Bilibili Just Made It Much Easier for Global Creators to Join. Is It Worth Uploading?
Bilibili is opening its international app to more creators. Here’s what changed, what monetization is actually confirmed, and the pros and cons of joining.
Muhammad Ali Akbar
8/28/2026
For years, Bilibili has been one of the world's largest video platforms that many creators outside China barely considered.
That is starting to change.
On August 19, Bilibili's newly established international Creator Hub announced a renewed push beyond China, saying its international app was launching more broadly with better localization, globally distributed content and easier sign-ups without identity verification. Bilibili described the rollout as Android-first, with additional markets and iOS support to follow.
At the same time, the company is recruiting creator and community staff internationally, developing an English-language web experience and actively courting creators outside China. Semafor reported hiring activity in markets including Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, São Paulo, Istanbul and Tokyo.
That makes this more significant than another app localization update.
Bilibili appears to be trying to turn an enormous, historically China-centered creator ecosystem into something creators elsewhere can participate in more easily.
But creators should separate what has actually launched from what is still being promised.
Quick Answer
Bilibili is making a serious new push toward international creators. Its international app now offers easier registration, expanded localization and access to Bilibili's broader content ecosystem, while the company is recruiting creators and staff overseas.
The opportunity is real: Bilibili reported 371 million monthly active users and 116.5 million daily active users in Q2 2026, and its existing creator economy supports multiple forms of monetization.
The uncertainty is equally real. Bilibili has not yet published a complete global creator payout structure, a fixed international revenue share, or detailed rules for its planned international brand marketplace.
For most established creators, the sensible move today is test Bilibili as an additional distribution channel—not replace YouTube, TikTok or Instagram with it.
What actually changed?
The most important change is surprisingly simple:
International users face less friction getting in.
Bilibili's Creator Hub said the international app would offer:
globally distributed content;
stronger localization;
easier account creation;
no identity verification during the international sign-up process;
additional localization improvements and features over time.
That identity-verification change matters.
Previously, one of the most awkward parts of joining Bilibili from overseas could involve submitting identity information such as passport documentation. Removing that barrier from ordinary international registration makes casually testing the platform considerably easier.
There is an important qualification, however.
No identity verification for sign-up does not necessarily mean creators will never need identity, tax or payment verification to receive money.
Bilibili has not yet published a comprehensive worldwide creator-payment framework explaining every country's requirements. Creators should therefore treat simplified registration and monetization verification as two separate issues.
This is a relaunch, not Bilibili's first attempt outside China
The phrase "Bilibili goes global" makes the development sound as though Bilibili has never operated internationally before.
That is not quite accurate.
Bilibili has previously operated international products, including services under Bilibili.tv, and has long allowed some overseas creators to distribute content into its Chinese ecosystem. Its existing global creator-services page has historically promoted international creators including artists, musicians, animators and video creators.
The important change in 2026 is the scale and intent of the new push.
Semafor described it as the relaunch of a previously discontinued international app, accompanied this time by international creator recruitment, localization work, overseas community hiring and plans for an English-language website.
That makes this less like an isolated overseas version of Bilibili and more like an attempt to connect creators outside China with the platform's larger ecosystem.
Bilibili isn't a small platform looking for creators
This is what makes the story worth paying attention to.In its latest Q2 2026 results, Bilibili reported:MetricQ2 2026Monthly active users371 millionDaily active users116.5 millionAverage daily time spent113 minutesQuarterly revenueRMB 7.94 billionAdvertising revenueRMB 3.13 billionAdvertising growth+28% YoY
Even more interesting for creators is what is happening inside that audience.Bilibili says users generate more than 17 billion interactions every month, while the number of creators with more than 1,000 followers increased around 30% year over year during the first half of 2026. Average creator income increased 22% year over year over the same period.
Those numbers refer primarily to Bilibili's established ecosystem—not specifically newly arrived Western creators.That distinction matters.But they demonstrate that Bilibili is not trying to invent a creator economy from scratch. It already has one.
The question is whether that economic infrastructure can be successfully extended across borders.
Why Bilibili could be interesting for creators
Pro #1: It opens access to an audience creators cannot easily reach elsewhere
For a creator already publishing on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, adding another Western social platform can sometimes mean competing for roughly the same audience again.
Bilibili is different.
Its core user base has historically been centered in China and around distinct interest communities. That potentially gives international creators access to viewers who may never encounter their YouTube uploads.
Bilibili's roots are particularly strong in areas such as:
anime and ACG culture;
gaming;
animation;
virtual creators;
technology;
knowledge and educational content;
music;
creative fandoms.
The platform has expanded far beyond those origins, but interest-based communities remain central to how Bilibili describes itself.That makes Bilibili particularly intriguing for creators whose work already travels well internationally.An animator does not necessarily need perfect spoken-language translation for the visual concept to work.
The same can be true for:
gameplay,VFX,music,cosplay,3D art,technology demonstrations,crafts,cinematic filmmaking,
and highly visual educational content.
Pro #2: Bilibili users appear willing to spend serious time with content
Creators increasingly operate in an internet optimized around seconds:
15-second clips.
30-second hooks.
Swipe.
Swipe.
Swipe.
Bilibili is somewhat unusual because longer and more involved content remains important to the platform.
The company's Q2 discussion said watch time for videos longer than five minutes grew 18% year over year, while video podcasts were generating more than 100 million minutes of average daily watch time during a recent month.
That does not mean short-form content performs poorly.It means creators may not be forced to compress everything into short clips simply to participate.For video essayists, educators, gaming channels, reviewers, documentarians and creators who make deeper content, that is potentially valuable.
Pro #3: The creator economy already has multiple revenue streams
Bilibili's existing business is not based on one simple ad-revenue program.Its disclosed creator monetization channels include combinations of:
native advertising;
advertising revenue-sharing products;
live-streaming virtual gifts;
fan charging;
premium creator content;
commerce;
customized brand arrangements;
creator incentive programs.
In 2025, Bilibili said nearly three million creators earned money through its monetization channels. Average creator income increased 21% that year. More than 10 million users directly supported creators through Bilibili's fan-charging system.
During the first half of 2026, revenue from fan charging grew by more than 50% year over year.That demonstrates genuine creator spending behavior inside Bilibili.But there is an enormous caveat:
Those existing economics should not automatically be treated as the terms global creators will receive.Bilibili has not yet disclosed a complete standardized international payout structure.
The "$0.70 per 1,000 views" claim needs a warning label
A figure spreading through creator discussions claims Bilibili will pay approximately $0.70 for every 1,000 views.Creators should not build revenue forecasts around it.Bilibili's international launch announcement did not announce a fixed $0.70 RPM or CPM. Reporting that discussed the figure has itself noted that Bilibili has not confirmed it as a guaranteed global rate.That distinction matters enormously.Video-platform payouts generally depend on far more than raw views:
viewer geography
ad demand
content category
eligible monetized views
brand campaigns
fan payments
policy compliance
the specific revenue product being used.
So calculations such as:
1 million views × $0.70 = $700
may look neat in a social post, but they are not currently a reliable description of Bilibili's worldwide creator economics.Until Bilibili publishes global program terms, treat any fixed per-1,000-view figure as unverified.
Pro #4: Joining early could create a discovery advantage
New platform expansions sometimes create unusual opportunities for creators because supply and demand temporarily become unbalanced.Bilibili wants more international content.International creators are only beginning to investigate the platform.
That potentially creates an early period in which creators who learn Bilibili's audience and culture before everyone else have less competition than they would on YouTube.There is evidence Bilibili is actively trying to improve discovery.The company says improved AI-based understanding of content and viewer interests is helping promising work find relevant audiences sooner. The number of creators above 1,000 followers increased 30% year over year during the first half of 2026.None of that guarantees a new English-speaking channel will grow quickly.But it makes experimentation rational.
Pro #5: Localization is becoming part of the product
Language has historically been one of the biggest reasons a Western creator might ignore Bilibili.That barrier is gradually becoming smaller.Bilibili's current app listings advertise expanded language support, while its iOS listing currently includes English plus languages including Arabic, Japanese, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese. The app also promotes AI dubbing as a way to make creators understandable across languages.
The international experience is still uneven, but this direction matters.A platform cannot realistically recruit global creators if every creator needs a Chinese-speaking management team.Bilibili appears to understand that.
The cons are significant
Con #1: Global monetization is still too vague
This is the biggest weakness.Bilibili has an established monetization system in China.What it does not yet have publicly documented in equivalent detail is a mature, universally understandable global monetization program comparable with YouTube's YPP documentation.
Semafor reported that Bilibili's international creator presentation promotes money-making opportunities and says a marketplace connecting international creators with brands is in development. No public launch date was given.Creators still need answers to basic questions:
Who qualifies?
Which countries can receive payouts?
What payment processors will be supported?
What percentage does Bilibili retain?
How does revenue sharing differ by market?
Are monetization programs available immediately or gradually?
What tax documentation is required?
How are sponsored-content deals handled?
Until those answers become clearer, Bilibili should be treated primarily as a distribution experiment, not a predictable revenue line.
Con #2: The international product is still being built
Bilibili itself says more localization improvements and features are coming.That wording is important.This is not a finished global ecosystem.The Google Play version now advertises broader language support, but recent user feedback still reports inconsistent translation and interface friction. Those reviews are anecdotal rather than representative studies, but they illustrate the type of localization work Bilibili still has to solve.
There is also some confusion around iOS.Bilibili's Creator Hub described the new international rollout as Android-first with an international iOS version to follow. At the same time, Bilibili's existing main app is already available in several Apple storefronts and has recently added more languages. Availability therefore differs depending on country and app version.
For creators, that means the audience funnel is not yet as simple as:Download app → everyone worldwide sees the same mature product.
Con #3: You cannot assume a YouTube upload will work unchanged
Cross-posting sounds wonderfully easy:Upload YouTube video.Upload same file to Bilibili.Done.That is probably the wrong strategy.Bilibili has its own visual language, communities, comment culture and audience expectations.Its famous danmu, or bullet comments, appear directly across videos while they play. That creates a much more communal viewing experience than the traditional comment section beneath a YouTube video.Creators may need to rethink:
titles,thumbnails,captions,references,posting cadence,community interaction,and translation.
A video designed for an American YouTube audience may contain cultural assumptions that simply do not travel.Creators who genuinely localize are likely to learn more than those who merely mirror their existing feed.
Con #4: Copyright management deserves attention
Global creators should also pay attention to rights protection.Bilibili's creator terms and annual disclosures state that creators are subject to intellectual-property rules and must operate within platform policies.
However, unauthorized reuploads have long been a concern for creators across large video platforms, including Bilibili. During the international launch discussion itself, creators raised complaints about work appearing on Bilibili without permission, and the Creator Hub account responded to some of those concerns.
That does not mean creators should avoid Bilibili.It means creators testing it should monitor their catalogue.Uploading officially may actually help creators establish an authentic presence—but they should still keep records of original publication dates, licensing arrangements and ownership.
Con #5: Policy and regulatory uncertainty grows with international scale
Bilibili has spent most of its life operating primarily within China's internet ecosystem.A larger international footprint brings different legal and moderation environments.Europe has the Digital Services Act.Countries have different copyright systems.Privacy rules differ.Content that is permitted in one market may face restrictions in another.
Bilibili's international hiring includes work around localization, community operations and AI-powered moderation, suggesting the company is building infrastructure for precisely these challenges.
Creators therefore shouldn't assume every current feature, policy or market will remain identical as the rollout matures.
Bilibili for creators: pros and cons at a glance
ProsConsAccess to a huge existing video ecosystemGlobal monetization terms remain unclear371M monthly active users in Q2New international product is still immatureRegistration friction has been reducedLocalization remains inconsistentStrong interest communitiesContent often needs cultural adaptationHigh user engagementRevenue cannot yet be forecast reliablyLong-form content still has meaningful demandBrand marketplace is still in developmentMultiple creator monetization models already existExisting Chinese monetization terms may not apply globallyPotential early-mover advantageCopyright and moderation systems deserve monitoringAI translation/dubbing could lower language barriersCountry availability and features may differ
Which creators should test Bilibili now?
If I were advising creators individually, I would put these categories at the top of the list.
Animation and digital art
Bilibili grew from ACG—animation, comics and gaming—culture.An animator with a strong back catalogue has perhaps the clearest reason to experiment.
Gaming creators
Gaming remains one of Bilibili's major content categories, and game-related watch time continued growing in Q2 2026.Gameplay and visually understandable content also travel more easily between languages.
Technology and AI creators
Bilibili has become an increasingly important destination for technology and knowledge content.Its 2025 annual report said AI-related content watch time increased 73% year over year during that year.
Music creators
Music consumption continues growing on the platform, with Bilibili reporting a 24% year-over-year increase in music watch time in Q2, helped partly by AIGC music.
Video essayists and educational creators
Bilibili's willingness to consume longer content makes it more compelling than a purely short-video platform for this category.
Creators who already have a large back catalogue
This may be the easiest experiment of all.You do not necessarily need to create 20 brand-new videos for Bilibili.You can select ten evergreen videos that already performed well elsewhere, localize them properly and measure what happens.
Who should probably wait?
Creators whose businesses depend primarily on predictable advertising RPM should wait for clearer global monetization terms before committing significant resources.
The same applies to creators who:need guaranteed payout infrastructure;have no time to localize content;work with complex regional licensing agreements;depend heavily on English-language cultural references;or would have to produce entirely new videos solely for Bilibili.The opportunity is interesting.It is not yet mature enough to justify rebuilding an entire creator business around it.
A smarter way to test Bilibili
Creators do not need to decide whether Bilibili is "the next YouTube."That question is mostly useless.A better question is:Can Bilibili become a profitable additional distribution channel for my existing content?
The answer can be tested.
Try a 30-day experiment
Upload roughly 10–20 pieces of proven content, rather than your entire archive.Choose videos that:already performed well elsewhere;make sense visually;have evergreen value;fit Bilibili's interest communities;and do not rely excessively on location-specific references.
Then improve:titles,descriptions,subtitles,translations,thumbnails,and category selection.Measure:views;average watch behavior where available;followers gained per video;comments and danmu;repeat viewers;audience geography;and any available monetization signals.After 30 days, compare the hours invested with the audience gained.That will tell you far more than speculation about whether Bilibili can "beat YouTube."
The most important thing Bilibili still needs to prove
The technology is not the difficult part.Bilibili clearly knows how to operate a large video platform.Its latest quarter produced 371 million monthly users, more than 116 million daily users and almost two hours of daily engagement per active user.It already knows how to monetize creators.
Nearly three million creators earned money on Bilibili in 2025.The hard part is transporting that ecosystem across borders.
Can an English-speaking creator upload without understanding Chinese?
Can Bilibili recommend that creator to the right audience?
Can the creator communicate with viewers?
Can the creator protect their work?
Can they receive money reliably?
Can brands find them?
And can Bilibili explain all of those systems clearly enough that creators trust the platform with their businesses?
Those questions matter much more than whether the app gets downloaded millions of times.
So, should creators join Bilibili?
For many creators, yes—but experimentally.
Bilibili now has enough scale, engagement and strategic intent that ignoring it completely would be premature.The reduced signup barrier makes testing relatively inexpensive.The existing audience is enormous.The platform's interest-driven culture offers opportunities that may not exist on YouTube or TikTok.And Bilibili clearly wants more global creators.But none of that makes it a proven YouTube alternative yet.
The global monetization framework remains incomplete.Localization is still improving.Creator-brand infrastructure is still being built.And some of the most attention-grabbing payout claims circulating online are not officially confirmed.
The strongest creator strategy, therefore, is not:Leave YouTube for Bilibili.It is:
Establish your presence before Bilibili's global creator ecosystem gets crowded—and make the platform prove that it deserves more of your time.
That may be the most interesting part of Bilibili's expansion.Creators do not need another platform asking them to start from zero.They need another distribution channel capable of turning work they already make into new audience, new community and eventually new revenue.
Bilibili now has an opportunity to become exactly that.Whether it succeeds will depend on what comes after the global launch.
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