Platform Heterogeneity in Creator-Driven Brand Engagement: A Matched-Brand Comparison of Bilibili and Rednote
Abstract
Cross-platform brand research typically collapses distinct engagement actions into single metrics and overlooks heterogeneity in brand presence. This research examines whether there is a difference in promotional engagement between Bilibili and Rednote, and whether the platform gap varies across likes, comments, and shares. Using 3,833 promotional posts by 191 brands active on both platforms in July 2025, this study controls for creator follower count, brand fixed effects, and publication-date fixed effects through log-linear regressions and uses HC3 heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors. The fully adjusted results show that Rednote's expected engagement was lower than on Bilibili by 47.1% for likes, 56.9% for comments, 43.7% for shares, and 48.5% for total engagement. The platform penalty is sharpest for comments; like and share gaps are statistically indistinguishable. Follower count was positively correlated with engagement, but elasticities of 0.39 to 0.49 indicated that the increase in engagement was lower than the growth of follower size. The robustness test did not change the direction of the platform differences, but after reweighting, it reduced the influence of brands that posted frequently on one platform, narrowing the sharing gap. These findings support platform-specific engagement benchmarks, KPI design aligned with promotion objectives, and more disciplined creator pricing.
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