On Bilibili, viewers typed comments that flew across the video while it played, so watching alone felt like watching with a crowd. The Shanghai site began as a home for fans of anime, comics and games. By the end of 2017 it had 71.8 million monthly users, most of them young, and they spent about 76 minutes a day in its mobile app. In March 2018 Bilibili went to Nasdaq to sell American investors on China's next generation of fans.

A Fan Site Grows Up

Xu Yi started Bilibili in 2009 as a small fan site for anime videos. Users uploaded clips, and the scrolling comments turned each video into a shared event. Chen Rui, a software entrepreneur, joined as chairman and chief executive and turned the community into a business. Bilibili added live streaming and licensed shows. Most of its revenue at the IPO came from mobile games it ran for its own users.

From Nasdaq to Hong Kong

Bilibili sold 42 million American depositary shares at $11.50 each in March 2018, raising $483 million, and listed on Nasdaq as BILI. The shares slipped below the offer price in early trading. Bilibili kept broadening its videos from anime into music, gaming, science and daily life, and it added advertising and paid memberships. In 2021 it also listed in Hong Kong. Bilibili still trades on Nasdaq.

Cover: Hokusai manga (Sketches of Hokusai), Katsushika Hokusai. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for Hokusai's sketchbooks (the root of manga and anime).