Online entertainment platform Bilibili posts strong earnings in second quarter amid mobile gaming boom

Bilibili’s mobile game revenue grew 36 per cent in the second quarter, more than NetEase’s 21 per cent but lower than Tencent’s 40 per cent in the same period

Stay-at-home orders issued globally during the Covid-19 pandemic have pushed millions of people to turn to online consumption and entertainment

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Mobile games continued to be the biggest source of revenue for Bilibili, accounting for 48 per cent of the company’s total revenue in the second quarter. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:45pm, 27 Aug 2020Updated: 10:33pm, 27 Aug 2020

Online entertainment platform Bilibili beat market expectations, reporting 70 per cent year-on-year growth in its net revenues to 2.62 billion yuan (US$370.5 million) for the second quarter, as the stay-at-home economy bolsters mobile gaming and demand for other online entertainment services.

Mobile games continued to be the biggest source of revenue for Bilibili, accounting for 48 per cent of the company’s total revenue in the second quarter. Revenues from mobile games grew 36 per cent from the same period last year, reaching 1.248 billion yuan in the quarter.

“The increase [in mobile gaming revenue] was primarily due to the successful newly launched mobile game Princess Connect, and the sustained stable performance of existing mobile games,” Bilibili said in a press release on Wednesday.

The Nasdaq-listed company’s strong performance in mobile gaming reflect a surge in overall game sales in the first half of the year, as stay-at-home orders issued globally during the Covid-19 pandemic push millions of people to turn to online consumption and entertainment.

Sales of games in China surged to 139.4 billion yuan from January to June, 22.3 per cent higher than the same period last year, according to a report in July by the government-backed China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association.

Bilibili‘s growth in games was faster than that of NetEase – China’s second-largest game publisher – which posted a 21 per cent increase in game revenue in the same quarter, but slower than that of market leader Tencent Holdings which saw its revenues from games grow 40 per cent.