Competitive product analysis: a comprehensive analysis of Bilibili!

The author of this article breaks down B 's business functions into seven modules: content community, e-commerce (membership purchase), live streaming, game community, knowledge payment, mine, and advertising, and summarizes the problems that exist in B's development process. The content is very detailed and I would like to share it with you.

This article will analyze the product from the following perspectives:

1. Product function analysis
2. Competitive product analysis
3. User Analysis
4. User research
5. Functional analysis and optimization solutions
6. Summarize

01 Product Function Analysis

The author divides Bilibili's business into seven modules for functional analysis, namely content community, e-commerce (membership purchase), live broadcast, game community, knowledge payment, mine and advertising. The various services and their important functional components under each business module are shown in the brain diagram in the link.

02 Competitive product analysis

The following are the meanings of the abbreviations used in this article:

• UGC – User Generated Content
• PUGC – Professional User Generated Contents
• PGC – Platform Generated Contents

2.1 Market Analysis

Bilibili, whose full name is "Bilibili" and nickname is "Xiaopozhan", was founded on June 26, 2009. In the early days of its establishment, the website was positioned as an ACG barrage video website, and its target users were 2D enthusiasts; the core function of the platform in the early days was to share videos from third-party platforms while conducting comments and exchanges in the form of "barrage" on the videos.

In the nearly 11 years of development, Bilibili has explored two aspects: vertical deepening and horizontal expansion.

On the one hand, we will continue to delve deeper into the two-dimensional vertical field and enrich our business forms. Bilibili has joined the two-dimensional direction of linked businesses such as live broadcasting, e-commerce, and games, and expanded from videos to comics, column texts and other content forms, deepening the construction of its two-dimensional community, making it a unique player in the current two-dimensional vertical field, with an industry monopoly rate of 87.3% (data source: iResearch Qianfan, Two-Dimensional Community Industry-APP Analysis-June 2019 data), far ahead of the products behind it such as First Bullet, AcFun, and Fuciyuan.

On the other hand, expand community content and broaden content boundaries. First of all, thanks to the good community atmosphere and fan quality of Bilibili, a large number of high-quality UGC videos have appeared one after another, and these excellent self-made videos are no longer limited to the two-dimensional world, but cover more areas such as ghost animals, life, and technology. In response to this, Bilibili implements a content generalization operation strategy, providing support plans for UP hosts in each section, and assisting more high-quality UGC/PUGC content to appear on the platform. Secondly, Bilibili is also exploring PGC, including the purchase of copyrights for animation, domestic creations, movies, TV series, and the production of documentaries. A series of measures have enabled Bilibili's community content to gradually evolve from the initial narrow-market two-dimensional content to a more generalized pan-entertainment content.

From the development history of Bilibili, we can see that its product positioning has gradually evolved from a barrage video website serving a small number of two-dimensional enthusiasts to an interest community that provides comprehensive video services for young people.

2.2 Identify competing products

Due to Bilibili's unshakable leading position in the two-dimensional vertical field and its product positioning transformation from a two-dimensional barrage video website to a comprehensive youth interest community, two-dimensional vertical products such as Diyidan, AcFun, and Fuciyuan will not be counted as competing products for analysis in the following text.

IQiyi, Youku Video, and Tencent Video, which provide comprehensive video entertainment services to all Chinese netizens, and Bilibili, which provides services for young people, are in more direct competition in the current and future user market.

At the same time, Xigua Video, which also possesses the attributes of a content platform and is one of ByteDance's video products, has certain differences in product tone from Bilibili, but has a high degree of overlap with Bilibili in its core business direction. The direct competition brought about by the high degree of overlap in core businesses can be seen from the fact that Xigua Video has entered the Vlog field in a high-profile manner through the celebrity effect, and the initial signs of its competition with UP hosts of Bilibili.

Therefore, the main competitors of Bilibili selected for analysis below are: iQiyi, Youku Video, Tencent Video, and Xigua Video.

2.3 Business Distribution

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

2.3.1 Core Business

As the "three pillars" of the domestic video industry, "iQIYI", "Youku" and "Tencent" have a high degree of overlap in their core businesses, all of which provide comprehensive copyrighted video and PGC video entertainment services to all Chinese Internet users. Although there are certain differences among the three at present, for example, iQiyi invested in platform-produced video services earlier and has abundant self-produced content, Youku Video focuses on purchasing old dramas, and Tencent Video has more copyrights (such as exclusive British dramas, American dramas, Hollywood movies, etc.), but with the development of product business, there will inevitably be very fierce competition for copyright resources and user markets among the three.

This is somewhat different from Bilibili's core business. Bilibili uses UGC/PUGC videos as its main content and encourages users to become producers of platform content. At the same time, based on the tone of the Bilibili community, it also purchases copyrights for some animation, domestic creations, animation, movies, and TV series, and produces some documentaries that conform to Bilibili's aesthetics to enrich the platform content.

The core business positioning of Xigua Video is very similar to that of Bilibili, which also provides UGC videos supplemented by copyrighted videos. However, there are huge differences between the two communities and cultural atmospheres. Starting from the two-dimensional world, Bilibili has been committed to building and maintaining a good and inclusive community atmosphere. Its unique high-threshold membership mechanism in the Internet industry also selects users to a certain extent. With Toutiao as its backer, Xigua Video grew rapidly in the early days through Toutiao's massive user traffic. The source of this traffic also determined the user quality of Xigua Video to a certain extent, thus affecting the community atmosphere.

2.3.2 Branch Business Layout

"iQIYI, Youku and Tencent Video" also have a high degree of overlap in their branch businesses. All three have UGC video layouts, but because UGC requires the cultivation of a community atmosphere and the education of users, it is a time-consuming process and cannot be achieved overnight, so they can only be placed on branches of the platform's business structure. In addition, all three have independent celebrity entertainment communities, which is closely related to the fact that the three have a large number of copyrighted videos and are also directly involved in video production. The unique advantages enable the three companies to better plan from the perspective of fan economy and thus make profits.

In addition, all three companies have invested in live streaming. iQiyi focuses on games, sports events and lifestyle. Youku focuses on mainstream media, Internet education, sports events and entertainment. Tencent Video also has a live streaming section, but because Tencent has its own independent App businesses, Tencent NOW Live (life and entertainment direction) and Tencent Live (e-commerce direction), the live streaming section in Tencent Video only exists as an auxiliary form of video content expansion (for example, some evening parties and concerts that Tencent Video has obtained the live streaming copyright for, and provide services to users in the form of free or paid subscriptions).

In addition to the above-mentioned branch businesses, iQiyi also has an e-commerce mall with all categories, an entertainment section for comics and novels, and a gaming business; Youku Video has a comics business section; and Tencent Video first has an entertainment business section for comics and novels, and also a gaming section that reflects Tencent's gaming genes (but it is more for diverting traffic to Tencent's games), and finally makes full use of its copyright and self-made advantages to create a related peripheral e-commerce mall (Caochangdi).

Xigua Video's branch businesses are relatively simple, mainly reflected in the live broadcast sections focusing on games, music, countryside, life and media. Bilibili has a unique community atmosphere, and most of its branch businesses start from the two-dimensional world and then gradually expand the content. The virtual anchors in Bilibili's live broadcast business, which are different from those on other platforms, are a good example of entering the two-dimensional world. In the process of business expansion, live broadcasts of games and game competitions are gradually being added. As well as Bilibili's inherent advantages as UP hosts, it can also enrich its live broadcast business in the form of a fan community. Game agency services, which are naturally closely related to the two-dimensional world, can also get better user response in the community atmosphere of Bilibili.

Most of Bilibili’s e-commerce products are 2D peripherals and exhibition tickets. In addition, Bilibili is a community whose main user group is young people, and users generally have a demand for higher-quality content. Based on this, Bilibili is also exploring the layout of knowledge payment. Overall, Bilibili’s unique community “cultural moat” enables it to have a different layout in similar businesses than its competitors.

2.3.3 Business Structure

Membership and advertising are the main monetization methods of "iQIYI, Youku and Tencent Video", and both are strongly dependent on content quality. Xigua Video's monetization method is relatively simple, mainly relying on ByteDance's excellent recommendation algorithm and advertising distribution platform to monetize through traffic. Bilibili's monetization methods are more diverse, including VIP membership, game agency, live streaming, e-commerce, advertising, etc. Currently, game agency is the main monetization method. These businesses are relatively independent from each other, which makes the business monetization structure more complete and comprehensive overall.

2.4 Product Development History

The table above summarizes the product development history of Bilibili and its competitors. It can be seen that:

2.4.1 UGC/PUGC Videos

In the early days of Bilibili, moving and re-producing videos were the main force of this two-dimensional interest community. As Bilibili continues to expand, its content coverage and user numbers gradually increase, and the community has been working hard to maintain a friendly and inclusive atmosphere. However, Bilibili lives up to its nickname of "small broken station". Founded in 2009, Bilibili was officially launched on mobile terminals in 2012. On the other hand, although it has strong UGC attributes and naturally attracts a large number of creators and viewers, Bilibili's support for excellent works and platform content creators is relatively lagging and relatively weak.

But despite this, the good atmosphere of Bilibili still ensures that the platform has sufficient high-quality UGC/PUGC videos and occupies a strong position in the field. The first area that Xigua Video focused on was UGC, and it did so with great momentum. Xigua Video, which was officially launched in May 2016, announced in September that it would provide 1 billion yuan in support for short video creators. The support brought a large amount of traffic and content. In June 2017, the number of Xigua Video users exceeded 100 million, and the DAU exceeded 10 million. However, most of the creators on the platform are speculative in nature, and have become more of a scissor-hand or porter, and the content they create is also relatively crude and shoddy.

Xigua Video's content-sharing support incentives continued to increase in its subsequent development. In 2017, it launched the "3+X" monetization plan and established a 2 billion joint production fund, bringing in more users and platform content. Different from Bilibili's insistence on building a "private land" community atmosphere, Xigua Video pays more attention to content diversity and a wider mass user group. The content sections are also more "down-to-earth", including: games, agriculture, rural areas and farmers, Vlog, food, etc. Xigua Video's wider target user group, greater user traffic and higher content supply have already brought certain pressure to Bilibili's development.

2.4.2 Copyright/PGC Video

Copyrighted videos and platform-generated videos can be said to be the main battlefield of the three BAT companies, iQIYI, Youku and Tencent Video, which are backed by strong financial resources.

iQiyi, which was launched in 2010, began investing in its own videos in 2011 (first the self-produced variety show "Love GO", followed by the self-produced drama "Love Online"). It should be the first among "iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video" to officially enter the field of platform self-production.

Youku is one of the earliest video websites in China (officially launched in 2006). In 2008, it obtained the "Radio and Television Program Production and Operation License" issued by the Beijing State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, which shows its layout for platform self-production. It also opened the road to self-production with the 2012 self-produced reality show "I Am Legend".

Tencent Video, which entered the market the latest, made drastic moves at the very beginning to acquire exclusive copyrights of a large number of high-quality European and American film and television resources to enrich the content of its platform. In 2017, it began exploring the field of self-production (the super IP web drama "Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Mystical Ancient City"), and the following year it created the phenomenal online variety show "Creation 101". Copyrighted videos are the main battlefield of iQIYI, Youku and Tencent Video (and also their strong advantage). If Xigua Video and Bilibili want to get a piece of the pie, they can only find other ways.

For example, Xigua Video chose to introduce a large number of Thai dramas. Based on its unique community advantages and also limited by cost pressures, Bilibili has introduced animation series, Japanese TV series, and "small and exquisite" documentaries, movies, and TV series. In terms of self-production, Xigua Video officially entered the field of self-produced variety shows in 2018, and launched the variety show "Uncle's Restaurant" in February 2019, which was a relatively aggressive development; Bilibili began to support domestic animation and creation early on, and established Bilibili Pictures in 2015. The documentary "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City" launched in December of the following year was well received. Overall, in terms of self-production, Xigua Video is still following the mass route; and Bilibili is still following its youth community atmosphere, carrying out two-dimensional layout and producing high-quality and excellent platform content.

2.4.3 Live Broadcast

In January 2014, Tencent Video launched live streaming. In February of the same year, Youku launched the live broadcast function, mainly focusing on the live broadcast of sports events (in May 2018, it won the live broadcast rights of the World Cup) and the live broadcast of life content (in December 2019, it acquired a 100% stake in the lifestyle show live broadcast platform Laifeng Live). In June of the same year, iQiyi's World Cup Channel was officially launched, supporting live broadcasts of events, and later expanded its live broadcast business in the fields of games and life. Bilibili's live streaming business started relatively late, with the live streaming function launched in November 2014. However, Bilibili's live broadcasts also have strong community characteristics, such as the signing of virtual anchors and the exploration of the fan community economy of virtual idols (increasing its stake in the parent company of "Luo Tianyi" in 2018).

In addition, similar to its attempts to expand video content, Bilibili is also trying to expand live streaming content, hoping to expand into more games, life and other areas while deepening its two-dimensional direction. In 2017, an official e-sports team was formed to enter the professional e-sports field. In December 2019, B station spent 800 million to acquire the exclusive live broadcast rights for the three-year League of Legends Global Finals. At the same time, it signed an exclusive contract with Feng Timo at a high price. All of these show B station's ambition and determination to develop its live broadcast business. Xigua Video started live streaming in January 2018. As its users are more down-to-earth, Xigua’s live streaming focuses more on the countryside and daily life. In March of the same year, Xigua Video completed the sponsorship of a professional e-sports team, which should also be a layout for the game live streaming business.

2.4.4 E-commerce

In April 2015, iQiyi Mall was officially launched, and later cooperated exclusively with JD.com in an attempt to build a video e-commerce platform. However, as a full-category e-commerce platform, iQiyi Mall has relatively useless functions and its development prospects are unclear. Bilibili launched “Membership Purchase” in November 2017, which can be understood as an expansion and supplement to the content of the two-dimensional community. The products also mainly revolve around two-dimensional peripherals and ticketing. Tencent Video launched “Caochangdi” in 2018. Its products mainly revolve around the IP of film and television dramas and have certain characteristics. In the future, we can naturally connect with the doki celebrity community to develop more celebrity-related film and television IP peripheral products to drive the fan economy.

2.4.5 Games

In September 2016, Bilibili announced that it would independently represent the Chinese version of the mobile game FGO. In December 2017, it formed an official e-sports team BLG, officially entering the field of professional e-sports. Both iQiyi and Tencent Video have game centers and direct traffic to self-developed games.

2.4.6 Knowledge Payment

Both iQIYI, Youku and Tencent Video and Bilibili have deployed knowledge payment services. Due to CCTV's report in 2019 that "more than 18 million people have studied on Bilibili in the past year", the opening of Bilibili's knowledge payment business has received extra attention. Judging from the community atmosphere and user attributes, "iQIYI, Youku and Tencent Video" are more popular in terms of entertainment, and Bilibili's young user group is indeed more suitable for the attempt of knowledge payment business.

2.4.7 Commercialization

The commercial monetization model of "iQIYI, Youku and Tencent Video" has been very direct from the beginning, with "membership + advertising" accounting for the majority of revenue. Whether it is a "membership" or "advertising" business model, it needs to attract more users. The number of users is highly dependent on the quantity and quality of platform content, so the three companies have put a lot of effort into copyright purchase, exclusive introduction and platform production. However, since the user market has basically reached saturation, the competition for users and content among the three companies will become increasingly fierce, and the market landscape will basically take shape.

As for paying users, in addition to content, the three companies also try to attract paying users through joint memberships with products in other fields and membership benefits; but compared with content, the impact on the number of paying users is relatively weak. On the premise that the number of paying users has basically been determined, the platform can only try to "make a fuss" about ARPPU. This is specifically reflected in the innovation of the membership system, for example: Tencent Video’s fancy membership fees (such as the advanced on-demand services for members of “The Untamed” and “Joy of Life”) to achieve revenue expansion. In addition, the benefits of both "membership" and "advertising" can actually be seen as zero-sum, because when a user becomes a "member", it will bring "membership" benefits, but will also result in losses in the "advertising" business, and the same is true for non-member users. Therefore, the platform is also trying to find new attempts to generate revenue beyond this zero-sum game. Specific operations include: members no longer remove ads, but shorten ads; Tencent Video’s first “egg yolk ad”, etc.

"Advertising" is Xigua Video's main way of monetization. Xigua Video has always been targeting the huge lower-tier user market, and is backed by ByteDance’s mature recommendation and advertising systems. The sinking user market means a larger target user group, and mature recommendation system technology ensures user stickiness and usage time, which is more conducive to advertising delivery and naturally attracts more advertisers.

Bilibili's commercialization is more diversified. UGC/PUGC videos are the core business of Bilibili and support part of its "advertising" revenue. However, unlike Xigua Video's perfect business closed loop of "user content consumption - platform advertising monetization - creator content sharing", Bilibili's business in this area has always been rather "twisted". Because Bilibili has always wanted to provide "high user experience" and made a promise in the early days of "not adding interstitial ads to videos", "advertising" has not been able to become the main source of income. The decent MAU cannot directly leverage high advertising revenue, and therefore it is difficult to better share advertising revenue with creators of excellent content (in terms of revenue sharing with content creators, one attempt was the launch of the charging plan in 2016, where viewers directly "contract" their favorite video content).

If this business closed loop fails, there are huge potential risks. If the platform cannot find better ways to monetize and cannot share profits better with content creators on the platform, it will not be able to retain creators. After all, generating income for love is a difficult thing to maintain, and losing content creators will result in the loss of platform content, and then the platform will lose its core business.

The "Premium Membership" system launched in October 2016 is Bilibili's exploration of the "membership" business model. However, since Bilibili videos do not add interstitial ads and membership benefits do not include ad-free functions, the only reason to attract users to pay for "premium membership" is the exclusive copyrighted videos and self-made videos on the platform. This requires Bilibili to make greater efforts in introducing copyrights of animation dramas, domestic cartoons, film and television dramas, documentaries, etc., as well as the quantity and quality of self-made documentaries and variety shows, in order to attract enough users who are willing to pay.

Although games are a non-core business of Bilibili, they are the main monetization source of Bilibili. The exclusive agency of the mobile game FGO in China has brought huge profits to Bilibili. However, a business structure that relies too much on the game agency business is unhealthy. Bilibili is also working hard to stabilize its revenue structure by increasing revenue from other businesses. Bilibili's Q3 2019 financial report shows that after hard work, the gaming business and non-gaming business have reached a 50:50 ratio.

Live streaming revenue is also gradually occupying a more important position in Bilibili's business layout. According to Bilibili's 2019Q3 financial report, revenue from live streaming and value-added services reached 450 million, accounting for 24.2% of total revenue, a year-on-year increase of 167%. In the live broadcast business, in addition to the Guazi store, Bilibili has also launched the "Master" and "Great Navigation" systems. It can be seen that Bilibili’s live broadcast model has a high correlation with ARPPU, and top paying users are a more important entry point. In addition, Bilibili is also testing the waters for knowledge payment. As a platform with a large number of young user groups (according to the statistics of iResearch Qianfan in June 2019, 55% of users are under the age of 24, and this group is exactly the student population), knowledge payment as a supplementary income for Bilibili is also a good option.

2.5 Product data performance

The above table summarizes the data performance of Bilibili and its competitors. It can be seen that:

(1) In terms of user scale , Bilibili is significantly different from iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video, and can only be considered a fraction of iQiyi, while it is also twice as large as Xigua Video. It is speculated that the main reason lies in Bilibili’s product positioning. Bilibili's initial product positioning was a two-dimensional video website, and then gradually shifted to targeting the general two-dimensional population, and now has expanded to interest communities for young people. The product positioning of iQiyi, Youku, Tencent Video and Xigua Video from the beginning was to provide pan-entertainment services for Internet users across China. The theoretical target users differ in magnitude.

(2) In terms of the number of daily launches per person , Xigua Video had the highest data (8.2 times), followed by Bilibili (7.1 times). One possible reason is the length of the video. Xigua Video has a lot of short videos, while Bilibili videos are mainly medium and long videos, and iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video have more long videos. The length of the video will affect the user's decision on whether to open the App. Generally speaking, it doesn't take much psychological preparation to open an App to watch a short video, so people will open it to watch it from time to time; but for long videos, such as TV series and variety shows that require full involvement, because they take up a whole block of time, users will generally make arrangements in advance before deciding to watch. Because the time for opening the App is reserved and arranged, there is no need to open the App from time to time. The second reason lies in the form of content distribution. Xigua Video mainly relies on the recommendation mechanism, which is more friendly to users who have nothing to do and just want to use an App for leisure and entertainment. Because users do not need to have a clear purpose to open the App to browse. As for Bilibili, users generally believe that the recommendation system is not very effective, and they still rely mainly on subscriptions and active searches to obtain video content. "iQIYI, Youku and Tencent Video" are mainly based on search, which means that if users do not have a clear goal, they will not open the app to browse casually.

(3) In terms of user stickiness , Xigua Video has the highest average daily usage time per person (121.3 minutes), followed closely by iQiyi (114.7 minutes) and Tencent Video (105.4 minutes), then Bilibili (90.2 minutes), and finally Youku Video (85.9 minutes). It is speculated that Xigua Video benefits from ByteDance's excellent recommendation system, which can continuously push video content that meets user needs, and users can easily immerse themselves in the use without realizing it. The long videos on iQiyi and Tencent Video also tend to take up a certain amount of time (for example, two episodes of a 50-minute TV series can take up 100 minutes of usage time; or the length of a general variety show is between 80-120 minutes). There are several speculations about the low average daily usage time per person at Bilibili. One possible guess is that Bilibili’s recommendation system is not effective, so after watching the video content of the UP master they follow, users generally do not explore other content. The second guess may be: video length and App page design. Different from the feed stream format of Xigua Video, the video viewing on Bilibili is still in the more traditional way of clicking on the video and jumping to the page to watch (of course, this format is most likely due to the inadequate recommendation system algorithm). And every time you click on a new video to jump to a page, to a certain extent, it is constantly reminding the user that "you are browsing a new video" (in other words, the user can clearly feel the boundary of the video switching). The video length of Bilibili is generally between 6 and 15 minutes, so users will easily need to switch to the next video. Therefore, the clear pressure of "you are clicking on a new video" gradually increases with the number of videos opened. When the anxiety reaches a certain extreme value, users will actively leave the App.

(4) From another perspective of user stickiness , in terms of average monthly usage days per person, Xigua Video has the best performance (13.2 days), Bilibili ranks second (10.4 days), followed by iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video. The speculated reason is similar to the average daily launch times per person, with video length and content distribution format being the main reasons.

(5) In terms of next-month retention rate , iQIYI, Youku, Tencent Video, and Xigua Video all maintained similar performance (around 50%), while Bilibili was significantly lower than the other four (27.9%). The reason may be that Bilibili is trying to expand and acquire more users, but the overly strong community characteristics and distinctive platform content cannot satisfy the newly attracted users well, thus resulting in a large number of user losses. To a certain extent, this also means that if Bilibili wants to achieve a greater increase in user scale, it must make a choice between building the existing community atmosphere and popularity.

(6) In terms of industry monopoly rate , Bilibili has the highest proportion (43.6%). But it should be noted that Bilibili's industry exclusivity rate refers to the proportion of vertical videos. But it also shows to a certain extent that Bilibili has achieved a monopoly position in the vertical field. The second is Xigua Video (30.4%), and the data is the proportion on short video aggregation platforms. Next are iQiyi and Tencent Video, which have similar market shares (11.6% and 11.7%), while Youku Video has the lowest industry monopoly rate (only 3.4%). The data of the three are all the proportion of comprehensive videos. From the comparison of the data among the three, it can be seen that Youku's exclusivity rate is far lower than that of the other two, and its user loyalty is relatively low.

2.6 Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the target product

The above table briefly summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of Station B:

(1) Bilibili’s unique community atmosphere has established a distinctive cultural “moat” for it , enabling it to remain independent in an environment where giants are competing fiercely, and to occupy a high ground in the ACG and UGC/PUGC fields. But this cultural "barrier" is both a wall that protects B's survival and a restriction on its development. Even though Bilibili is working hard to transform from the earliest 2D/pan-2D community to a community for young people, compared with the market positioning of iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video targeting netizens across the country, the theoretical target user scale is still not on the same order of magnitude. Xigua Video's decisive entry into the UGC field is also threatening Bilibili's future development space, and this "future" is not far away.

(2) Another advantage of Bilibili’s community building is the booming UGC ecosystem. Compared with the high costs of copyright and self-production, UGC is generated by users and has lower costs. And the content is long-tailed to meet the needs of various users. But we cannot assume that UGC community operation is cost-free or low-cost. This is a weakness of Bilibili, which has been trying to find (but has never found) a suitable business model. The most direct business closed loop of "user content consumption - platform advertising monetization - creator content sharing" cannot be completed, and using other income to "subsidize" the "household expenses" of UGC creators is obviously not a long-term solution. Providing creators with more monetization channels to attract more outstanding creators to join and produce more high-quality content is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed.

(3) Bilibili’s commercialization methods are relatively diverse, with weak correlations between its businesses, strong independence, and strong risk resistance. Every independent business has potential and room for development. But if we look deeper, Bilibili's revenue structure still has great risks. Specifically, the development of its gaming business, which accounts for half of Bilibili's revenue, is unclear. Although the 2019Q3 financial report shows that the revenue share of the gaming business has dropped to 50%, it seems that Bilibili has achieved a good revenue balance. However, it cannot be ignored that the reason for this balance may not be the rapid development of non-gaming businesses, but rather the stagnation of growth in the gaming business. The revenue generated by the agency of FGO has always been the bulk of Bilibili's gaming business. Any game has a life cycle, and over-reliance on the gaming business revenue brought by a single game is extremely risky (and Bilibili does not have the copyright for FGO and has to re-sign with Aniplex every year). Specifically, we can see from Bilibili's financial report data that the revenue of the game business in 2018Q4, 2019Q1, 2019Q2, and 2019Q3 were 710 million yuan, 870 million yuan, 910 million yuan, and 930 million yuan, respectively, with month-on-month growth of 22.5%, 4.6%, and 2.2%, respectively, which clearly reflects a slowdown in growth. At the same time, Bilibili has not found another game that can bring in huge profits to optimize the revenue structure of its gaming business.

(4) As a UGC/PUGC content platform, Bilibili still lacks supporting recommendation algorithms . Recommendation algorithms must play a vital role in improving user stickiness. It has to do with the "company genes" to a certain extent. Zhang Yiming's ByteDance was positioned from the beginning to be a commercial company based on algorithms, so the path to commercialization and monetization has been smoother. In comparison, Bilibili has always been like a lukewarm and Buddhist cultural community, placing more emphasis on community maintenance, and therefore has taken a more cautious path towards commercialization.

03 User Analysis

3.1 User role map

3.2 User Persona

04 User Research

4.1 List of survey questions

4.1.1 Basic Information

1. gender
2. age
3. Place
4. Profession
5. Income range/monthly pocket money
6. When did you know about Station B? How did you know about Station B? Why did you start using Bilibili?
7. Are there many people around you who use Bilibili? Do you have any experience of successfully recruiting people?
8. Have you ever been involved in any circles? What platform do you use to mix in the circle? Frequency of use?

4.1.2 Usage habits

1. How often do you use Bilibili? What is the average duration of each session?
2. Why would you open Station B? (For example, was it because of a push notification? Or was it because you just wanted to check it out? Or was it because you wanted to search for something?)
3. In what scenarios is Bilibili generally used?
4. Will you share videos or UP hosts with others? Yes: In what way? Is there anything inconvenient? No: Why?
5. Have you tried to make friends online on Bilibili? Why? If you make friends online, do you usually maintain relationships with them by communicating on or off the site? If it is outside the site, what platform will it be on? Is there any inconvenience?
6. Do you turn on the barrage when watching videos? Will barrage affect the experience? What kind of impact?
7. Will you use comments? Is there anything you feel uncomfortable with in the comment interaction?

4.1.3 User-made

1. What to do specifically? (What content and information will you browse?)
2. What is the browsing path you usually use?
3. Will you visit the "Partition"? What are the areas you often visit? Do you feel any inconvenience?
4. Who are the UP hosts you mainly follow? Will you interact with the UP host? If so, what kind of interaction?
5. Do you know "channel"? If you know, will you use it? How to use? Do you feel there is anything inconvenient or need improvement? Are you feeling unwell?
6. Do you know "dynamics"? If you know, will you use it? Do you find it useful? Will you take the initiative to post updates? Do you know the topic? Can you use it?
7. Do you know "column"? Would you watch it if you knew? What content will you pay attention to? Do you feel any inconvenience?
8. Do you think the videos recommended by “Homepage Recommendations” suit your taste? If not, what is the problem?
9. Do you discover new UP hosts frequently? Through what channels?
10. Have you ever reported it? Because why? Was it successful?
11. Do you use Tik Tok or Xigua Video? Why?

4.1.4 Platform Content

1. Are you following any one or more of "anime dramas", "documentaries" or "TV series"? Or something else?
2. What is the browsing path you usually use?
3. How did you learn about the content you were chasing? (Home page recommendations, active browsing of sections, or other social platforms?)
4. If you can actively search for it yourself, are there any inconveniences in searching? What are the factors that influence content clicks?
5. Have you purchased a "Premium Membership"? Yes: Which of the benefits most attracts you to purchase a “premium membership”? Will all the benefits be used? Will you continue to purchase the “Premium Membership”? Why? No: Why?
6. Will you use short reviews? Is there any inconvenience in viewing and writing short reviews?
7. Would you like to communicate with people who share the same interests as you on Bilibili? If so, what is the current method? Do you think the needs can be met?
8. Will you use membership shopping? Frequency and consumption intensity? Are there any inconveniences or areas you would like to improve?
9. Are you using any other video sites now? Yes: What is it? What is it used for? Why use it? Which one is used more and why? Do you have the habit of purchasing membership? No: Has that ever been used? Reason for giving up?
10. Do you think Bilibili is more attractive to you than other video sites? Why?

4.1.5 Live Broadcast 1) Do you use live broadcast?

use:

1. When did you start using live streaming?
2. How did you learn about the live broadcast function? (Homepage? Recommended by friends? Recommended by UP host? Social platform? News release?)
3. How often do you watch live broadcasts on Bilibili? Duration ?
4. Which sector is the most important?
5. Why choose to watch live broadcasts on Bilibili?
6. Have you ever given a reward/bought a gift?
7. Do you watch live broadcasts on other apps besides Bilibili? Why?

Do not use:

1. Was it used before but not used now? If so, why not use Bilibili live streaming?
2. Are you using other apps for live streaming? Why?

4.1.6 Learning

1. Are you studying at Station B?
2. What to learn at Station B?
3. How did you learn about Bilibili’s learning resources?
4. Why choose to study at Bilibili?
5. How often do you study? How long does the study last?
6. Do you collect videos that you want to learn or are currently learning?
7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of learning through Bilibili? Can the bad be overcome? What is the way to overcome it?
8. How effective is the learning? What do you think is the main reason for the effect?
9. Are you studying on other learning platforms? If so, what platform? How effective is the learning? What are the advantages and disadvantages compared to Station B?
10. Will you share your learning content or methods on Bilibili with others? Why?
11. Have you used other paid knowledge products? What do you think are the factors that affect your course selection and ordering?

4.2 Compilation of research answers

4.3 Summary of research answers

Five users participated in this survey, 3 girls and 2 boys, all living in Shanghai and Zhejiang (one of whom was studying in the UK). Among them are 3 people in the workplace and 2 students.

Three of the 5 users learned about B station through friends, and the other two users found B station through their own active search. All five users said that many people around them were using B station and they all started using it at about the same period, all started using it during high school and college students.

The frequency of using B station for 5 users is every day, of which 4 indicate that the usage time is at least 1 hour, and the other one indicates that the usage time is at least half an hour. The five users' use of B station is heavily dependent, but the development and use of functions are relatively shallow or moderate. All five users said that B station has a good community atmosphere and relatively high user quality. But relatively speaking, it is believed that the social atmosphere of B station is weak.

During the investigation, the author found that the purpose of using B station was clear, mainly to watch UGC videos and platform copyright/homemade videos. Users have a variety of interests and hobbies and demands for video content, and 4 users have the need to "mix the circle" on weekdays. In addition, two users said that they would use the live broadcast function because of the UP host they are following. Only 1 user said he would use member purchases on weekdays. Outside of entertainment, all 5 users said they would use Bilibili to learn. Two users said that B station had too many learning resources and could not start; four users said that no one urged them, so it was difficult to stick to the learning plan; two users said that learning alone would not be strong, and they would easily relax and be lazy.

The author also found that the UGC video viewing paths of the five users are relatively single, and they rely heavily on active search and homepage recommendations. At the same time, users realize that the UP host's approach is also very single (not conducive to the exposure of UP host). In addition, the content form of the columns on the platform has been basically ignored. The channel function has serious failure, which is to a certain extent due to the shortcomings in both functional guidance and functional utility. The correlation between several sectors is weak.

The specific research questions have been summarized in the table [4.2 Research Answers and Collection].

05 Functional analysis and optimization plan

After summarizing the results of user research questions, the product optimization plan of Bilibili will be mainly developed in the following two general directions:

1. Optimize channel section
2. Added a new learning plan functional section

The functional optimization scheme is shown in the brain diagram. The details of the plan will be developed in the following chapters.

5.1 Optimize channel section

1) Demand background

According to the results of user survey, it can be seen that one user said he did not know the channel section, and another three users knew but did not use it. Only one user knew and could use it, but the frequency of use was very low. It can be seen that there are serious failure problems in the function of the channel section.

2) Channel function analysis

Before analyzing the reasons for the failure of functions, let me understand what a channel is? What is its purpose?

First of all, the channel section can be simply understood as a comprehensive upgrade of the label function in the past. Tags are added by content creators when content creation and release, with the purpose of helping content consumers target content faster and helping the platform to make better content aggregation and content-related recommendations. There are two forms of channels, one is the official channel and the other is the ordinary channel. The main difference is that the official channel has more complete tab pages and related recommendations for related channels.

The author believes that there are three main purposes for the existence of the channel sector:

1. Provide a new way to aggregate content with finer granularity and higher flexibility. The content aggregation methods of Bilibili were mainly: partitions, user direct searches, tags and UP home space, and partitions were the most important content aggregation methods. With the development of B station, more and more users with different attribute tags (or more directly, more three-dimensional users) flocked to the B station community, and the partitions have gradually failed to keep up with the pace of B station content development (specifically, there are a large number of video content that cannot find the accurate partition location, and they are all squeezed into the partitions of technology, life, and fashion). The content classification framework set in the early stage could not support the rapid development today, and the channel came into being. On the other hand, the subscribed channel aggregates content that users have made their own selections, which can significantly improve the efficiency of targeted content browsing by users and thus improve user stickiness.
2. Make a segmented interest community entrance to balance the contradiction between user expansion and community atmosphere. A good community atmosphere is based on active users' social willingness. Only when people who have a consistent view of the three views and can reach a basic consensus gather together can enhance their desire to communicate with each other and achieve the goal of optimizing the community atmosphere. In the development of B station, the expanded user population will inevitably lead to the problem of reducing emotional relationship between users due to the inability to reach a consensus on concepts due to the differences in attributes. Providing corresponding interest communities for different interest circles can help select and combine people with similar views and ideas to a certain extent, thereby enhancing social feelings and thus stabilizing the overall community. On another level, the establishment of channels has high flexibility, and the long tail of B station’s content shows the diversity of user interests. The combination of the two also has the potential to make B station a platform for niche interest circles to build a community.
3. Increase future business monetization methods and opportunities. First of all, the most intuitive thing is that the channel can accurately locate the audience tone and facilitate targeted delivery of advertisers (the easiest way is to serve information flow advertisements on the channel). Secondly, the existence of a channel can facilitate the refined operation of some targeted activities. For example, if the brand wants to promote a promotional event, B station can directly sell the channel operation authority to the brand, and the brand can directly operate the corresponding event in the channel more flexibly, and B station can also cooperate with the promotion of this activity channel on the site to go to the homepage and other methods.

From this we can see that the original intention of establishing the channel section is very good, but the results achieved are limited at present.

3) Analysis of the cause of failure

The user survey results show that the main reasons for the failure of the channel sector are: ① Users do not know the functions of this sector, or have not paid attention to the channel. The author believes that this is because the channel's functions are not well guided. First of all, the channel sector is relatively independent and has no strong connection with the homepage that users use most frequently. Secondly, in the user's daily use path, channel, as a new concept, has not been well exposed, so it cannot attract the attention of users.

② The user is aware of the existence of the functions of this section, but does not use them. There are two reasons for not using it. One situation is that when entering the channel's overall interface, there is a problem of complex and confusing page, and the user is directly persuaded to withdraw. Another situation is that for the interface after entering a specific channel, its function is not attractive enough for people to use. For specific analysis, the author believes that there are the following points:

1. Functional confusion. Specifically, there is no need to split the selected page and the comprehensive page into two pages. Both are essentially display pages in the form of video content. The former can be understood as recommendations of videos selected by the platform without timeliness, while the latter is a content display page where video sorting can be selected. The recent popular ones should be recommended videos through algorithms, and the most playback is videos sorted by playback within 30 days, and the latest contribution is videos sorted by contribution time.
2. Single function. The content form is only the integration of videos and topics. As a community attempt, the channel can completely put more content related to tags to enrich its aggregated content form, making it different from the homepage's interest recommendations for users.
3. Functional logic is not unified. As an upgrade of the tag, the channel only integrates the video content under the tag, and does not merge the columns, which obviously has logical confusion.
4. Insufficient function. Specifically reflected in the topic page. As a social attempt (the content display form is similar to the card information flow of social content such as Weibo, WeChat Moments, Hupu, etc., and it is not difficult to feel that its attempt to explore social functions) is not perfect. First of all, there is a problem with the distribution method of information flow content. A series of popular content is fixed at the top of the information flow, and the user pulls down to refresh without content updates, which makes the experience poor; and when there is too much popular content, the newly released dynamic card will only appear below the information flow, that is, the newly updated content cannot get a good exposure opportunity. Secondly, for each dynamic card, there is actually room for optimization to promote users' desire to communicate.

4) Optimization objectives

Optimize the channel entrance, improve the channel functions, and attract more users to discover, explore and use the channel section functions.

5) Optimization suggestions

1. Added a channel entrance on the search result page to strengthen the connection between the home page and the channel, and guide users to perceive the channel subscription function.
2. The tab bar and UP main space below the video playback page enhance the channel's presence and guide users to know that the channel function exists.
3. Optimize the channel interface to solve the problems of complex and confusing pages and discouraging users.
4. Optimize the specific channel interface, solve the problem of logical chaos, enrich and improve functions, and enhance users' willingness to use the channel.

5.1.1 Added channel entrance

Through the survey, it was found that the user's UGC video viewing path is relatively single, and home page search is a way for users to discover videos that users rely more on, that is, the home page search bar is relatively high. Therefore, a new channel entrance is added to the search result page in the search result bar on the home page. According to the search keywords, the associated channels are recommended, the channel exposure is increased, and the user is guided to perceive the existence of the channel and its subscription function. At the same time, to a certain extent, it can alleviate the weak correlation and relative independence of the homepage sector and channel sector.

5.1.2 Strengthen the channel's presence

1) Change of label form

As a new concept, the channel needs to be properly educated to allow users to clearly perceive the existence of the channel and understand its functions. Just as instagram, Weibo and other products promoted and educated tags and topics to users back then, the functions and uses of new concepts can become daily and habits in users' usage.

As a tag upgrade, the channel is most likely to appear in the user's field of view in the user's way of use, which is below the video information on the video playback page, that is, where the tag was once located. The current approach is to highlight the official channel's tag and add an icon to emphasize the channel, wait for the user to click, enter the specific channel page, and then explore the channel's function. However, the relatively abstract image icon emphasis method is actually difficult to remove and upgrade the user from the previous label impression to the channel impression, that is, the concept of the channel still cannot be deeply rooted in people's hearts. From another perspective, users realize that the link between channel tags and channels requires complicated steps: first, you need to click on the channel tag and remember the style of the channel interface; then click on the channel section, click on the specific channel, and see the channel interface style again; finally, you will appreciate it carefully and learn that "the two are connected."

In comparison, the text expression is more intuitive. By adding the word "channel" to the tag with an official channel to emphasize the existence of the channel, it will make it easier for users to directly connect with the channel section to achieve the purpose of promoting and popularizing the channel impression. This design establishes the connection between the channel label and the channel section, and the steps required are only: the user sees the word "channel" on the channel label, the user sees the word "channel" on the channel section, and then naturally establishes the connection. In comparison, in this way, users' conceptual correlation paths are closer and have lower cognitive costs. After a period of education, after the user has made a natural connection with the upgrade tag with the channel section, then consider changing the expression form to the icon plus the channel name.

2) Added UP main related channel

On the UP host's space page, add the column of the commonly used channel for the UP host. First of all, it plays the role of strengthening the concept of channel (at the same time adding an entrance to the channel). Secondly, it can also help to create a portrait of the UP master, such as helping to distinguish whether the UP master is good at content creation in what sub-fields, or whether the UP master is a scholar in the vertical field or a scholar with wide interests. Finally, a space is reserved for the development of future channels. The main consideration is that when the future channel concept becomes natural, UP owners can also build their own channels and have the authority to manage and operate the channel, which is also more conducive to the establishment of niche circle communities.

Channel sorting rules:

1. The more channels the UP host contributes, the higher the channel will be displayed in the channel tab;
2. Channels with the same number of submissions will be displayed according to the rules that the closer the channel's submission time is, the higher the channel is in the channel tab.

5.1.3 Optimize the channel interface

The main root of the problem of persuading the channel interface to be dismissed from the user survey is that there are too many content elements and display forms in a page, resulting in mixed visual effects and confusing user experience. Quote the original sentence of the user in the survey, namely "the interface is fancy and whistle". At the first time, the user cannot understand what the function is to be transmitted through the interface, and at the same time, the user has no intention of spending extra time and energy to understand and explore, so he directly persuaded him to withdraw.

For example, the display form of the channels at the top of "Subscribe Channel" and "Popular Channel" is both circular thumbnails, and the information contained in the channel diagram and channel name; the display form of the channel "Recently Viewed Channel" channel is a rectangular card, and the information contained in the channel diagram, channel name and browsing time. The two are essentially the same. They are both fast entrances to the channel, do not have subscription functions, and do not contain too much channel content information. The only difference in information is the browsing time contained in the latter, but in fact they are not important information (the author cannot think of the effective function of this information for the time being). So under such a premise, using two different forms of presentation will actually unnecessarily increase the user's perception and understanding costs, which will greatly increase the sense of resistance to exploration. In fact, when only irrelevant browsing time information is sacrificed, the presentation form can be reduced and the two can be unified into one.

For example, let’s take a look at “popular channels” in detail. This part consists of three sub-parts: the top is an overview of the channel circular thumbnail (no detailed information, no subscription function, only the entrance); a rectangular bar of the recommended channel interspersed in the middle (there is a simple description of the latest dynamics of the channel, no subscription function, only the entrance); followed by a quick view of the specific content of the channel displayed by the circular thumbnail (the presentation form is that one channel occupies a single line, including two video tofu blocks, and also has the subscription function). Among them, there is a certain degree of repetition redundancy for the circular thumbnail entrance of the channel at the top and the corresponding channel contents below. If the quick view below is to explain to users what the channel is about through the display of video content and attract users to subscribe, the author thinks it is far-fetched. When a user decides to subscribe to a channel, one may be that the user has a strong desire to subscribe, so that the subscription can be attracted without the display of two videos; in addition, it may also be that the subscription is finally decided to subscribe after mining a piece of content. In this case, the display of two videos is not convincing, and the user still needs to enter the channel and explore a series of videos before making the final decision. Therefore, in my opinion, you only need to provide one channel entrance and attach the subscription key.

Because there are two states in the channel interface, the author will discuss the optimization plan separately below.

1) When you have not subscribed to any channel

When you have not subscribed to any channel, the role of the channel general interface is to provide the entrance square for the specific channel, and at the same time, by providing the channel subscription key, it helps users to distinguish the channel from the partition most intuitively.

With this as the tone, the optimization solution will focus on reducing user understanding costs, and the structure of the interface will continue to maintain the original design (that is, it is still composed of three parts: the channel search bar and subscription channel bar at the top, followed by the recently watched channel, and the popular channel channel below).

First, cancel the content under popular channels to quickly view it. Secondly, reduce the display form of channels in recent channels and popular channels, and unify them into a circular thumbnail form. Finally, to enhance the difference between partitioning, and also to provide convenient functions for users who have a strong desire to subscribe, the subscription key is added under all circular thumbnails.

2) After you have a subscription channel

After a subscribed channel is available, the main functions of the channel's general interface, in my opinion, should be two: 1. The entrance of all subscription channels and their corresponding information notification locations; 2. The collection display area of ​​all subscribed channels is equivalent to a more refined recommendation page for user-made preference decisions (there is no need to display two recommended videos separately from one channel, and there are two reasons: 1. Both the contents that the user has self-made and determined, and it will not affect the experience without pushing them separately; 2. If users really want to watch the content of a specific channel, they can directly click the entrance to enter. Only displaying the content of two tofu blocks on the interface cannot meet the needs of video selection).

According to the above ideas, the optimization solution for the subscription interface after a subscription channel is mainly aimed at the channel bar of my subscription. It will change it to my subscription, and comprehensively display the videos in all subscribed channels, as a quick browsing and sum area of ​​the video pages of the specific channel (recommended for the selection logic selection algorithm for the specific displayed videos. The user will update once every time he pulls down, and there are guaranteed to be 10 updates without new video clicks). In my subscription, set the video content of 5 lines, 2 tofu chunks per line.

However, it should be noted that the optimization plan of the above comprehensive zone also has certain risks. To a certain extent, if the channel comprehensive page gradually becomes a habitual way for users to use, that is, when users give up their dependence on the homepage, it may lead to the closedness of the user community and form an information cocoon. At the stage where users are still expanding and there is no need to develop inwardly, this solution may indeed improve user stickiness to a certain extent, but it is not necessary.

5.1.4 Optimize the specific channel interface

Channels are divided into two forms: one is the official channel and the other is the unofficial channel. The content and functions of the unofficial channel are far less than those of the official channel. The following optimization solutions are all for the official channel.

The optimization ideas for specific channel interfaces mainly focus on two points: one, improve channel content; two, improve logic.

1) Optimize subscription data statistics

The purpose of this optimization suggestion is to help users quickly filter when subscribing to a channel. The specific implementation plan is:

1. Delete selected videos;
2. Added columns;
3. Added reading volume;
4. Added number of new subscribers;
5. Added number of friends to follow (that is, how many people follow this channel are also followed);
6. New channel vitality value (displayed according to the 5-star system).

The channel vitality value is calculated as:

Among them, x1, x2, x3, and x4 are respectively: the increase in the number of submission videos, the increase in the number of video playback, the increase in the number of submission columns, and the increase in the number of column readings. The reason for using the sigmoid function is to map the data amplitude to between 0-1 to facilitate comparison between data. Adding 4 sigmoid values ​​and dividing them by 4 is to normalize the data to 0-1 again. The last multiplied by 5 is to facilitate the expression of the 5-star system.

2) Added UP ranking page

Through the survey, it was found that in the way users use, the way to directly understand the UP master is relatively single. In terms of UP hosts, UP hosts, as an important resource for platform content creation, are appropriately exposed and will be a good incentive method outside of finance (especially for new UP hosts); for viewers, there is an area to quickly identify UP related to their favorite fields, and it also provides users with a way to facilitate video selection. At the same time, the UP list can also play a role in enriching the content form of channel.

Specifically, there are two paging pages on the UP ranking page: the popular UP list and the potential UP list. The former is the most popular UP host on the channel, and the latter is the UP host on the list has a limit on the number of fans.

Rules for listing:

1. The potential UP is on the list, requiring less than 50,000 fans; the popularity UP is on the list, and there is no limit on the number of fans.
2. Calculation formula for list:
3. List, each calendar week cycle, is updated once.
4. Each list has 10 nominated UP owners.

3) Merge selected and comprehensive pages

Merge featured and comprehensive pages into video pages. Videos in the video page are recommended according to the algorithm.

4) Add a new column page

Added a column page to enrich the content form of the channel while improving the functional logic of tag upgrades. There are two sorting methods in the column page, namely: popular sort (calculated by reading volume, likes, and comments) and latest sort (submission time).

5) Optimize topic page

The optimization direction of topic pages is mainly: optimizing dynamic distribution methods and dynamic card display content.

The former optimization solution is: set the popular only to appear in the first card position, while the popular content in the same batch will be updated every time the pull-down refresh; starting from the second card position, you can see the latest update dynamics and sort by release time.

The latter optimization solution is: add a function reminder to prompt comments in dynamic cards.

5.2 Added a new learning plan functional section

1) Demand background

From the perspectives of users and products, the corresponding demand analysis of the functional section of the learning plan is conducted.

2) User perspective

During the survey, all users said that they would use B station to learn, and the content of learning includes a variety of fields (in my user survey, it has already included: postgraduate entrance examination, machine learning, data analysis, programming, original painting, music and other fields). The main reason why users use B station to learn is of course one of them. Free is of course one of them. Another important point is the comprehensiveness of resources and the coverage is very wide. Many niche people who don’t know where to find learning materials can be searched on B station.

However, in the process of using B station for learning, since B station currently does not design related functions for learning scenarios, users also said they have encountered many problems. The main problems are:

1. There are too many learning resources to start.
2. If a person’s learning environment is not strong and no one can urge him, he will easily relax and be lazy, and it will be difficult to stick to his learning plan.

3) Product angle

"Learning" is an attribute label that conforms to the mainstream core values ​​and is also a good promotion and communication keyword. Bilibili is very suitable for this keyword: whether it is from the long-tail rich content, it is an excellent learning library; or from the perspective of its own target user group, it is very appropriate and meets the learning needs. Innovating the relevant functions of learning scenarios can not only optimize the user experience, but also better play a role in dissemination and drainage.

4) Optimization objectives

Build relevant functions of learning scenarios, display problems based on research, meet user needs, and optimize user experience.

5) Optimization suggestions

1. Added my study plan. Supports the selection of learning content and the formulation of learning plans, and provides learning reminder functions to help urge users to learn on-site.
2. Added a new study plan square. Support the sharing of learning plans and user evaluation, help identify learning resources, and create a group learning atmosphere.

5.2.1 My Study Plan

1) Entrance

In the "My Services" column of the "My" section, add an entry to the "Study Plan-My" page.

2) "My" main interface

Through the above entrance, enter the "My" interface. In the interface, the user's learning plan is divided into three categories to store displays: (1) Ongoing learning plan (2) Awaiting the flop learning plan (3) Completed learning plan.

3) New plan

"New Plan" is one of the most important functions in the "My" section. Users can select learning content accordingly accordingly according to their own needs and integrate it into a learning plan. Click the function entrance in the upper right corner of the main interface of "My" to enter the edit of the new plan.

Create a new learning plan, which is mainly composed of 4 parts: (1) Information editing (2) Plan attribute setting (3) Reminder function setting (4) Learning content selection.

【Information Edit】

This part mainly includes:

1. Plan nameEdit
2. Program Introduction Edit (optional)
3. Plan cover settings

【Planning attribute setting】

The properties of the plan are divided into two types:

1. Public – Public learning plans appear in the Program Square for all users to review, discuss and collect.
2. Private – Private learning plan, visible to creators only.

Some rules regarding the setting of public/private attributes: ① To facilitate the management of all learning plans, a unique PV number is set for the learning plan.

②Rules for managing learning plans using PV numbers:

1. If private becomes public, the PV number remains unchanged; if public becomes private, the PV number will change.
2. Once the study plan is made public, the study plan of the PV number will always exist in the planning square and it cannot be replaced/modified.
3. Public plans cannot edit content, private plans can; if you want to edit public plans, you must first privatize the plan.
4. The privatization and disclosure plan will not have an impact on the original plan, and will generate a learning plan with different PV numbers to appear on the "My" page. (That is, for the public learning plan in "My", privatizing the learning plan is a duplicate operation)

After selecting the public learning plan, the column of plan delivery classification options will appear. The planned delivery classification is a must-have option, that is, the planned delivery classification must be selected on a square.

Regarding the classification design of the learning plan, as shown in the figure below:

【Reminder function settings】

The reminder function consists of two states:

1. Turn on the time of the set study plan, and the user will be reminded and pushed; saving the newly created plan will be classified as the "ongoing study plan".
2. Close will not send a push reminder to users; saving a new plan will be classified as "Learning plan waiting for the flop".

After turning on the reminder function, the option to adjust the learning plan will appear. Click to enter the page to adjust the study plan.

Regarding the corresponding reminder push for the set learning plan, set the following rules:

1. In a calendar week, if the set number of days of study per week has not reached and the set number of days of study per day has not reached that day, a reminder message will be pushed to remind users to study at the set time (according to the default settings, for example, if a calendar week has not reached 3 days and has not reached 30 minutes on the day, then at 8:00 pm that day, a push message will be pushed to remind users to study).
2. When the learning task of setting the number of learning days has been reached in a week, there will be no reminder information this week.

【Selecting content】

There are two ways to add learning content:

1. Add video through the av number.
2. Add favorites directly (i.e., the user's own favorites), and the videos of favorites content will be classified into the learning plan.

4) Check-in

"Check-in Calendar" is another important function in the "My" section. When there is an ongoing study plan, users can click on the function entrance in the upper right corner of the main interface of "My" to enter the check-in calendar page to view the check-in records. In the check-in calendar page, swipe left and right to switch to view the check-in calendar for different plans; the check-in calendar interface for different plans is the same.

In the use of the function, there is no need to manually check in. Once the video in the learning plan is watched, it will be automatically recorded. When the time reaches the set goal, the check-in will be automatically successful.

5) Plan details page

According to the attributes of the study plan, the plan details page is also divided into public plan details pages and private plan details pages.

【Open plan details page】

The interface contains learning plan: ① Basic information (including: plan cover, plan name, PV number, plan introduction, related data, plan score and number of people rated)

②Shallow interactive function

• Likes – Likes are a relatively shallow and easier for users to interact with than comments.
• Forwarding – Including two types of forwarding on-site and off-site. The design of the forwarding function of the plan details page is to more conveniently disseminate and promote the new functional module of the learning plan, and thus better promote B station.

③More functions (including: privatization, adjustment of learning plans)

• Privacy – Click on privacy and there will be a brand new learning plan, supplemented by a brand new PV number, which appears in the "Learning Plan to Flop" on the "My" page. The original study plan will not be changed. (That is, the rules for changing public/private attributes: the public plan becomes private, that is, a new learning plan is duplicated. The plan has a brand new PV number and its attributes are private)
• Adjust the Learning Plan – Click Adjust the Learning Plan and you will enter the "Adjust Learning Plan" page mentioned in the "New Plan" before.

④ Content tab column

• At the title, statistics on the contents of the study plan will be displayed.
• Click the bar area where the video is located to enter the video playback interface.

⑤Evaluation tab column

• For users to rate and fill in short reviews.
• At the same time, it is also convenient for reference and understanding the degree of adaptation of learning plans to yourself when screening and collecting learning plans.

⑥ Comment tab column

• For users to discuss and communicate about the content related to the current learning plan

[Private Plan Details Page]

The interface contains learning plan: ① Basic information (including: plan cover, plan name, PV number, plan introduction)

②More functions (including: disclosure, editing plans, and adjusting learning plans)

• Public – Click Public and an inquiry window will appear; after clicking Confirm, the user will be asked to which category the study plan will be publicly placed in the Planning Square (Category selection, select and only select one). In the process of learning plan attribute changes, follow the rules of public/private attribute changes: private changes are made public, and the PV number remains unchanged.
• Edit Plan – This feature exists only on the private plan details page, that is, the learning plan with only private attributes, and can edit the content. Click to enter the "Edit Plan" page, which is similar to the "New Plan" page.
• Adjust the Learning Plan – Click Adjust the Learning Plan and you will enter the "Adjust Learning Plan" page mentioned in the "New Plan" before.

5.2.2 Study Plan Square

The main function of the Planning Square is to help users quickly identify learning materials. All public study plans will appear on the Planning Square page.

The attributes of the learning plan collected by the user in the square are public (that is, the user's usage data for the plan will be counted, and the content within the learning plan cannot be modified and edited). And the study plan collected in the square will appear in the "Study Plan to Flop" column of the "My" page.

1) Entrance

The entrance to the "Learning Plan-Square" page is set in the "Learning Area" section of the "Home Page".

2) "Platform" interface

The "Platform" interface provides a summary of public learning plans, and users can browse, search and collect useful learning plans on the square page. It can be mainly divided into 5 interfaces: recommendation interface, first-level classification interface, second-level classification interface, search interface and plan details interface.

【Recommended interface】

Click "Learning Plan" in the "Learning Area" section of the "Homepage" section to enter the default interface of "Learning Plan-Platform". It consists of search bar, advertising banner, and tofu blocks for recommended videos.

The learning plan for the recommendation interface is a learning plan that the platform actively recommends to users through algorithms.

【First-level classification interface】

From the wheel bar above the default interface, slide to select the interface to enter with the tag other than "Recommended", which is the first-level classification interface.

The composition of the first-level classification interface is similar to the recommendation interface, but below the banner, there are more recommendation tags in the second-level classification under the first-level classification.

【Second-level classification interface】

From the second-level classification tag provided by the first-level classification interface, click to enter the corresponding second-level classification interface.

Videos in the secondary classification interface are displayed in the specified sorting method.

【Search interface】

Click on the search bar and you will enter the search interface. In addition to the search bar, the search interface also has popular searches, search history, and what you may like.

After entering keywords in the search bar, the corresponding search result page will be obtained (two situations: relevant results and no relevant results).

【Plan Details Page】

Click on the study plan in any interface to view the plan details page. The "Plan Details Page" interface is basically the same as the "Public Plan Details Page". The difference is: (1) No "more functions" is provided (2) The floating favorites function is provided.

06 Conclusion

Since its establishment in 2009, B station has been developing steadily and steadily. The positioning has gradually developed from a two-dimensional vertical community to an interest community serving all young people, and its business boundaries have gradually expanded to content communities, live broadcasts, games, e-commerce, knowledge payment and other fields.

And in the process of development, problems gradually emerged. There are two main issues that have troubled B station for a long time:

1. The business model is diverse but the monetization efficiency is low.
2. Dilemma and challenges of user scale.

The first problem is more focused on the monetization efficiency of MAU. Due to the rejection of patch advertising, Bilibili lost the most direct way to monetize MAU (and to a certain extent reduce the attractiveness of membership business). Without a good traffic-advertising model, it is actually the most direct and simplest way to monetize creators. Providing good monetization support for creators is the only way to encourage and retain the backbone of the content community.因此，高效的變現方式，是B站發展中亟待解決的一個問題。

第二個問題，需要從時間角度上進行分析，探討時間軸上現在與未來，用戶規模的困境與挑戰。

在現在，B站的用戶規模相對較小，雖然暫時沒有急于下沉的需求，但用戶規模依然亟待擴張、增長。而擴張的用戶群體，勢必會對現有社區造成沖擊；圈層的擴充，若無法找到好的引導措施，勢必對社區氛圍造成影響，并且預留下文化沖突引起的群體對立的風險可能。因此現階段，對產品功能做更好的完善以及推廣宣傳以吸引更多的目標用戶，同時平衡社區氛圍和用戶規模間的矛盾，是發展的兩個關鍵點。

而站在現在的時間點，展望未來，B站的用戶規模遲早面臨下沉挑戰。目前B站有著非常優秀的社區氛圍和忠實用戶粘性，一定程度上是依賴于其強烈的“文化護城河”。這一點，使筆者一直認為，就算在未來的發展中，B站依然維持著低速慢走的發展速度，也不會讓B站在激烈的視頻混戰中淘汰出局，而是依然可以偏安一隅。但無論是迫于市值壓力，還是企業終將不安于獨守一片自留地，B站遲早會發展到需要下沉的壓力位。而此刻最大的潛在風險和挑戰，在于山頭可能均被他家占領。即，不充分的下沉布局，終將會導致被對手奪走自身未來的發展空間，降低自身的用戶規模天花板。

作者：Js.

來源：Js.