(Yicai Global) Feb. 25 -- Bilibili's shares climbed in after-hours trading following the Chinese video platform's better-than-expected 91% jump in revenue in the last quarter of 2020.

The company's stock price [NASDAQ: BILI] rose by 3.7 percent after the market closed in the US yesterday despite a lackluster day with a 1.6 percent decline to USD127.14.

Bilibili's revenue increased to CNY3.8 billion (USD588.5 million) over the quarter from a year ago, the Shanghai-based firm said in its earnings report published yesterday after trading hours.

In the first quarter, the company expects its revenue to reach CNY3.7 billion or CNY3.8 billion, it added.

The report revealed a startup-like pace of burning money. In 2020, the video and game provider's revenue climbed by 77 percent to USD1.8 billion. But its loss more than doubled to CNY2.6 billion (USD401.9 million) from CNY1.1 billion.

Mobile games were the biggest moneymaker for the firm. Gaming revenues climbed by 34 percent to USD736.2 million in 2020 due to the company's increased brand awareness and improved advertising efficiency.

But more sales meant more expenses. In 2020, Bilibili's advertising revenues more than doubled to USD282.4 million. However, sales and marketing spend almost tripled to USD535.2 million. That led the total operating expenses to jump by twofold.

“2020 was a year of solid execution on our growth strategy as we brought our business to new heights,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Chen Rui.

"Benefiting from the inevitable trend of videolization, a broad audience of young users and China’s strong economic growth projections, we are in the right place at the right time to capture the opportunity and increase our leadership in China’s large video-based market," Chen added.

The platform's number of monthly active users rose by 55 percent to 202 million in the fourth quarter. That of monthly paying users more than doubled to a record high of 17.9 million, making up almost 9 percent of the total, said Chief Financial Officer Sam Fan.

"Looking ahead, we remain committed with our growth strategy to further expand our user base and top line, which we believe will lay a solid foundation for profitability in the long run," Fan added.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi