BBC and Bilibili Team Up for China-UK Content Push
Bilibili is doubling down on its partnership with the BBC.
The streaming platform will be the exclusive Chinese distributor for landmark BBC titles such as Green Planet and The Mating Game, and new scripted fantasy series The Watch. In addition to hosting current programming, Bilibili will also offer some of the BBC’s greatest historical hits, including Top Gear and Doctor Who.
BBC Studios, meanwhile, will be featuring Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin (the man behind The Three-Body Problem and The Wandering Earth) in its new series Odyssey into the Future. The Beeb has also confirmed that “several” joint documentary projects are already in pre-production, with a focus on stories about Chinese culture.
Ding Ke, BBC Studios’ newly-appointed Senior Vice President and General Manager for Greater China, said, “We know that telling Chinese stories is about realizing local values and resonating with the Chinese audience. Previous cooperation between BBC Studios and Bilibili laid a solid foundation for this enhanced strategic partnership. As well as taking British stories to China, this deal will also take some of China’s rich cultural stories to the rest of the world.”
Originally founded as a platform for watching anime, Bilibili has expanded its focus over the years to become the leading voice across a diverse set young cultural nodes — in the first quarter of this year, the site’s number of active users rose to 170 million.