Bilibili and Qutoutiao report strong Q4 results
Online entertainment providers saw major increases in revenue and active user bases during the latest quarter as the coronavirus stoked increased demand for digital media.
Video and gaming site Bilibili saw fourth-quarter revenue surge 74 percent from a year earlier to 2 billion yuan (US$288.4 million) thanks to increased monetization and diversified revenue streams.
Income from live broadcasting and value-added related services increased 183 percent to 570.9 million yuan.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chen Rui noted that growth in user traffic, user engagement and time spent exceeded expectation during the coronavirus outbreak as viewers spent more time on digital entertainment.
Still, the company’s net loss climbed to 336.9 million yuan, from 152.0 million yuan a year earlier.
Average monthly paying users doubled from that of 2018 to 8.8 million as it ramped up investment on animation, comics and gaming titles. Its daily active user base increased 41 percent to 38 million by the end of December.
Qutoutiao said its news aggregating and short video sites reported an average monthly active user base of 137.9 million, an increase of 46.9 percent from a year ago.
Revenue went up 25 percent to 1.65 billion yuan with advertising and marketing income adding 27 percent to 1.58 billion yuan thanks to increases in user base and ability to monetize user traffic.
Net loss was 562.8 million yuan, up 41 percent from 398.5 million yuan in the year-earlier quarter.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Qutoutiao Tan Siliang expect a "low key" performance this year as COVID-19 has introduced uncertainty into the economic outlook and put pressures the advertising industry in China.
"But we're confident to be a clear beneficiary amid the advertising budget shifting trend towards performance-based models as we further strengthen our competitive position in the market,” he noted.
It has also extended into online reading, videos and short videos to diversify its digital offerings.
