Examine the loss of Bilibili caused by its encouragement of short video based on business model canvas
If we put Bilibili in the business model canvas, it would easily to identified that the most valuable resource for this online media platform is the producer of qualified long videos as well a group of loyal niche users who are connected with this platform by the bond established via video producers or the shared value of ACGN(or Nijigen, speaking in an Otaku manner). Giving credit to the creative and productive video producers who are also assembled at Bilibili with their shared value, Bilibili soon becomes the best video platform for not only Chinese ACGN consumers but also the whole Gen Z user group. However, the popularization of this video platform will inevitably result in a more generalized content genre to fit the rather ordinary taste of the majority. One of Bilibili’s strategies was to encourage the short video, which soon proved to be a bad move.
To actualize such a tendency, Bilibili decreased the money reward that long video creators could get from views and likes of their videos, and those budgets flowed into short video producers. This move resulted in the drain of Bilibili’s key resources: long video producers. As they can no longer get the same amount of money as before, many long video producers either slow down their upload frequency or choose to produce content that is exclusive to other platforms that provide them with better offers.
The butterfly effect occurred. As the number of long videos with good quality decreased, short videos that were made with poor quality increased and became dominant on Bilibili. As people could easily exploit the new reward policy of Bilibili by stealing content from other platforms and re-uploading it on Bilibili, the quality of those short videos is horrible–there are even a lot of advertisements for illegal services such as prostitution and gambling. The value proposition of Bilibili was wracked by this effect, as one of the most valuable and advantageous services it could offer before was the high-quality videos and a vital and friendly niche community–which were both destroyed.
Moreover, as the customer relationships between Bilibili were once forged upon long video producers and platform value, the draining of long video producers as well as the corruption of platform value(by the short videos) nearly devastated the customer relationships. Many complaints and curses against Bilibili and its holders reflected the destruction of user loyalty as well as a wholesome community.
At the same time, the customer segments of Bilibili are changing rapidly. Although the encouragement of short videos could be regarded as a debacle, the customer segments of Bilibli have changed to a more generalized version indeed. More Gen Z with various tastes and preferences flooded into Bilibili and their existence desalinated the past highly concentrated ACGN niche.
It could be seen from the above analysis that one single policy of increasing the reward for short videos as long as decreasing the reward for long videos could result in severe fluctuation of multiple dimensions on the business model canvas. Those dimensions are connected tightly with each other, and it would be necessary for every company to consider every aspect before making a move–the short-term fruition such as the successful generalization of user segmentations in Bilibli could soon be proved as the prelude of long-term devastative negative impact.
For Bilibili, the introduction of Story-mode is more like a new commercialisation growth point that it had to find under the pressure of losses. It is undeniable that Bilibili's initial value proposition was to provide quality content for the ACGN community, however, as the platform became more popular, its audience was bound to expand from a certain niche group, and the platform needed to make corresponding adjustments to meet the changing user needs.
ReplyDeleteWith the fragmentation of user time and the booming development of short video platforms, the commercialisation model of short videos has already been verified by pioneers such as Tiktok, so Bilibili has introduced the vertical screen mode, which has brought more advertisement insertion scenarios and higher conversion efficiency, bringing new elements to the revenue stream. In addition to the impact of short videos on the original platform ecology, it actually brings new content creators and consumers. For example, KOLs and users on other platforms who are familiar with short video gameplay are attracted by Bilibili's vertical screen mode, completing the migration of platforms and rapid content realisation. Because of this, what short video brings to Bilibili is not entirely the crowding out of the original high-quality long video content, but also attracts more young short video consumer groups to flock to the platform, achieving pure incremental growth.
For content communities, the most important thing is always whether user needs can be met, not the length and form of the video. In the case that Bilibili's user group has turned from niche to mass, the introduction of short video mode can bring users a better experience of use and consumption. Meanwhile, high-quality long video content is still Bilibili's core competitiveness, and its core position in the value proposition has not changed. Under the balance of change and unchanged, Bilibili released its Q3 2024 financial report, which showed that the platform achieved a single-quarter profit for the first time, and community activity hit a new high.