(Yicai Global) Feb. 28 -- Bilibili, a Chinese online entertainment company that listed on the Nasdaq less than a year ago, saw revenue jump 57 percent in the fourth quarter of last year in part because of a massive increase in the number of users willing to pay to watch animated videos and play mobile games.

Net revenue climbed to CNY1.16 billion (USD173 million) in the three months ended December from a year earlier, the Shanghai-based company said today in an unaudited earnings report for the quarter and the full year. That beat market expectations. It's net loss widened to CNY190.8 million from CNY51.3 million.

"We are pleased to see a more balanced revenue mix with increased revenue contribution from our advertising and live broadcasting, and value-added services businesses," Chief Financial Officer Sam Fan said in a statement. "This shift has led to outstanding growth in the number of average monthly paying users."

The number of monthly paying users almost quadrupled to 4.4 million in the last quarter. The company had an average 92.8 million monthly active users in the quarter, 79.5 million of whom accessed it via mobile phones. Both of these numbers rose by 29 percent and 37 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.

Income from its game-related business was CNY710 million, up 15 percent year-on-year, and that of its advertisement business reached CNY160 million, a four-fold gain. It earned CNY200 million through live-streaming and value-added services, also representing four-fold growth.

Annual Revenue

For the full year ended, net revenue gained 67 percent to CNY4.13 billion, also exceeding analysts' forecasts. Gross profit was CNY855.4 million, a gain of 56 percent. The company's operational expenditure was CNY1.6 billion, up 105 percent. Its non-GAAP net loss turned out to be CNY377.4 million.

Last year marked a milestone for Bilibili, Chairman of Chief Executive Chen Rui noted, adding that the company had succeeded in listing on the Nasdaq on March 28 and continuously set new records in the number of monthly active users by debuting a series of high-quality original contents.

The company also forged strategic partnerships with Chinese internet giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding in the fourth quarter, to further strengthen its capability in commercialization of animation and games.

Bilibili inked an agreement for content cooperation with Tencent in the fields of animation, comics and games in October and then struck a deal with Taobao, an e-commerce platform under Alibaba to work on the commercialization and operation of intellectual property in December.

Alibaba said on Feb. 14 that it has invested in Bilibili via Taobao, buying about 24 million shares, and now holds an 8 percent stake in the company.

For the first quarter of 2019, Bilibili forecasts net revenue of between CNY1.27 billion and CNY1.29 billion.