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BIBILI

Bilibili (BILI) Q1 FY26 earnings call: guidance and Q&A

Earnings call· Mar 2026 (Q1 FY26)· Information Technology· May 19, 2026

Source: earnings call transcript

Executive summary

Bilibili Q1 FY26 — Strong Growth in Community, Commercialization, and Profitability Driven by AI

Bilibili delivered a strong first quarter, demonstrating robust growth across its community, commercialization efforts, and profitability. The company highlighted the increasing leverage of AI in enhancing content creation, user engagement, and advertising efficiency, which is translating into tangible financial benefits and margin expansion. Management remains focused on strengthening its ecosystem flywheel and investing in long-term growth areas, with a commitment to shareholder returns through potential share repurchase renewals.

Highlights

5

  • Total revenues grew 7% year-over-year to RMB 7.5 billion.

  • Advertising revenue grew 30% year-over-year to RMB 2.6 billion, accelerating from 2025.

  • Adjusted net profit grew 62% year-over-year to RMB 585 million, with margin expanding to 7.8%.

  • Gross margin reached 37.1%, marking the 15th consecutive quarter of expansion.

  • DAUs grew 8% year-over-year to 115 million, and average daily time spent reached a new high of 119 minutes, up 11 minutes year-over-year.

Concerns

2

  • Mobile games revenue decreased 12% year-over-year to RMB 1.5 billion, primarily due to a high base from San Guo: Mou Ding Tian Xia in the prior year.

  • VAS revenue growth was modest at 4% year-over-year, reaching RMB 2.9 billion.

Guidance & targets

CategoryTargetConfidence
Mid- to long-term gross margin target
45%
high materiality
High
Mid- to long-term operating profit ratio target
15% to 20%
high materiality
High
Full-year AI-related CapEx increase
RMB 1 billion
medium materiality
High
Full-year AI-related CapEx P&L impact
RMB 500 million
medium materiality
High
Q2 advertising revenue growth
rapid growth
high materiality
High
Q2 gross margin
steadily improving
medium materiality
High
Q2 net profit margin
further room to increase
medium materiality
High
NCard, San Guo: Bai Jiang Pai official launch
July this year
medium materiality
High
San Guo: Mou Ding Tian new SLG title rollout
late this year
medium materiality
High
Lumi Master, Caoba, Lumi global launch
Q4 this year
medium materiality
High

Segment performance

SegmentRevenueYoYQoQMargin
VAS (Value-Added Services)
Refined live broadcasting operations delivered stable performance with improved gross margin. Premium members and fan charging program showed healthy growth.
Premium members: 24.8 millionPremium members growth YoY: 5%Premium members on annual/auto renewal: ~80%Fan charging program revenue growth YoY: >50%
RMB 2.9 billion4%—improved gross margin
Advertising
Delivered standout results with accelerating growth, reflecting the value of the community and effective AI integration. Strong performance across diverse verticals and new ad scenarios.
Consecutive quarters of double-digit growth: 13thTop 5 ad verticals: games, Internet services, digital products and home appliances, e-commerce, automotiveAI advertisers budget surging YoY: >170% (Internet services sector)Digital products and home appliances ad revenue growth YoY: >30%Automotive ad revenue growth YoY: >30%Home decoration ad spending jump YoY: >130%CTCVR of performance-based ads increase YoY: 25%Automated ad spending penetration: ~85%PC and OTT ad revenues growth YoY: >50%Search and mini programs ad revenues growth: >100%
RMB 2.6 billion30%——
Mobile Games
Year-over-year decline mainly due to a high base from San Guo: Mou Ding Tian Xia in the same period last year. Evergreen titles FGO and Azur Lane remained stable.
RMB 1.5 billion-12%0%—

BILI operating KPIs by quarter

BILI operating KPIs stated on its earnings calls, by fiscal quarter
KPI Dec 2025 Q4 FY25This call Mar 2026 Q1 FY26 Jun 2026 Q2 FY26Change vs prior quarter
Daily active users (DAU)
113M DAU growth accelerated every single quarter year-over-year, up 4% in Q1, 7% in Q2, 9% in Q3 and 10% in Q4, hitting 113 million users. Source: earnings call transcript
115M In Q1, DAUs grew 8% year-over-year to 115 million and MAUs increased to 376 million. Source: earnings call transcript
117M In Q2, DAUs increased by 7% year-over-year to 117 million, while MAUs grew to 371 million. Source: earnings call transcript
+1.7%
Monthly active users (MAU)
366M Q4 MAUs also grew by 8% year-over-year to 366 million. Source: earnings call transcript
376M In Q1, DAUs grew 8% year-over-year to 115 million and MAUs increased to 376 million. Source: earnings call transcript
371M In Q2, DAUs increased by 7% year-over-year to 117 million, while MAUs grew to 371 million. Source: earnings call transcript
-1.3%
Average daily time spent per user
107 In Q4, average daily time spend continued to rise, up 8% to 107 minutes. Source: earnings call transcript
—
113 Average daily time spend rose to 113 minutes from 105 minutes a year ago, which drove total time spent of over 14%. Source: earnings call transcript
—
Monthly paying users
36M This is reflected in our MPUs, which surged 21% year-over-year to a record 36 million. Source: earnings call transcript
34.4M Meanwhile, MPUs increased by 7% year-over-year to 34.4 million as more users directly pay for content and services they truly care about on our platform. Source: earnings call transcript
33.4M Meanwhile, MPUs increased 7% year-over-year to 33.4 million, reflecting users increasing willingness to pay for the content and community experiences they truly value. Source: earnings call transcript
-2.9%
Official members
284M+ By the end of 2025, we had over 284 million official members and their 12-month retention rate remained stable at around 80%. Source: earnings call transcript
291M In the first quarter, total user time spent rose 19% year-over-year and 291 million official members maintained an 80% 12-month retention rate. Source: earnings call transcript
299M By the end of Q2, our official members reached 299 million with 12-month retention remaining solid at around 80%. Source: earnings call transcript
+2.7%
Official member 12-month retention rate
~80% By the end of 2025, we had over 284 million official members and their 12-month retention rate remained stable at around 80%. Source: earnings call transcript
80% In the first quarter, total user time spent rose 19% year-over-year and 291 million official members maintained an 80% 12-month retention rate. Source: earnings call transcript
~80% By the end of Q2, our official members reached 299 million with 12-month retention remaining solid at around 80%. Source: earnings call transcript
—
Paid subscribers
25.3M Premium memberships reached 25.3 million by year-end, up 12% year-over-year supported by a strong performance from our Chinese anime slate led by our hit production, Mortal's Journey to Immortality, [Foreign Language], annual subscriptions and auto renewals remained around 80%, highlighting the loyalty and long-term commitment of our core community. Source: earnings call transcript
24.8M Premium members reached 24.8 million by the end of the first quarter, up 5% year-over-year. Source: earnings call transcript
25.7M At the end of Q2, premium members reached 25.7 million up 9% year-over-year with around 80% on annual or auto renewal plans. Source: earnings call transcript
+3.6%

Operating figures the company stated on at least two of the calls shown, checked against each call's transcript. Click a figure to read the sentence. A dash means it was not stated that quarter.

Product announcements

ProductTypeDetails
NCard, San Guo: Bai Jiang Pailaunch
San Guo: Mou Ding Tian (new SLG title)launch
Lumi Master, Caoba, Lumilaunch

Risks & headwinds

High base for mobile games revenue Q1 FY26

Q1 FY26 mobile games revenue down 12% year-over-year

Mitigation:Focus on long-term game life cycle for existing titles (e.g., San Guo: Mou Ding Tian Xia) and expanding pipeline with new titles (NCard, new SLG San Guo, Lumi Master) to diversify revenue sources and target different user groups.

Upfront investment for AI FY26

Full-year AI-related CapEx expected to increase by RMB 1 billion, with a P&L impact of RMB 500 million.

Mitigation:Offsetting part of the impact by cutting certain OpEx expenses. Expecting returns in engagement, monetization, and meaningful efficiencies across operations, directly supporting margin expansion.

What to watch in Q2 FY26

Q2 advertising revenue growth

Q2 FY26
Current 30% YoY in Q1
Target rapid growth

Why it matters

Advertising is a key growth driver, and continued rapid growth, especially with AI contributions, is crucial for overall revenue and profitability.

We expect Q2 advertising revenue to maintain rapid growth with the contribution from our AI initiatives with gross margin steadily improving and the net profit margin has further room to increase.

Find out whether BILI delivers this. Inve re-checks your case every morning.

Q&A highlights

How significant is AI in driving user acquisition and engagement, and what is its strategic role in Bilibili's content ecosystem?

AI amplifies Bilibili's strengths by boosting content supply and quality, and enhancing community engagement. Daily active creators grew 6% YoY and daily submissions 19% YoY. AI tools enable higher quality content creation, as seen in music and film examples, and AIGC videos surpassing 1 million views. AI also improves content discovery, leading to significant growth in creator followers (e.g., >30% for creators with 1,000+ followers) and average creator income (+24% YoY). The company believes AI can make Bilibili 10x more valuable.

“AI is not only helping us to increase supply, but we are seeing is bringing so much quality into our content offering.”

asked by Lincoln Kong · answered by Juliet Yang

2 min read 5 chapters

Detailed narrative

AI as an Accelerator for Ecosystem Growth

Bilibili is leveraging AI to reinforce its content ecosystem and community flywheel, focusing investments on video understanding, distribution, and creation. AI-powered tools have significantly boosted creator productivity, leading to a 6% year-over-year increase in daily active creators and a 19% increase in daily submissions in Q1. The company notes that AI is not only increasing content quantity but also quality, with AIGC videos achieving over 1 million views in recent contests, and creators with over 1,000 followers growing by more than 30% year-over-year.

Advertising Business Outperformance

The advertising business delivered standout results, with revenues growing 30% year-over-year to RMB 2.6 billion, marking the 13th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. This acceleration is attributed to the high value of Bilibili's maturing user base (average age 26.5 years) and deeper AI integration into advertising algorithms. AI has optimized ad matching, resulting in a 25% year-over-year increase in CTCVR for performance-based ads and improved click-through rates for AIGC creatives. The company is also expanding ad inventory across PC, OTT, search, and mini-programs.

Strategic Game Development and Pipeline

While game revenues saw a 12% year-over-year decline due to a high prior-year base, Bilibili is actively expanding its game pipeline with a focus on long-term operations, segment leadership, and catering to young gamers. Key upcoming titles include NCard, San Guo: Bai Jiang Pai (casual card game launching July), and a new SLG title, San Guo: Mou Ding Tian (rolling out late this year). The self-developed simulation game Lumi Master is targeting a global launch in Q4. The company also highlighted the continued success of 'Escape from Duckov,' which has sold over 4 million copies.

Financial Performance and Margin Expansion

Bilibili achieved strong financial performance with total revenues of RMB 7.5 billion (+7% YoY) and gross profit of RMB 2.8 billion (+9% YoY). Gross margin expanded to 37.1%, marking the 15th consecutive quarter of improvement. Adjusted net profit surged 62% year-over-year to RMB 585 million, with the adjusted net profit margin reaching 7.8%. Operating expenses were well-managed, increasing only 3% year-over-year, despite a 9% increase in R&D due to AI investments.

Capital Allocation and Shareholder Returns

The company maintains a disciplined approach to capital, with cash and short-term investments totaling RMB 24.2 billion (USD 3.5 billion) as of March 31, 2026. Bilibili completed its USD 200 million share repurchase program, buying back 9.9 million shares, and the Board is considering renewing the program. AI-related CapEx increased 80% year-over-year in Q1 to approximately RMB 200 million, with a full-year forecast of an additional RMB 1 billion increase, impacting P&L by RMB 500 million, partially offset by OpEx cuts.

Summary of the company's earnings call; see how call summaries are prepared. Not investment advice.