Danmu website layout: A site is on the left and B site is on the right

On August 6, AcFun (A站), the originator of domestic barrage video websites, announced the completion of a US$50 million Series A financing round. This round of financing was led by Youku Tudou Group. It is understood that the funds have been fully in place. The amount of financing in this round by AcFun has created the largest Series A financing amount in the barrage video industry.

In fact, when the mass media started talking about "dimension" and mainstream video websites began to add "bullet screen", the barrage website industry has been increasingly at the center of attention in the industry over the past six months. Niche cultures such as barrage and the two-dimensional world are showing signs of becoming mainstream.

On the one hand, the main users of barrage websites - the "post-90s" - have begun to step onto the "historical stage", their consumption power is gradually forming, and they have shown huge consumption potential. The consumption preferences and cultural attributes of this group have also become the object of industry research; on the other hand, the war between AB stations in recent years and the recent copyright disputes between iQiyi and Youku Tudou have also made this field begin to receive more media attention.

As the name suggests, bullet-screen websites are websites where comments (complaints) fill the screen like cannonballs. The originator of this field is the Japanese website NICONICO, which was founded in 2006. In June 2007, the first bullet-screen video website in China, Station A, developed a player with bullet-screen functions similar to NICONICO. Two years later, in June, the same type of website Bilibili (commonly known as Station B) was born.

Subsequently, a number of websites in China also appeared to imitate the model of AB Station, but almost all of them failed. The market structure of the two oligopolies of AB Station was basically determined, and the competition began immediately. At this time, barrage was no longer the core advantage of either party. More competition was in UP hosts, ACG resources and Internet operation capabilities. There were too many stories of grievances between AB Station in recent years, which are nothing more than a bloody battle for talent, resources and public relations.

In fact, from the beginning, the core audiences and functions of Station A and Station B were different. Station B was originally defined as a two-dimensional video website for otakus, while Station A, in addition to videos, also had articles and comment areas. The content quality of its "Comments are the essence" column was as high as the "Japanese cold complaints" on Weibo. However, after several years of development, Station B, which was the first to be operated as a company, has surpassed Station A in terms of traffic.

Now B station has achieved certain results in commercialization, and the catalytic effect of capital has played an indispensable role. According to industry rumors, B station has completed a $38 million Series B financing in 2014 (investor is IDG), with a valuation of $280 million, and the C round is also in progress. However, these news have never been publicly disclosed by B station officials.

After obtaining financing, Bilibili also began to market and commercialize last year. In November last year, Chen Rui, former VP of Kingsoft Network, joined Bilibili as executive director, which further promoted the commercialization of Bilibili. Last year on Double 12, Bilibili launched the Taobao plan and opened an official Taobao store. Since this year, Bilibili has entered the Japanese market, opened customer service in Japan and officially launched the bilibiliyoo tourism project. It is understood that Bilibili's current business model already includes game joint operations, advertising, e-commerce (peripherals and tickets, etc.), game live broadcasts and offline activities, etc.

However, while the commercialization process has achieved various results, Bilibili still claims to be in a loss-making state. It is worth noting that while Bilibili is promoting its money-making business in full swing, it is inevitable that there will be discounts on products and experience. For example, the game joint operation, which is the main source of income for Bilibili, is more of a consumption of Bilibili’s own resources, and there is no conventional distribution method of going out to get traffic. More importantly, at the content level, Bilibili is no longer focused on the content of the second dimension, but in order to allow users to spend more time on Bilibili, it has diversified the content, but to some extent it is somewhat out of the positioning of the second dimension. Therefore, how to balance commercialization and user experience is an important issue that Bilibili needs to pay attention to next, especially for a website that was originally positioned in the second dimension culture.

A站 has had a rough road in recent years. Although A站 has attracted a large number of viewers who love otaku culture in the years since its establishment, and has also produced countless well-known original video creators, playing an important role in the development of the industry; however, A站 is currently at a disadvantage, which is actually related to the inaction of the previous webmasters and the fact that A站 has changed hands several times. In 2014, B站 developed rapidly, while A站 was even in a situation of being leaderless.

However, although Bilibili expanded rapidly last year, the foundation of A Station - including UP hosts and die-hard fans - still exists. Therefore, A Station did not die in the fierce competition. Even though more and more barrage websites in the industry received financing, it did not shake A Station's position.

A站's nightmare may be coming to an end. In January this year, Sun Min, who has a background of overseas returnees, joined A站 as CEO and is responsible for the overall operation of the website. The joining of another senior executive is believed to bring a turning point for A站's rebirth. In April this year, Liu Yanyan, the founder of the "Manhua Fan" magazine, joined A站 as editor-in-chief. He is one of the first batch of contemporary Chinese animation and video game practitioners.

With the emergence of new core figures and a new round of financing, Station A has the possibility of getting back on track with its original foundation. Liu Yanyan pushed for the return of content, focusing on the second dimension, and through a series of content and operation methods, grasped the "feelings" that the second dimension crowd wanted, using this as a magnet to continuously attract and expand the core stable user base. For example, the frequent updates of the banner at the top of the website are the easiest way to feel the changes in Station A.

Now, Station A is moving to the left, and its development path belongs to the more precise traditional two-dimensional cultural community approach, or the more fundamentalist barrage website approach; Station B is moving to the right, and the commercialization process is progressing in an orderly manner, but the content is somewhat of a hodgepodge.

However, it is still difficult to make an absolute conclusion as to which strategy is right or wrong between the two at the moment, but what is certain is that as competition in this field intensifies, the barrage website industry may be more worth looking forward to.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.