Indian creators are trying Bilibili before an official India launch, with early audience gains but uncertainty over access and earnings.

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Krati Darak is the Senior Editor at The Creators Index, where she leads everything editorial, from coverage decisions and story direction to the voice of India's...

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Some Indian creators are uploading videos to Bilibili, China’s social media platform, before an official India launch, according to The Economic Times. India is not among the Chinese video platform’s listed international markets. So, Indian creators are using VPNs to get access to the platform.

Contents

Bilibili gains early attention in India
Earnings remain uncertain
YouTube’s higher entry thresholds come later

The report describes an early audience-building experiment, rather than an established alternative to YouTube or Instagram.

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Bilibili gains early attention in India

Bilibili began as an anime, comics and gaming community in 2009. In its international Android launch announcement, Bilibili’s Creator Hub said sign-ups no longer required identity verification. The announcement described an iOS version and availability in more countries as coming later.

Jharkhand-based travel creator Nawnit Kumar Tiwari, who runs Ghumakkad Nawnit, told The Economic Times he had gained more than 700 followers and thousands of views after about 15 days of posting. He said he changed his phone’s location setting to Singapore to access the app.

Earnings remain uncertain

Access to the platform does not establish eligibility for monetisation or confirm how Indian creators would receive payments.

Rajesh Sethi, PwC India’s media, entertainment and sports leader, told ET that Bilibili was more likely to complement YouTube and Instagram than replace them, given their established audiences and advertiser networks.

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YouTube’s higher entry thresholds come later

The YouTube Partner Programme is also changing, but the reporting does not establish that its new rules caused these creators to join Bilibili.

From 1 February 2027, new applicants to YouTube’s Partner Programme seeking advertising and YouTube Premium revenue will need 1,000 subscribers and either 8,000 qualified watch hours in the previous 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the previous 90 days.

YouTube says these higher entry thresholds do not apply to existing YPP members. Entry thresholds for fan funding and Shopping remain unchanged. A separate rule will require 10 million qualified Shorts views over the previous 90 days to earn Shorts advertising and subscription revenue. Channels below that level can stay in YPP and continue earning from long-form videos.

Author

Krati Darak

Krati Darak is the Senior Editor at The Creators Index, where she leads everything editorial, from coverage decisions and story direction to the voice of India's first dedicated creator economy publication. She's spent over five years in digital media and has done a bit of everything — at Thomson Reuters, she covered legal news, deals, appointments, and rankings. At LBB, she pretty much led Mumbai coverage, digging up the city's hidden gems (if you've found one through them, there's a good chance she wrote about it). She's also worked as a commerce editor at StyleCraze and has written for D2C beauty brands like Foxtale, WOW Skin Science, SkinQ, and more.