Incident: Bilibili's net revenue for 1Q23 was 5.070 billion yuan, an increase of 0.3% over the previous year. The adjusted net loss was 1,031 million yuan. The net loss for the same period last year was 1,655 million yuan, slightly higher than the market's unanimous expectations.
Platform operation efficiency improved. 1Q23 continues to achieve steady growth in the number of users. The total MAU and DAU of the platform increased 7% and 18%, respectively, from last year to 315 million and 94 million, and DAU/MAU increased 2.7 pct to 29.7% year on year. The B-station community maintained an active content creation and interactive ecosystem while cutting costs. The company's sales expenses in the first quarter were 880 million yuan, down 30% from the previous year, and the corresponding sales expenses ratio decreased by 7.4 pct to 17%; in the first quarter, the company's revenue share cost fell 8% year over year to 2 billion yuan, accounting for revenue from 42% in the same period last year to 39%, and gross margin increased pct5.8pct to 22% year on year.
The advertising business has recovered brilliantly. 1Q23 The company's advertising business revenue was 1,272 billion yuan, an increase of 22% over the previous year. Mainly due to the continuous optimization of the company's advertising efficiency, the highly engaged community ecosystem and rich advertising forms attracted more advertisers in the gaming, e-commerce, and technology industries. As the commercialization potential of the platform was further explored, we are optimistic that the company's advertising business will continue to achieve a year-on-year growth rate superior to that of the industry.
The gaming business is expected to resume growth in the second half of the year. The number of games launched by the 1Q23 company has not yet returned to the same period last year. The mobile game business achieved revenue of 1,132 billion yuan, a decrease of 17% over the previous year. Looking ahead, the company already has 8 games that have obtained version numbers, 2 of which self-developed games will be launched in the summer. In addition, various products that will be released overseas during the year will be another revenue growth driver. It is expected that revenue from the game business will resume positive year-on-year growth in the second half of the year.
Revenue from value-added services has been rising steadily. The 1Q23 company achieved value-added service business revenue of 2,156 billion yuan, an increase of 5% over the previous year. Mainly due to the expansion of the number of paying users, 1Q23 had 29 million paying users, an increase of 7% over the previous year, and the proportion of paying users accounted for 9.2% of the total monthly active users.
Profit forecasts and investment recommendations: Revenue for 2023/2024/2025 is expected to be 244/294/334 billion yuan, +11%/+20%/+14% year on year; adjusted net profit of 34/9/12 billion yuan, maintaining the “buy” rating.
Risk warning: commercialization falls short of expectations, user growth falls short of expectations, policy supervision risks.