Bilibili, Taobao Announce Business Collaboration in E-commerce Space

Bilibili Inc., an online entertainment platform for young generations in China, and Taobao Marketplace (“Taobao”), China’s mobile commerce destination under Alibaba Group (“Alibaba”), has announced that they have entered into a business collaboration agreement in content-driven e-commerce and commercialization of Bilibili’s intellectual property (“IP”) assets.

Under the agreement, Bilibili and Taobao will collaborate to develop a dynamic ecosystem that will better connect content creators, merchandise and users on both platforms. Specifically, through Bilibili, content creators on Bilibili will register and operate a number of accounts on Taobao, and promote merchandise by producing content in a creative and interactive format. Bilibili and Taobao will also work to promote and commercialize Bilibili’s IP assets, leveraging consumer insights on both platforms. Additionally, Taobao will provide Bilibili with e-commerce technical support to ensure a more efficient user experience.

“This business collaboration with Taobao is a remarkable testament to Bilibili’s commercial potential and closely aligns us with China’s leading and most successful e-commerce platform,” said Rui Chen, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bilibili. “We can now leverage Taobao’s gigantic platform and seasoned e-commerce operating capabilities to further help our content creators realize and improve their commercial values, thereby building a more-virtuous content community and commercialization-focused ecosystem.”

“Through this collaboration, we will better incentivize the creativity of our young people and will utilize each other’s strengths and resources to generate more premium content. We look forward to working with Taobao to fulfill the tremendous entertainment and consumption needs of the young generations in China, and importantly, in turn, we look forward to increasing the value we bring to all of our stakeholders.” Mr. Chen concluded.

“Early in 2015, Taobao rolled out a program to encourage bloggers, writers and online experts to post content on various channels on Taobao, to amplify the value of creative content. Over 1.6 million content creators, including anime, comic and games (ACG) experts, were actively supporting the Taobao App and helping brands on our platform engage with consumers,” said Fan Jiang, Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Taobao. “Through deep cooperation with IP holders and content creators, Taobao has experienced the great potential of ACG. We greatly value Bilibili’s unique online hub themed around ACG and appreciate its ‘Gen Z’ demographic expertise, and believe there is a great, natural synergy between us. Together with Bilibili, we are devoted to tapping into the significant business value of this coveted demographic and bringing rich content and products to the young generations.”