Bilibili (Bilibili) Product Analysis

Bilibili was originally a two-dimensional website with a clear positioning, focusing on community culture and having many excellent UP hosts. Bilibili's ecosystem is relatively complete and distinct, and users can clearly understand the positioning of each section in the classification. The author of this article has analyzed Bilibili in detail, so let's take a look at it together.

My first introduction to Bilibili (B Station for short) was due to recommendations from many people: there are a lot of practical tutorials on B Station, covering office software, photography, beauty, and so on.

When I first entered university and had some free time to improve myself, I immediately downloaded Bilibili; the high threshold of having to pass questions in order to post comments made me feel good about this community.

After entering Bilibili, I found that there are not only useful information, but also many funny, food-show, cute pet and other videos, which made me fall in love with it completely. In the years at Bilibili, I have witnessed many part-time up-loaders quit their jobs and become full-time; many college student up-loaders become full-time bloggers after graduation.

Recently, the development of Bilibili has been like a rocket; UP hosts are going overseas, and foreign celebrities and internet celebrities have joined. It can be seen that the influence of Bilibili is getting bigger and bigger. I believe that the development of Bilibili will get better and better.

This article will analyze from the following aspects:

• Product function structure
• Competitive product analysis
• User Analysis
• User research
• Product Analysis
• Summarize

1. Bilibili product function structure

Product Architecture

2. Competitive Product Analysis

2.1 Product Positioning

Bilibili was initially positioned as a two-dimensional community, and after years of development it has gradually evolved into a comprehensive video community.

While it monopolizes the content of the two-dimensional field, it also keeps pace in other fields; especially UGC videos, which account for 90% of the total video views; it has also purchased many film and television copyrights and even participated in the production. Bilibili is positioned as a comprehensive video website that provides interesting videos for young Chinese people.

2.2 Competitive Product Analysis

Bilibili has already occupied a monopoly position in the two-dimensional field, and its competitors are not two-dimensional communities smaller than it, such as Diyidan and AcFun.

It has gradually expanded from a niche two-dimensional circle to China's young groups. If it wants to continue to grow and develop, it will inevitably compete with the three major video giants serving all Chinese netizens in the future: Tencent Video, iQiyi and Youku.

The core business of Xigua Video is most similar to that of Bilibili. In June 2020, UP host Wizard Finance had a dispute with Bilibili and announced his withdrawal from Bilibili. People were shocked to realize that many UP hosts had been poached by Xigua Video - the competition between the two platforms has already begun.

Therefore, Bilibili’s main competitors are: Xigua Video, Tencent Video and iQiyi.

2.2.1 Business Distribution

Business Distribution

The above is the business distribution diagram of Bilibili and its competitors. It can be seen that:

Bilibili's core business is UGC video, supplemented by copyrighted content such as animation and documentaries. The community atmosphere created by Bilibili is good, the enthusiasm for UGC creation is very high, and the UGC content ecosystem is well built.

However, due to its early promise that it would not deteriorate and would not add video interstitial ads, it is currently difficult to monetize UGC-type video business, and most UP hosts generate electricity with love; Bilibili has also introduced a large number of copyrighted videos. Since it started out in the two-dimensional culture, it attaches importance to the expansion of animation content, using both domestic and imported methods; in terms of the introduction of animation, its exclusive copyright animation far exceeds that of other platforms; Bilibili has also invested in many domestic animations, reflecting its exploration and attention to IP.

Due to the pan-knowledge nature of Bilibili, the documentary "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" became a hit on Bilibili. Bilibili took the opportunity to introduce a large number of excellent overseas documentaries and also began to participate in the production of original documentaries, such as "A String of Life".

Bilibili's gaming business revenue has always accounted for the majority of its revenue, until it dropped to 50% in Q3 2019; gaming revenue mainly comes from the exclusive agency games FGO and Azur Lane, and based on their performance in overseas markets, they can continue to maintain such revenue in the next few years; the decline in the proportion of gaming business revenue is due to Bilibili's development of other businesses such as live streaming and advertising.

Bilibili started live streaming relatively late, so there is a lot of room for development. One huge advantage is that it can directly convert UP hosts who have their own fans into live broadcasters. Due to the pan-knowledge nature of Bilibili, there are many types of live broadcasts, and live broadcasts of learning, painting, etc. are often on the recommendation page. Bilibili's high-profile signing of "Douyu No. 1" Feng Timo and the acquisition of the live broadcast rights for the League of Legends Global Finals in China for the next three years all show its determination to develop the live streaming business.

For video websites, the importance of advertising and membership is self-evident. If you want to have a better experience on Bilibili, you need to purchase a membership. Copyrighted content such as animation series, classic movies, etc. are almost exclusively available to premium members. In addition to membership, Bilibili has also explored other payment methods, such as pay-per-view, animation series contracting, etc.

Bilibili’s advertising revenue in Q4 2019 was 290 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 81%. The fact that it has grown against the trend despite the overall sluggish advertising environment proves advertisers' favor for Bilibili.

The growth of e-commerce business is also amazing, with revenue approaching that of advertising business; Bilibili's products are displayed on the homepage TAB Member Shopping, mainly focusing on two-dimensional figures and peripherals; Bilibili has also opened a classroom area, starting the attempt to pay for knowledge, and there is also an audio area where you can buy music albums.

As giants in the long-form video field, iQiyi and Tencent Video have highly similar business content. Their core businesses are copyrighted videos such as TV series, movies, and variety shows. The number of active users of Tencent Video and iQiyi has exceeded 600 million, and the number of paid members has exceeded 100 million.

However, due to fierce competition among the three major platforms, iQiyi, Tencent Video and Youku, the content is highly homogenized and user loyalty is low. Users will go to whichever platform has high-quality content. Their competition has also caused video copyright fees to soar. In order to reduce costs, they have started to produce their own content in recent years, and this model has gradually taken shape.

The profits of iQiyi and Tencent Video mainly come from membership and advertising businesses. In order to improve user retention, they have launched measures such as more favorable automatic renewal of memberships. Generally speaking, membership income and advertising income cannot be achieved at the same time. Users will not see ads after buying a membership. However, member-exclusive ads and advanced on-demand modes are becoming more and more common on major video sites - all these operations show that their membership + advertising model has fallen into a dilemma.

In addition to copyrighted videos, iQiyi and Tencent Video have also set up UGC short video modules, both in the second TAB position on the homepage; iQiyi's section is called Suike Video, which is divided into recommendations, VOLG and short video areas, with both short videos and medium and long videos; Tencent Video only has a short video module that is highly similar to Douyin.

The rise of the fan economy has also led them to explore the creation of interactive communities between celebrities and fans. In 2015, iQiyi took the lead in launching the Bubble Community, and in 2017, Tencent Video also launched the Doki Community. However, the development of these star-chasing communities has been lukewarm and has little presence.

The core business of Xigua Video is more similar to that of Bilibili. From the very beginning of its launch, it has been benchmarking against Youtube abroad and vigorously developing UGC videos; however, the UGC content ecosystem has not been well built, and it faces the dilemma of difficulty in converting users into bloggers.

While developing UGC videos, it also entered the field of long videos. In August 2018, it announced its entry into the field of self-produced variety shows, and subsequently broadcast a number of long variety shows and micro variety shows (with a duration of 5-20 minutes); in the purchase of film and television drama copyrights, Xigua Video chose classic works, and most of them can be watched for free; during this year's Spring Festival, Xigua Video purchased "Lost in Russia" for free broadcast at 630 million yuan, and successfully went viral.

Live streaming is also an important business of Xigua Video. Its live streaming focuses on games, music, countryside, life, media, and cars, with distinctive features.

2.2.2 Development History

Development History

The above is a summary of the development history of Bilibili, Xigua Video, Tencent Video and iQiyi. It can be seen that: Bilibili was originally positioned as a two-dimensional website; out of its love for two-dimensional culture, it attached great importance to the creation of the community from the beginning of its establishment, which can be seen from its New Year's Festival activities and the setting of the image of the station girls; Bilibili attaches great importance to the community atmosphere. Visitors cannot send barrages and must pass questions to become formal members, and the entry threshold is high.

Its friendly and highly interactive community atmosphere makes UP hosts happy to generate electricity with love; and the high-quality content created by UP hosts encourages more content consumers to create videos, and also attracts content creators from other platforms.

In October 2013, Bilibili held the first BML (Bilibili Macro Link) offline event, extending the interaction between UP hosts and their fans offline; in January 2016, the charging function was launched, allowing users to reward UP hosts to better support video creators; in addition, in order to support creators, Bilibili launched a creation incentive plan, which can reduce the burden on UP hosts to a certain extent.

During its development, Bilibili's users have gradually transformed from 2D culture enthusiasts to young people; as its UGC content has become richer, Bilibili has also created various sections, including the live broadcast section, life section, national creation section, column section, audio section, VLOG section, knowledge section, etc.; nowadays, the playback volume of UGC videos has accounted for about 90% of the total playback volume, becoming the core content.

In July 2014, Bilibili purchased the first official animation drama "Mei Du!" Urayasu Tiejin Family", thus entering the field of copyrighted videos; to date, the number of animation series on Bilibili far exceeds that of other platforms, making it the first choice for chasing animation; in February 2016, the documentary "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" became popular on Bilibili. Bilibili discovered the potential of documentaries and began to introduce excellent overseas documentaries.

In October of the same year, Bilibili launched a paid membership service - Premium Membership. Premium members have exclusive access to classic movies, TV series and documentaries. As of the end of December, the number of premium members had reached 7.6 million.

In September 2016, Bilibili announced that it was the exclusive agent for the mobile game Fate/Grand Order. In 2017, Bilibili’s gaming business accounted for 83.4% of its total revenue, of which FGO contributed 71.8%. The gaming business was the main source of revenue for Bilibili, and it only dropped to 50% in Q3 2019.

On November 4, 2014, Bilibili launched the live broadcast function. On October 19, 2016, the "I want to live broadcast" button was added to the live broadcast homepage to encourage all users to live broadcast; on December 3, 2019, Bilibili spent 800 million to buy the three-year live broadcast rights of the League of Legends Global Finals, and soon after signed the well-known anchor Feng Timo, and began to vigorously develop the live broadcast field.

On November 2, 2017, version 5.17, a new “Member Purchase” entrance was added to the Bilibili homepage, launching its e-commerce business.

The "The Most Beautiful Night" party at the end of 2019 and the promotional video "The Next Wave" in May 2020 went viral, winning a group of new users for Bilibili. Bilibili also received investments from Tencent, Alibaba, and Sony in 2019 and 2020, indicating that its development is highly favored by capital.

Xigua Video was only launched in 2016, but has developed extremely rapidly. On September 20, 2016, less than four months after its launch, it announced an investment of 1 billion RMB to support short video creators. In November 2017, it continued to invest 2 billion RMB in the fund to implement the "3+X" plan to help short video creators monetize. The so-called “3+X” plan refers to platform upgrade profit-sharing, watch-while-buy, and live streaming.

Soon after, in January 2018, Xigua Video launched the live quiz show "Million Heroes" where players could win prizes by answering questions, which attracted nearly 300 million participants in total. The event was very successful, and in just a few days, the Xigua Video app reached the second place on the APP Store's overall ranking. Despite this, compared to Bilibili, Xigua Video's UGC ecosystem has not yet been built, and most users only watch but do not shoot.

In August 2018, Xigua Video announced its entry into the field of self-produced variety shows. Then, "The Number One Mission" and "Didn't Do Well in the Exam? It has broadcast many variety shows such as "It's Okay", and its slogan has changed to: popular celebrities, mobile variety shows.

Xigua Video has also begun purchasing the copyrights of film and television dramas. In June 2019, a number of classic film and television works were launched on Xigua Video, such as "Serious Crime Unit 6" and "Drawing Sword"; on January 25, 2020, "Lost in Russia" was launched on Xigua Video. Within 3 days of its launch, the total number of views exceeded 600 million times, with a total number of viewers reaching 180 million.

The slogan of Xigua Video has also changed to: Watch thousands of blockbuster movies at your leisure.

While purchasing copyrights and developing long videos, Xigua Video has been frantically poaching people from Bilibili; in March 2020, four UP hosts known as the Sea-hunting Group left and signed a contract with Xigua Video; on June 14, 2020, Bilibili's 2019 Annual Newcomer Wizard Finance also announced his withdrawal from Bilibili and subsequently joined Xigua Video; however, due to the different tones of the two platforms, some of the poached UP hosts inevitably had some difficulty acclimatizing.

iQiyi and Tencent Video were positioned as comprehensive video companies from the beginning, and they started spending money to buy copyrights from the very beginning. Due to fierce competition, copyright prices in the entire industry soared. In order to reduce costs, iQiyi and Tencent Video began to focus on producing their own copyrighted films and TV shows in 2014.

In 2018, the number of their self-produced dramas exceeded that of copyrighted dramas, and the proportion of self-produced dramas continued to rise in 2019. The revenue of iQiyi and Tencent Video mainly comes from membership and advertising business. In May 2011, iQiyi launched a paid membership service; in July 2017, it launched an automatic renewal activity for membership packages for consecutive years.

In Q3 2018, membership revenue exceeded advertising for the first time, becoming the largest source of revenue; in June 2019, iQiyi's membership reached 100 million; Tencent Video's membership service was launched one and a half years later than iQiyi, and its number of members also reached 100 million at the end of 2019.

iQiyi began exploring diversified revenue in 2015, and launched live streaming functions, iQiyi Mall, and Bubble Community one by one.

In February 2016, iQiyi Reading was launched. In 2017, new peripheral businesses such as comics, iQiyi anchors, and literature were added; Tencent Video started to develop peripheral businesses relatively late, with the live broadcast function launched in August 2016, and support for native novel readers and the launch of a comics channel in April 2018.

2.3 Data Analysis

Data source: Analysys Qianfan, January 2020

The above are the performance data of Bilibili, Tencent Video and Xigua Video, from Analysys Qianfan, and the statistical time is January 2020.

It can be seen that:

1) iQiyi has an astonishing number of active users, exceeding 600 million; Tencent Video is closely behind and is about to reach 600 million; while Bilibili has the lowest number of active users, 120 million; Xigua Video has a slightly higher number of active users than Bilibili, at 140 million.

IQiyi and Tencent Video started early and are targeting all netizens; Bilibili has always paid attention to the community atmosphere, set up entry barriers, and is targeting young people of Generation Z. It is not easy to reach such a large number of active users; and although Xigua Video is a rising star, it has a huge traffic pool of the ByteDance system and has held many new user acquisition activities.

Although the number of people is slightly larger, the age structure of Xigua Video users is relatively poor, and the company has begun to improve this situation; after the statistical time, Bilibili's several out-of-circle activities must have also brought in new users, so it is still unknown who has the most active users now.

2) In terms of average monthly usage days per person, Xigua Video has the highest number (11.6 days), followed by Bilibili (9.3), followed by Tencent Video (8.4) and iQiyi (7.7). For copyrighted videos, TV series and variety shows are only 45 minutes per episode, and movies are around two hours long. Users need to set aside a large chunk of time to watch them, and the time constraints are quite severe, so Tencent Video and iQiyi have the fewest average monthly usage days per person.

Short videos can kill fragmented time and can be opened anytime and anywhere. Xigua Video, which focuses on short videos, has a higher average monthly usage day per user than Bilibili. In addition, the video opening mechanism of Xigua Video is similar to that of Douyin, and you can switch videos with just a flick of your thumb, which makes it more addictive than Bilibili - this may be the reason why its average monthly usage day per user is higher than that of Bilibili.

3) In terms of average daily launch times per person, Xigua Video and iQiyi tied for first place, both with 7 times; Bilibili and Tencent Video were almost the same, at 5.6 and 5.4 times respectively; with the same average monthly usage days, short videos can be watched at any time, which makes Xigua Video and Bilibili have higher average daily launch times per person; and Xigua Video's addictive mechanism may be the reason why its launch times are higher than Bilibili.

In January 2020, iQiyi's average daily launch times per person were comparable to Xigua Video, probably due to its popular content at the time: TV series "Love Apartment 5", "Under the Power", and variety show "U Can U Bibi 6" - Tencent Video's TV series and movies were less popular during the same period.

4) In terms of average daily usage time per person, iQiyi and Tencent Video mainly focus on copyrighted videos such as TV series and variety shows, so their usage time is undoubtedly long. However, Xigua Video’s 120 minutes is also amazing, which may be because a large number of its copyrighted videos can be watched without membership, and the membership fee is low, so users spend a long time on them. However, most of Bilibili’s copyrighted videos are exclusive to premium members, and 90% of the views are UGC videos with an average duration of about 8 minutes. The duration of 66.8 is also very high.

5) In terms of next-month retention rate, Bilibili has the lowest rate, at only 39.6%, while Xigua Video has the highest rate, at 66.7%. Tencent Video is 65.1%, and iQiyi is 55.40%. iQiyi's next-month retention rate in January was relatively low, which may be because its popular exclusive content in January attracted new users, but it did not have new popular content in February, so the attracted users naturally left.

Bilibili has the lowest rate, probably because its unique community atmosphere and distinctive features make it difficult for new users to integrate.

The next-month retention rate given here refers to the proportion of newly installed users who still use the APP in the next month during the statistical period; however, Bilibili's users are divided into registered members and formal members. Registered members need to answer questions and become formal members before they can send barrages and comments.

The latest data given by Chen Rui in his speech on the 11th anniversary of Bilibili showed that in the past two years, the next-year retention rate of formal members has been higher than 80%; this shows that once users integrate into Bilibili, it is difficult for them to leave, and it has amazing user stickiness.

6) Before June 1, 2020, Bilibili's industry sector was the two-dimensional community. As a two-dimensional community, its industry exclusivity rate in November 2019 was as high as 44.6%, which illustrates Bilibili's monopoly position in the two-dimensional field.

After its industry changed from a two-dimensional community to a comprehensive video industry, its industry exclusivity rate could not be calculated due to too little data. In the same comprehensive field, iQiyi's industry monopoly rate is 10.3%, slightly higher than Tencent Video's 9.9%; Xigua Video's industry field is a short video aggregation platform, with an industry monopoly rate of up to 29.4%.

2.4 Summary

Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of Station B

The above table briefly summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of Bilibili.

Advantages:

1) In his speech on Bilibili’s 11th anniversary, Chen Rui gave a series of the latest data.

In the first quarter of 2020, the average monthly active UP hosts on Bilibili reached 1.8 million; they create hundreds of thousands of videos every day, covering thousands of major categories, forming a UGC long-tail content library with extremely wide coverage.

From last year to this year, the number of active UP hosts has increased by 146% year-on-year; although there are more UP hosts, the quality of videos has not decreased, which shows that the UGC ecosystem of Bilibili has been formed; Bilibili's users are mainly young people who are very interested in creating their own media, and the conversion rate from content consumers to content creators is very high.

2) Young people are good at creating and playing with memes. They interact strongly through barrages and comments, and actively give feedback on content, so the community atmosphere of Bilibili is very good. In the past two years, the retention rate of Bilibili's official members has been above 80%. Among old users with more than ten years of experience, more than 60% are still active in the community; while new users are pouring in, old users remain active. It can be said that the user stickiness is amazing.

3) Bilibili has a monopoly on 2D content. As a gathering place for 2D culture enthusiasts, it will continue to attract a large number of young people in the future.

4) Bilibili’s revenue businesses are diverse, including games, advertising, shopping malls, memberships, live broadcasts, classrooms, audio, etc.; the businesses are not directly correlated, and the impact on each other is small, which reduces the risk.

Bilibili’s disadvantages mainly include the following:

1) First of all, the user scale of Bilibili is small. In the past, Bilibili focused on retention, but now facing fierce attacks from competitors, Bilibili's focus has shifted to growth; many people's impression of Bilibili is still that of the two-dimensional community, but they don't know that its UGC content has long been generalized, and now has comprehensive content, including finance, law, history, learning, workplace, etc.

In this case, it is necessary for Bilibili to actively attract users by going beyond its circle. This year, Bilibili has gone beyond its circle several times with its high-quality content, and its influence is growing. The overseas expansion of UP hosts and the entry of foreign stars and Internet celebrities can also prove this.

The generalization of professional and niche content has shifted the age group of new users upwards; Bilibili's users are mainly young people in first- and second-tier cities, and more than 50% of new users come from third- and fourth-tier cities - all of which show that Bilibili has successfully broken out of its circle and its user growth is on the right track.

2) Its revenue structure is unreasonable and overly dependent on the gaming business; as a video community, Bilibili's commercialization engine urgently needs to be switched; among Bilibili's diversified businesses, live streaming is very promising; the penetration rate of Bilibili's live streaming business is significantly lower than that of other platforms, but at the end of 2019, it achieved a monthly turnover of more than 150 million yuan.

Bilibili has already made great efforts in live streaming, signed a contract with well-known anchor Feng Timo, and purchased the three-year live streaming rights for the League of Legends finals. This will undoubtedly bring in a large number of users who love to watch live streaming.

Bilibili also encourages top UP hosts to switch to live streaming, which has achieved good results. Mr. Luo Xiang’s first show after signing the contract with Bilibili Live had a peak popularity of over 6 million; in addition to Mr. Luo Xiang, Lao Fanqie and other top UP hosts who also made a successful transition to live streaming, live streaming helps them get the benefits they deserve.

In addition to the live broadcast business, the most anticipated business is the advertising business. As Chen Rui said, Bilibili has insisted on data authenticity for 11 years, so the ability of mid- and low-level UP hosts to bring products is actually very strong; however, advertisers have always preferred the top UP hosts, and it is difficult for capable mid- and low-level UP hosts to maintain their position relying solely on incentive plans; in the long run, this will inevitably dampen their creative enthusiasm and form negative feedback.

In July 2020, the B station Fireworks UP main commercial platform was officially opened. Fireworks will help brands and UP hosts to conduct commercial cooperation, making their transactions safer and more transparent and reducing disputes; this will help mid- and low-end UP hosts to receive orders and give them the motivation to develop.

In addition, there are new moves in B's e-commerce, music, education and other businesses; if this continues, B's revenue structure will inevitably improve in the long run.

3) Bilibili has limited resources and can only prioritize them in areas such as animation and documentaries. It cannot compete with other platforms in purchasing copyrights for movies, TV shows, and variety shows. However, Bilibili has started with online variety shows and has gradually launched variety shows that it has participated in producing and self-producing.

On August 22, the variety show "Rap New Generation" produced by Bilibili was launched and the response was very good. Taking the self-produced route and not getting involved in copyright wars is very reasonable for B station's resource allocation.

3. User Analysis

3.1 User role map

User role map

3.2 User Profile

User portrait of Bilibili

4. User Research

In order to better propose functional optimization suggestions, the author conducted user interviews with 6 in-depth users of Bilibili in early September 2020.

4.1 Research Questions and Interview Results

4.2 User Research Summary

Among the six users surveyed by the author, three downloaded Bilibili because they saw recommendations for it on other websites such as Zhihu and public accounts; one was recommended by a friend; and two followed suit after seeing their family and friends using it.

Five users mainly watch UGC short videos, only one mainly watches documentaries and movies, and also watches short videos; four users started using Bilibili in their freshman year, one started using it in junior high school, and one started using it after working; five users use Bilibili every day, and only one uses it 2-3 times a week.

4.2.1 Learning

All users in this survey have studied on Bilibili, which can be said to be a well-deserved learning website for young people; Bilibili has very rich learning resources, and 5 users have studied very seriously on Bilibili; only one user does not like to study on Bilibili. She mainly watched postgraduate entrance examination videos before, and felt that the content of Bilibili's postgraduate entrance examination videos was relatively superficial, and she preferred to watch courses offered by institutions.

The four users in the survey have all purchased paid knowledge products on other platforms. However, no one is interested in Bilibili’s classroom section. The four users have only heard of it, and two users don’t even know the existence of this section.

With such a huge amount of learning resources but almost no monetization, I think Bilibili has not yet fully explored the learning aspect.

4.2.2 Social/Dynamics/Channels/Hot Searches

In terms of social interaction, almost all users rarely post comments and are silent spectators; two users rarely post comments because they are afraid of seeing bad comments that will affect their mood; 4 users will not comment, one will post a comment only when something resonates with them, and another will post a comment out of sympathy when he sees that the comment section is very deserted.

All six users seldom engage in social activities because they believe that Bilibili is a place to watch videos. There is no need to socialize there, and they do not want to meet people with the same interests on Bilibili. However, they are happy to share videos on Bilibili with people around them and recommend them to them, which proves their recognition of Bilibili.

All four users will check updates, and two of them check updates every day. The author believes that this is a powerful fulcrum for Bilibili to enter the social networking field. After the author briefly introduced the recently launched Watch Together feature, four users said that they found it very interesting and would try it in the future, which shows that Bilibili still has great potential in the development of social networking.

Only one user has followed the channel and will enter the channel to watch videos, while the rest have no idea about the channel functions; one user often watches hot searches and will click in to view the corresponding videos, and one user occasionally watches hot searches; the rest of the users are not interested in hot searches and will just look at the titles at most.

4.2.3 Grand Member/Full Member Level

Only one user has purchased a premium membership, one user is not interested in the copyrighted videos on Bilibili, and three users said they would only consider premium membership if there are videos they want to watch; all members are formal members who have obtained the membership by answering questions, but they generally do not pay attention to user levels, and only two users know what level they are.

4.2.4 Live Broadcast

Two users have never watched live streaming, one user watches game live streaming, and three will watch live streaming of practical information or the live streaming of UP hosts they follow; the user who watches game live streaming used to watch the live streaming of Huya and Douyu, but since downloading Bilibili, he uninstalled Douyu and Huya because he felt that their content was too complicated.

4.2.5 Column

Four users have read the column, all because it was recommended on the homepage or because the UP host they followed posted a column. They have never actively searched for it or entered the column section to check it out; two users have never read the column, and one even thinks that the column is against the trend of the times.

5. Functional optimization

According to the results and analysis of user interviews, we will optimize the dynamic module, B station learning experience and other (some small functions) three aspects. The function optimization mind map is as follows:

Optimize functional mind map

5.1 Dynamic Module Optimization

Demand background: As a video website, the cost of content production at Bilibili is very high; except for the videos produced by UP hosts, ordinary users have almost no place to speak.

Recently, Bilibili has also been entering the social field, such as the newly launched Watch Together feature - Come on! From the operational activities during the back-to-school season and so on, we can see that it is committed to creating a platform with a better social atmosphere.

Status is the only place where ordinary users have a say. None of the six users surveyed have met people with the same interests on Bilibili, and their desire to socialize is low; however, four of them have used the status function, which is a good entry point.

Using updates can create a good social circle, allowing everyone to speak freely and enhance the social atmosphere. However, currently, ordinary users' updates have nowhere to be displayed, and users have no desire to post updates, so they need to be optimized.

Optimization goals: Develop B station’s social network, increase user stickiness, and improve user activity.

Optimization suggestions:

• Channel optimization, new circle function added;
• Optimize dynamic pages and add recommended columns;
• Optimize dynamic publishing and add synchronization to circles;
• Dynamically add group viewing function;
• Search results show dynamics;

5.1.1 New circle function added to the channel

According to the author's research, only one user has used Bilibili's channel, while the rest have never paid attention to the channel, and some even don't understand this function; this shows that the channel as a content distribution channel has low attention, has not played its due role, and urgently needs to be optimized.

The channel page originally only had three categories: featured videos, comprehensive videos, and topics:

• The featured videos are sorted by the number of views, and the videos displayed rarely change;
• For comprehensive videos, you can view popular videos or the latest video submissions within a certain period of time;
• Topics show the updates that are published simultaneously when the UP host submits videos or columns.

Since the name "topic" is not descriptive enough, the author changed it to "content dynamics".

At the same time, a circle function has been added, where users can post updates; circles can provide ordinary users with a platform for communication, forming a hobby circle where everyone can speak, enhancing user activity and their social interactions; the updates they post can be displayed by popularity and time.

5.1.2 Added dynamic recommendation page

The original dynamics page includes two categories: video and comprehensive. Video refers to the dynamics that are published at the same time as the videos posted by the UP masters you follow, while comprehensive includes all dynamics posted by the people you follow, including videos, pictures, or plain text.

The original dynamic module is equivalent to my dynamics, and you can only see the dynamics posted by people you follow; after optimization, a new recommendation page is added. The recommendation page consists of recommended followers, topics and dynamic squares.

It is recommended to follow UP hosts that are similar to the UP hosts that the user watches most frequently. Topics are moved over from the comprehensive topics. The left column remains the same as before. The right column is renamed as circles. Click to enter the corresponding channel-circle page.

The Dynamic Square will randomly recommend user dynamics, including pictures, text, voting, etc. except videos and column dynamics; users can comment and like the dynamics, follow the user, or block or show no interest in the user; the dynamic square will display two popular comments to encourage users to speak out.

5.1.3 Selectable status when publishing dynamically

After adding the dynamic recommendation page, each user's dynamics may be seen by strangers, so you can choose the visible status when posting dynamics to protect the user's privacy. At the same time, the dynamics can be synced to the circle.

5.1.4 Dynamically viewable groups

Both the video and comprehensive modules of the dynamic page can be viewed according to the user's own interest groups.

5.1.5 Dynamic display of search results

In order to increase the exposure of the updates, the search results also display the updates, and can be displayed by time or popularity.

5.2 Learning function optimization

Demand background: According to user surveys, Bilibili users generally have a need to learn.

Bilibili’s learning videos are of various types, high quality, and the user learning experience is also very good; however, few people know about its specially opened classroom section.

If Bilibili opens another learning section, further clarifies its positioning as a learning website, and creates a learning content ecosystem, it will definitely enhance its learning atmosphere and better realize commercial goals.

Optimization goals: Help and urge users to learn on Bilibili, form a learning ecosystem, and create a positive image; further attract more users with learning needs to achieve user growth; and ultimately better realize commercial monetization.

Optimization suggestions:

• Added learning partition;
• A new learning entrance has been added to the homepage;
• Added new study plan function, including creating study plans, setting study time, etc.

5.2.1 Adding a new learning zone

Add a learning section to gather learning resources from Bilibili.

• In the learning section, you enter the recommendation column by default, which contains various types of learning videos and learning plans (learning plans are described in detail in 5.2.3), which are recommended to interested users based on the algorithm.
• Other categories in the learning section, such as English, software tutorials, etc., only display learning videos of that type.
• There are 8 categories of learning areas, including language learning, software tutorials, campus learning, hobbies, programming and development, personal development, exams and others.

5.2.2 Add learning entry to the home page

A learning entrance has been added to the homepage to make learning more convenient; the three icons at the top of the homepage-learning are learning partitions, my learning plan and popular learning plans; there are 5 popular learning plans, which are updated daily; next is the special recommendation of various learning videos.

5.2.3 Creation of a learning plan

In order to help users study on Bilibili, a new study plan function has been added. The study plan page is similar to the favorites, but the difference is that the study plan, as the name suggests, specifically arranges the study time for a course and urges users to study according to the plan.

First, the creation of a learning plan. Currently, when encountering content that users want to learn, their first reaction is to create a favorites folder and save it before studying. Some UP hosts will also put their own tutorial videos into a favorites folder and display them on their homepage so that other users can save them for study. Therefore, it is very convenient to directly convert the created favorites into a learning plan.

Each user can convert the favorites they created into a learning plan. When creating a learning plan, you can choose whether to make it public. If it is public, you will have the opportunity to enter the popular learning plan and other users can also study together. After creation, you can choose to start learning, add to the learning list, or not study.

5.2.4 Display the created learning plan on the personal homepage

In order to make it easier for the UP owner’s followers to follow the learning, the learning plan is added to the creator’s personal homepage - this will also help increase the exposure of the learning plan.

5.2.5 A learning plan page

The page of a certain study plan is shown in the figure, which displays the video list interface of the study plan. You can comment, like and forward the study plan, and click Start Study to enter the study plan setting interface.

In the plan setting bar, slide to select the time unit and the amount of videos to learn within that time. As you slide, the number of days the study plan will last and the completion date will be displayed below.

5.2.6 Homepage - Study - My Study Plan Page

Homepage - Study - My Study Plan includes the study plans I am currently studying, to be studied and unfinished. For the study plan I am currently studying, I can modify the study plan settings and check the number of days for clocking in (automatically clocking in after watching the video).

A study plan that is being studied can be converted to a study plan to be studied, and a study plan can be modified or deleted directly; a study plan to be studied can be started or deleted; a completed study plan can be studied again.

5.3 Others

5.3.1 Added one-click full-screen playback function

The user survey found that only one out of six users would play the video in half screen, while the others played it in full screen in most cases. When clicking on a video, it would first be displayed in half screen, and then the full screen play button would be clicked to play it in full screen, which is rather cumbersome, so a one-click full screen play button is set.

5.3.2 Added official membership level information

There is no information on how to upgrade to formal membership on the mobile terminal. Although according to the survey, most users do not care much about the level, the author believes that there should still be an introduction.

The introduction includes official membership levels, what membership levels are, the benefits of membership levels, and how to upgrade levels.

The current upgrade method is that you can get 5 experience points each by logging in, watching and sharing videos every day; you can get 10 experience points by throwing a coin, and the daily limit is 50 experience points; you can get 1 experience point by getting a coin for your own video.

The author changed the daily video watching system to gain 1 experience point for each video watched, with a daily cap of 5 experience points; and added the following daily tasks: gain 2 experience points for posting 1 dynamic message every day, gain 5 experience points for checking in for study every day, and gain 5 experience points for submitting a column or video every day.

VI. Conclusion

Bilibili started out as a two-dimensional website and gradually grew into a comprehensive video website that is most loved by young people. Today, the perfection of its UGC content ecosystem is comparable to that of Youtube.

However, Bilibili's ambition is not limited to this. It has begun to enter the field of self-produced copyrighted videos. Recently, its first rap music program "Rap New Generation" was broadcast at the same time as iQiyi's well-known online variety show "China's New Rap 2020".

Although its Douban score is 9.0, which is much higher than "The Rap of China 2020"; however, at present, its popularity is the lowest among rap programs in the same period and has failed to break the circle.

But anyway, it’s a good start, Bilibili – ( ゜- ゜)つロCheers!

Author:Iris

Source: Iris