued Pinduoduo's routine, compared with iQiyi, Tencent** and Station B, its **quality is indescribably outstanding, resulting in the number of daily active users exceeding 100 million but lacking a stable foundation, the flow is relatively large, and there is also a lack of mature monetization mechanism.
Compared with Duoduo** and Xiaohongshu, the users of station B have a very high stickiness, which is consistent with the "high-quality DAU growth" pursued by station B. In the past year, the retention rate of Bilibili users has exceeded 80%, making it one of the platforms with the highest stickiness of Internet users. Old users drive new users and provide power support for the business revenue of station B.
The financial report shows that in the third quarter of 2023, advertising business revenue increased by 21% year-on-year, and value-added business increased by 17%, both of which are much higher than the growth rate of total revenue.
This year's "Double 11" B station performed well, and the advertising flow brought by the head e-commerce platform increased by more than 80% year-on-year. Advertising revenue from Ali increased by 160% compared to the "618" period. During this year's Double 11, in addition to Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo also reached in-depth cooperation with Station B. According to the double 11 battle report, the GMV of station B with goods increased by 251% year-on-year. The consumption and transaction atmosphere in the community is also getting stronger and stronger, with the number of goods brought by station B during the promotion period increasing by 233% year-on-year, and the number of live broadcasts with goods increasing by 105% year-on-year. Among the more than 70 brands we have cooperated, the new customer rate is over 50%. The e-commerce advertising revenue of station B increased by more than 90% year-on-year, and the performance advertising revenue increased by more than 40% year-on-year, which became the main driving force for the growth of station B's advertising business. The importance of advertising business in station B is getting stronger and stronger.
According to the financial report, the advertising business revenue of station B in the third quarter of 2023 will be 16400 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21%, accounting for 28% of the total revenue, the previous advertising business accounted for about 23% of the total revenue, the increase in advertising business revenue directly led to the improvement of the overall gross profit margin of station B, and also made station B achieve positive operating cash flow.
The cooperation between station B and Ali has almost become a model for the industry, Ali values the young users of station B, and station B values Ali's traffic and advertising shares, and the cooperation between the two sides hit it off. In 2022, Station B and Ali will launch the "Spark Plan" to open up the data path between the main grass content of Station B and the post-link purchase. B station members from the young people who have just left the campus have gradually become the main consumer force into the workplace, home, mother and child, digital and even large car products have a strong willingness to consume, how to guide the user's consumption, B station has been exploring. The cooperation with Ali has allowed Bilibili to bring nearly seventy percent of new customers to the e-commerce platform, and compared with other non-traditional e-commerce platforms, Bilibili's exclusive population has reached fifty percent.
In the first half of this year, 30 million users of station B generated transactions through the blue chain of station B's **comments, and the number of transactions on the station increased by 8 times, the number of live broadcasts with goods increased by 7 times, and the GMV of up main and live broadcast during the Double 11 period increased by more than 250% year-on-year. In the case of the rising cost of e-commerce customer acquisition, a large number of sticky members of station B have brought new customer acquisition opportunities to e-commerce companies, and also brought huge development opportunities to themselves.
This is a great benefit to the e-commerce platform whose user growth has already touched the ceiling, and Station B, which suffers from the difficulty of user monetization, has finally further explored the value of users through such cooperation. This is a good opportunity for Station B to turn losses into profits. In the second quarter of 2023, Station B will have a net loss of 154.7 billion yuan, while the net loss in the third quarter narrowed to 135.1 billion yuan, the loss fell by 19.6 billion yuan, down 13% month-on-month. Compared with the same period last year, the loss of station B narrowed more significantly, and in the second quarter of 2022, station B had a net loss of 200.7 billion yuan, with a net loss of 17 in the third quarter1.3 billion yuan, the loss amount of station B in the second quarter of 2023 decreased by 23% year-on-year, and decreased by 21% year-on-year in the third quarter.
The financial report of station B revealed that more than eighty percent of the daily active users on the platform have watched e-commerce content, and their attention to material consumption is constantly increasing. The platform needs to meet the consumption of users, and Station B continues to release the potential energy of transactions and consumption, gradually runs through the marketing path of advertising and bringing goods, expands its commercialization space, and brings a lot of benefits at the same time, and gradually explores a new business model that makes reasonable use of users to make money. The increasingly perfect and mature advertising model and delivery system also give the e-commerce platform more room for cooperation with Station B. This is a great opportunity for Station B to turn losses into profits.
In 2017, the revenue of the game business once accounted for more than eighty percent of its total revenue, but with the development of advertising business and value-added business, the proportion of the advertising business of station B has decreased year by year, and the revenue of the game business in 2019 fell to 53% of the total revenue, and in 2020, it will continue to decline, falling to 40%. Advertising revenue for the third quarter of 2023 was 9900 million yuan, accounting for only 17% of total revenue. The game business of station B is the key to a large number of overseas analysts who are optimistic about station B, and they believe that the game business is the main pillar of station B for many years. Nowadays, the cold of station B in the capital market may also have something to do with the fact that the proportion of its game business is getting lower and lower.
However, the "weak potential" of the game business of Station B is not that Station B does not attach importance to games, on the contrary, Chen Rui, chairman and CEO of Station B, is directly in charge of the game business. According to the "China Times", in November 2022, Bilibili adjusted the reporting line for teams related to the game business. The reporting line of the game innovation product department was adjusted from Zhang Feng, senior vice president of the company, to Chen Rui, CEO of the company, and Zhang Feng was transferred to other businesses of the company. This shows that Chen Rui is in charge of moving out of the game business, which also means that Chen Rui began to focus on games.
Station B is a relatively high concentration of young people in China, the most abundant game content of the platform, there are a large number of young players gathered, which has become the natural advantage of station B game track, Chen Rui is in charge of the game is just from cost control and content production and other aspects of cost reduction and efficiency, after all, no matter how good the game, the cost is too high will also directly affect profits. Judging from the current development trend of station B games, it is not that the game business is stagnant, but that the growth rate of advertising business and value-added business exceeds the growth rate of game business, which makes the proportion of game business revenue lower and lower, which is a "double-edged sword" for station B, because the game business is the foundation of station B, but only relying on the game business, station B has suffered a lot of losses for a long time, resulting in station B itself constantly changing, and the game business has become the biggest "variable".
Comparing station B and its main competitors through the industry, it is found that "survival" is the key, competitors like iQiyi have achieved profits for many consecutive quarters, and the profit pressure of station B is huge. The proportion of the game business is getting lower and lower, but the loss of station B is narrowing, and the chief financial officer of station B even claims to achieve the goal of breaking even in 2024, which is simply not possible to achieve by relying on the game business alone.
Nowadays, Bilibili has greatly improved its advertising and value-added income through cooperation with major e-commerce, and its losses have narrowed significantly, or it is getting closer and closer to profitability. Bilibili has proved its ability to operate efficiently and healthily and sustainably, and its investment value has begun to be highlighted. Investment banks, including Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, have issued ** ratings to station B. This provides a development sample for the industry that once burned a lot of money, and now the daily active users of station B exceed 100 million, or the best opportunity to turn over.
Author |Dream Shaw.
Kunpeng Project