How did Billy Billi succeed in driving subculture in China?

Bilibili, a Chinese video-sharing service, is supported mainly by Generation Z in China, such as hosting not only videos edited and produced by users or live broadcasts, but also large-scale events. .

Since launching the service in 2009, Bilibili has grown to become one of the most popular video streaming sites in China. Currently, 54 million daily active users spend an average of 75 minutes per day on Bilibili. Most of the users are said to be the generation born between 1985 and 2009, which Billy Bill Lee calls Generation Z+.

Various videos related to subculture, from anime to cartoons, games, and internet memes, are being uploaded on Billy Billie. In addition, users who publish their own videos are called Upzhu, and Bilibili is building its own community and culture.

In China, there are many other video services such as Tencent Video and iQiyi. But among them, Billy Billi, a particularly heterogeneous entity, is a site where unique content creators popular with young people who like subcultures gather the most. According to Bilibili, in the fourth quarter of 2020, UP shares with 1.9 million users uploaded an average of more than 5.9 million videos per month.

A 25-year-old graphic designer who has been using Billy Billy for more than 7 years said that UP Weeks fascinate viewers, and they are always creating new videos. Now, he explains that it is becoming a medium for expressing his ideas.

Popular UP stocks have the same influence as social media. Therefore, Bilibili is actively supporting UP shares and nurturing professional video uploaders. According to one expert, UP, the top creator of Bilibili, is trying to build close emotional bonds, create a unique community atmosphere, and keep users loyal to Bilibili.

In an interview in 2019, Bilibili CEO Chen Rui said that there are only two types of Internet, the good and the bad. . He’s not talking about his goals, he’s saying that if he doesn’t reach the $10 billion threshold, he’ll die.

Bilibili’s stock has risen tenfold since its IPO in the U.S. and is now worth more than $36 billion, exceeding the threshold he said. However, Bilibili recorded a net loss of 3.1 billion yuan in 2020 due to 13 consecutive quarters of losses.

Therefore, Bilibili started not only a video service but also a mobile game business, earning 40% of its sales in 2020 from smartphone games. In addition, the monthly paid premium membership plan gradually increased in the number of subscribers, and in the fourth quarter of 2020, it achieved the highest profit among the Bilibili business.

However, some long-time users of Bilibili resisted the introduction of the premium membership plan. When CEO Chen introduced the premium member, the user community was severely confused and it did not degrade the user experience other than the premium member, so he thought it was no problem at first, but the non-premium member Bilibili no longer loves him. He also said that he was concerned that he might not.

A user who has been using Billy Billy since 2012 mainly watched anime music videos, anime main characters, and game contents. However, he says he stopped watching Bilibili after the platform called Bilibili grew and animation piracy and inappropriate content that had been neglected until then were removed. Bilibili, he said previously, was candid and varied, with all kinds of subcultural content, including taboo and violence, but at a level that recognized and tolerated the existence of heterogeneous hobbies. In this respect, Bilibili was like a telescope through which users like her could see the world, but now it may have just become a mirror, he said. Related information can be found here.