Analysis of the Strategic Advantages of Cross-Platform Memberships: A Case Study of Bilibili

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-825-2_29How to use a DOI?

Keywords

cross-platform membership; mixed bundling; incremental value; network effects; cooperative promotion; Bilibili

Abstract

Against stock competition in the digital content industry, single-platform memberships face homogenization and slow user growth, pushing platforms to launch cross-industry bundled memberships based on mixed bundling theory. This paper takes Bilibili as a single case, adopts document analysis and theoretical pattern matching, and centers on the 2023 Bilibili-Netease Cloud Music joint annual VIP card, supplemented by its Zhihu and Weibo co-branded memberships. Research materials include archived activity pages, Bilibili’s 2025 financial reports and classic bundling literature. The paper strictly distinguishes observable operational mechanisms from unproven performance outcomes and clarifies evidence boundaries via standardized tables.

Four core findings are obtained: First, Bilibili adopts voluntary mixed bundling, selling standalone Big Membership and cross-platform annual packages simultaneously; membership rights require separate account redemption on partner platforms, cutting cross-system costs while increasing user operation friction. Second, the 2023 joint package creates a 48.1% nominal discount: separate purchase costs 449 yuan while the bundle sells at 233 yuan. This preferential rule only applies to this specific campaign and cannot be generalized. Third, cross-platform memberships deliver four verifiable strategic values: lower user multi-platform consumption cost, multi-scene service expansion, bidirectional traffic drainage via joint marketing, and differentiated value-added service portfolios to ease video industry homogeneous competition. Fourth, Bilibili’s 2025 operational indicators (25.3 million year-end Big Members, 11.93 billion yuan VAS revenue) provide solid operational foundations, yet no split channel data for joint memberships are disclosed, making it impossible to verify causal links between bundled products and user/revenue growth.

This paper constructs evidence boundary tables to bridge abstract bundling theory and real platform practice, addressing three research gaps in existing literature. It also identifies research defects including static single-case analysis and one-dimensional measurement of incremental value, and puts forward targeted optimization suggestions for platform operators and follow-up academic research.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zheyi Zhou
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/10
TI  - Analysis of the Strategic Advantages of Cross-Platform Memberships: A Case Study of Bilibili
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 5th International Conference on Public Service, Economic Management and Sustainable Development (PESD 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 296
EP  - 304
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-825-2_29
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-825-2_29
ID  - Zhou2026
ER  -