Bilibili turned a profit for the year, but Uncle's new project has just begun

Three years ago, Bilibili was in its darkest hour.

In 2022 and 2023, Bilibili’s annual net losses reached 7.5 billion yuan and 4.8 billion yuan respectively, burning through over 12 billion in two years. The common market consensus was that “Bilibili’s traffic is hard to monetize,” and its business model was widely questioned.

The turning point came in early 2024. Chairman and CEO Chen Rui made a bold promise during the earnings call: to achieve positive operating profit in the third quarter of 2024. This once-considered “impossible task” was delivered on time in Q3—Bilibili posted a adjusted net profit of 236 million yuan, its first quarterly profit since listing, breaking the market’s perception of its “unprofitability.” For the full year 2024, Bilibili’s revenue reached 26.83B yuan, up 19% year-over-year, with net losses narrowed to 1.36B yuan, just one step away from annual profitability.

On the evening of March 5, Bilibili announced its full-year results for 2025: total revenue of 30.35 billion yuan, up 13%; adjusted net profit of 2.59 billion yuan, achieving full-year profitability for the first time. The company generated 7.1 billion yuan in positive operating cash flow for the year, ending with cash on hand of 24.15 billion yuan.

From a massive loss of 7.5 billion to a profit of 2.59 billion, Bilibili spent three years turning the tide. Chen Rui called 2025 a “milestone year.”

However, the capital market is cold-hearted. For a company with 366 million MAU and revenue surpassing 30 billion yuan, “whether it can make money” is no longer a question mark; now, the market is watching how fast you can grow. For Bilibili’s management, a new industry-wide test has just begun.

After the scale grew large, how to maintain growth?

Breaking down Bilibili’s revenue data for 2025 across four quarters, the trend of growth slowdown is clear: Q1 revenue was 7.0 billion yuan, up 24%; Q2 was 7.34 billion yuan, up 20%; Q3 was 7.69 billion yuan, up 5%; Q4 was 8.32 billion yuan, up 8%. The full-year growth rate of 13% is lower than 19% in 2024.

The quarterly narrowing trend is very obvious. Growth in Q3 sharply fell to 5%, mainly due to the high base effect from the first year of the release of “Three Kingdoms: Strategy for the World.” Although Q4 rebounded to 8%, compared to 22% in Q4 2024, the growth clearly slowed.

User data is also worth a close look. In Q4, daily active users (DAU) reached 113 million, up 10% year-over-year; monthly active users (MAU) reached 366 million, up 8% year-over-year—these figures are still increasing on a year-over-year basis. But another signal from a different dimension is more noteworthy: in Q3, Bilibili’s DAU hit 117 million and MAU reached 376 million, both record highs; by Q4, DAU decreased by 4 million to 113 million, and MAU decreased by 10 million to 366 million on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

This does not mean Bilibili is “failing.” For a platform with nearly 370 million MAU, user scale cannot grow linearly forever, but it signals that Bilibili is entering a gear-shift moment: from user acquisition-driven growth to value per user-driven growth.

The good news is, this shift is already happening. In Q4, the average monthly paying users reached 35.66 million, up 21% year-over-year, setting a new record. The number of VIP members was 25.35 million, up 12%, with about 80% being annual subscription or auto-renewal users. While MAU declined quarter-over-quarter, paying users increased by 21%—indicating that users’ willingness to pay and stickiness are still rising. Chen Rui also pointed out that the average age of Bilibili users has reached 26, and “disposable income is increasing, and consumption scenarios will cover more areas of daily life.”

There is room for ARPU growth, but whether the pace can outstrip the slowdown in MAU growth remains a core question for the coming quarters.

Advertising surpassing 500k: where will the next hundred billion come from?

Advertising is the most eye-catching structural change in this financial report.

In 2025, Bilibili’s full-year advertising revenue was 10.06 billion yuan, up 23%, accounting for 33% of total revenue.

Looking back three years, in 2022, advertising revenue was 5.07 billion yuan, accounting for 23.1%; in 2023, it was 6.41 billion yuan, up 27%. Over three years, advertising revenue doubled, and its proportion rose from 23% to 33%. Advertising, along with gaming and value-added services, forms the three pillars of Bilibili’s revenue, and is now the fastest-growing among them.

Q4 advertising revenue was 3.04 billion yuan, up 27%, maintaining high year-over-year growth for 12 consecutive quarters, with the growth rate accelerating from 20% in Q1 to 27% in Q4. The top five advertising industries are gaming, digital appliances, online services, e-commerce, and automotive.

In 2025, when brand advertisers are generally tightening budgets, most leading internet companies whose main business includes advertising are experiencing around 10% growth, yet Bilibili has maintained over 20% growth for several consecutive quarters. The key reason is that Bilibili holds a unique card—AI.

Bilibili’s AI-related advertising grew 180% year-over-year, making it the most explosive category in Bilibili’s ad growth. The logic is simple: Bilibili is China’s most prominent community for AI content, with over 120 million people consuming AI content monthly, and AI content watch time in Q4 increased 53% year-over-year.

When AI companies need to promote products, build brand awareness, or acquire users, Bilibili is almost unavoidable. In 2024, Observer Network noted that AI would reshape Bilibili’s user value, a conclusion now fully supported by data.

Of course, the growth rate of AI advertising itself is also experiencing a natural convergence: nearly 400% YoY in Q1, nearly 90% in Q3, averaging 180% for the year. This pattern is similar to any emerging category—initial explosive growth, mid-term normalization, and eventual stabilization. The key question is whether, after the pulse subsides, AI will settle into a permanent category within Bilibili’s ad ecosystem, like e-commerce and gaming. Given the current penetration of AI content on Bilibili, this is quite likely.

Data from the Double 11 shopping festival also demonstrates the “value” of Bilibili’s advertising: the industry average new customer rate was 55%, and GMV of products over 1,000 yuan increased 63% YoY. The consumption potential of Bilibili’s high-value young users continues to be “exploited.”

Reaching 10 billion yuan in advertising revenue is a milestone, but only the beginning. How to grow from 10 billion to 20 billion will require management to put in even greater effort than in the past three years.

Gaming: evergreen and new sprouts

Gaming revenue for the full year was 6.39 billion yuan, up 14%, with Q4 contributing 1.54 billion yuan. This growth is lower than 40% in 2024—full-year 2024 gaming revenue was 5.61 billion yuan, boosted significantly by the first-year launch of “Three Kingdoms: Strategy for the World.” As it enters its second year of operation, growth naturally slows due to high base effects.

But more important than the growth figures is Bilibili’s unique ability in gaming: nurturing long-term evergreen titles.

Bilibili’s gaming business has a rarely mentioned but crucial feature: its revenue base is firmly supported by a few long-running games. “Fate/Grand Order” has been running for its 9th year, and “Azur Lane” is in its 8th year, both still steadily contributing revenue. Plus, “Three Kingdoms: Strategy for the World,” which performed well in its second year, is also a major contributor. According to broker estimates, these three games alone account for the majority of Bilibili’s gaming revenue.

This structure suggests that “Three Kingdoms” could become the next evergreen title. Chen Rui said during the earnings call, “We are confident that ‘Three Kingdoms: Strategy for the World’ can have a lifecycle of at least five years, bringing us stable gaming revenue.” “Three Kingdoms” has maintained a top five position on iOS charts for nine consecutive seasons after updates—Bilibili’s long-term experience with “Fate/Grand Order” and “Azur Lane” shows it knows how to nurture a good game into a perennial favorite. This “nurturing” ability is rare in China’s gaming industry.

Beyond these long-term titles, Bilibili has also cultivated an unexpected new sprout.

“Escape from Duckov” was developed by Team Soda (Carbonated Squad), a studio under Bilibili Games. Within four days of release on Steam, it sold over 500k copies, and in its first week, surpassed 1 million copies sold. In January 2026, “Escape from Duckov” ranked first among domestic games in 2025 with 3.8 million sales, totaling 250 million yuan in revenue.

Team Soda has only five employees—three planners and two artists—each wearing multiple hats. A small team of five, priced at 58 yuan for a buyout indie game, cannot match the revenue scale of long-term SLG titles like “Three Kingdoms.” But it demonstrates another capability: Bilibili can produce high-quality single-player games with excellent reputation and sales using minimal teams and costs. Bilibili’s trust and support for Team Soda over the years made this success possible.

Chen Rui summarized these two products as successful cases of the “category youthification” strategy—avoiding overwork and excessive spending, and daring to excel in niche segments.

It’s worth noting that the mobile port of “Escape from Duckov” has already started development. If the mobile version succeeds, its commercial value will be greatly amplified. Meanwhile, the new game “Three Kingdoms: Hundred Generals” has received positive feedback in closed testing and plans to open a final test on March 18.

As Bilibili’s second non-anime product, “Three Kingdoms: Hundred Generals” has a broader story space than “Three Kingdoms.” Under the youth-oriented strategy, Bilibili’s game business is extending into the card game genre, a natural large-scale DAU track.

From SLG to buyout indie games to casual competitive card games, Bilibili is transforming from a “second-dimensional game agent” into a multi-category, multi-track boutique gaming platform. Whether it can cultivate a second evergreen title beyond “Three Kingdoms” remains the most critical question for 2026.

After making money, Bilibili must answer a bigger question

Bilibili has completed a turnaround in three years. From a massive loss of 7.5 billion yuan to a full-year profit of 2.59 billion yuan, with gross margin rising to 37% for 14 consecutive quarters, advertising surpassing 10 billion yuan, and hit titles in gaming—its business model is now proven.

But proving the model and sustaining it are two different things.

In 2025, Bilibili is like a young person who has just paid off debts: finally with some surplus, but next steps—buying a house, getting married, or starting a business—are more challenging than just “staying afloat.” Revenue growth slowed from 19% to 13%, MAU growth has narrowed after approaching 400 million, the pulse of AI advertising will eventually normalize, and whether the gaming business can continue to develop high-quality titles—all point to the same core question: what will drive Bilibili’s growth in the future?

Chen Rui defined 2026 as “an era where AI is reshaping content creation, community experience, and business efficiency.” AI is not just an incremental revenue source for Bilibili; it could also reshape content production costs and community distribution efficiency—yet how to play this card remains at the narrative stage, not yet reflected in financial data.

Three years ago, the market asked Bilibili: can you make money? Bilibili answered with a 2.59 billion yuan profit. Now, the question has shifted: can you maintain the growth rate of a startup on a 30 billion yuan scale?

There is no standard answer. But after 16 years of continuous losses, Bilibili finally “cleared the clouds” in Uncle Rui’s hands. Perhaps we should give this company a bit more patience. After all, in an era obsessed with quick gains, those who persist for over a decade to nurture a community and ultimately prove that “good content can sustain itself” are worth trusting.