One of China’s largest video-streaming companies, Bilibili, posted a net loss of RMB 6.8 billion ($1.07 billion) in 2021. The loss, which was over two-times that in the previous year, is mostly due to increased spending to recruit new users in an increasingly regulated and competitive sector, reports Caixin.
The figure marked the biggest annual loss for Bilibili, a leading online community for China’s Generation Z. Total 2021 revenue was RMB 19.4 billion, up 61.6% from a year ago. Gross profit margin was 20.86%, compared with major rival iQiyi’s 11.9%, Shanghai-based Bilibili reported Thursday in its unaudited financial report.
The widened loss mainly reflects heavier costs to obtain new users, said Fan Xin, Bilibili’s chief financial officer. Such costs have soared 50% year-on-year in 2021. In the last quarter of 2021, Bilibili’s spending on marketing rose 72.65% to RMB 1.76 billion as the company stepped up efforts to reach new users, the company’s financial report shows. The cost of sales rose 61.7% to RMB 4.68 billion.
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