Bilibili NASDAQ: BILI said first-quarter 2026 revenue rose 7% year over year to RMB 7.5 billion, as growth in advertising and value-added services offset a decline in mobile games revenue. Management said the company continued to expand user engagement, improve margins and invest in artificial intelligence tools across content creation, recommendation and advertising.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rui Chen said the company “kept up the momentum from last year,” citing growth across community metrics, commercialization and profitability. Daily active users increased 8% year over year to 115 million, while monthly active users reached 376 million. Average daily time spent hit a new high of 119 minutes, up 11 minutes from a year earlier, driving a 19% increase in total user time spent.
Chen said Bilibili’s performance reflected a broader shift in user behavior toward higher-quality content. He said the company’s average user is now about 26.5 years old, a cohort that is beginning to spend more on products and services, supporting Bilibili’s monetization efforts.
Advertising Growth Leads Commercial Momentum
Advertising revenue rose 30% year over year to RMB 2.6 billion in the quarter, accelerating from 2025, according to management. Chief Operating Officer Ni Li said the first-quarter result marked Bilibili’s 13th consecutive quarter of double-digit advertising growth.
Ni said the platform’s advertising growth continues to be driven by the value of its community and user base, rather than only traffic volume. She said advertisers are increasingly interested in Bilibili users because they are entering a life stage where personal spending power and household decision-making influence are rising.
The company said its top five advertising verticals in the first quarter were games, internet services, digital products and home appliances, e-commerce and automotive. Game advertising contributed strong incremental growth, while AI-related advertisers in the internet services category increased budgets by more than 170% year over year. Advertising revenue from digital products and home appliances, as well as automotive, each grew more than 30%. Home decoration ad spending increased by more than 130%.
Management also pointed to AI as a driver of advertising efficiency. Chen said deeper AI integration improved user-interest matching and ad delivery, contributing to a 25% year-over-year increase in CTCVR for performance-based ads. Ni said automated ad spending penetration increased to about 85% in the first quarter, and AIGC creative tools are helping advertisers produce materials better suited to Bilibili’s community, with click-through rates generally improving by double digits versus traditional materials.
Margins Expand for 15th Consecutive Quarter
Chief Financial Officer Xin Fan said gross profit rose 9% year over year to RMB 2.8 billion, while gross margin improved to 37.1% from 36.3% a year earlier. The quarter marked Bilibili’s 15th consecutive quarter of margin expansion.
Total operating expenses increased 3% year over year to RMB 2.6 billion. Sales and marketing expenses declined 1%, general and administrative expenses rose 3%, and research and development expenses increased 9%, primarily due to expanded AI investments, partially offset by spending controls.
Operating profit was RMB 167 million, up more than 10 times from a year earlier. Adjusted operating profit reached RMB 524 million, with adjusted operating margin increasing to 7.0% from 4.9% in the same period last year. Net profit was RMB 202 million, compared with a net loss of RMB 11 million in the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted net profit rose 62% year over year to RMB 585 million, and adjusted net margin improved to 7.8% from 5.2%.
As of March 31, Bilibili held RMB 24.2 billion, or $3.5 billion, in cash and cash equivalents, time deposits and short-term investments. Fan said the company repurchased 2.5 million shares for $60.3 million during the quarter under its $200 million share repurchase program. The program has since been completed, with 9.9 million shares purchased in total. Fan said the board is considering renewing the program “at an appropriate time.”
AI Investments Focus on Video Ecosystem
Management said AI investments are focused on three areas: understanding videos, recommending videos and helping creators produce videos. Chen said AI does not change Bilibili’s underlying community model, but “is making our strength even stronger” by amplifying content supply and the platform’s ability to identify quality content.
In the first quarter, the number of daily active creators rose 6% year over year, while daily submissions increased 19%. Chen said Bilibili’s AI creation contest produced nearly 150 breakout works with more than 1 million views each. During the Q&A session, he said the contest’s AIGC videos had generated more than 700 million views in total.
The company said the number of creators with more than 1,000 followers grew more than 30% year over year, while creators with 10,000, 100,000 and 1 million or more followers each grew by more than 20%. Average income per creator increased 24%.
Fan said first-quarter capital expenditures rose about 80% year over year to around RMB 200 million, mainly due to higher server and computing-resource investment to support AI initiatives. For the full year, he said AI-related capital expenditures are expected to increase by approximately RMB 1 billion, with a profit-and-loss impact of around RMB 500 million. The company plans to reduce certain operating expenses to offset part of that impact.
Games Decline Against High Base; Pipeline Expands
Mobile games revenue was RMB 1.5 billion, down 12% year over year and flat quarter over quarter. Chen said the decline was mainly due to a high comparison base from San Guo: Mou Ding Tian Xia in the prior-year period. He said the game’s latest seasons performed steadily quarter over quarter and that Bilibili remains focused on its long-term life cycle.
Evergreen titles Fate/Grand Order and Azur Lane remained stable and continued to provide a revenue base, according to management.
Bilibili is expanding its game pipeline around the Three Kingdoms intellectual property. Chen said N Card: San Guo Dai Xiang Pai, a casual card game soft-launched in April, performed in line with expectations and is scheduled for an official launch in July. He said the game combines hero skills with poker-style mechanics and has resonated with younger users.
Another title, Sanwang: San Guozhi Wang Dao Tianxia, began paid testing in late March. Chen said the SLG game is based on the original San Guozhi IP, includes enhanced 3D visuals and targets a more mature audience than Sanmo. The company plans to launch the title within 2026.
Bilibili also said its self-developed simulation game Lumi Master entered global testing in early May and is targeted for a global launch in the fourth quarter. Chen said the game combines pet hatching with casual gameplay and has received encouraging user feedback. He also noted that Escape from Duckov, another self-developed title, has sold more than 4 million copies, with console and mobile versions in development.
VAS Revenue and Outlook
Value-added services revenue grew 4% year over year to RMB 2.9 billion. Management said live broadcasting remained stable with improved gross margin. Premium members reached 24.8 million at the end of the quarter, up 5% year over year, with about 80% on annual or auto-renewal plans. Revenue from Bilibili’s Charging Plan rose more than 50% year over year, reflecting stronger creator-user relationships and users’ willingness to directly support content.
Looking ahead, Fan said Bilibili expects second-quarter advertising revenue to maintain rapid growth with contributions from AI initiatives. He said gross margin should continue to improve and net profit margin has further room to increase. The company reiterated its mid- to long-term targets of 40% to 45% gross margin and a 15% to 20% operating profit ratio.
About Bilibili NASDAQ: BILI
Bilibili NASDAQ: BILI is a leading Chinese online entertainment platform renowned for its focus on animation, comics and games (ACG) content. The company operates a video-sharing website where users can view, upload and comment on a wide range of content, from full-length anime episodes to user-generated short videos. In addition to on-demand streaming, Bilibili offers live broadcasting services that connect creators with fans through real-time interaction features such as “bullet comments” that flow across the screen.
Beyond its core video community, Bilibili generates revenue through multiple value-added services.
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