IQIYI Unveils Blockbuster Lineup: Over 300 New Films Released to Captivate Audiences

On September 25, the 2024 iQIYI iJOY Autumn Enjoyment Conference with the theme of “Upward” was held in Shanghai. Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQIYI, said in his speech that iQIYI has officially launched short theaters and micro theaters, and iQIYI VIP members do not need to pay separately when watching the micro short dramas in these two theaters. This move further enriches the content selection of iQIYI VIP members and brings more marketing growth opportunities to the brand. At the meeting, iQIYI also released more than 300 latest film lists (2024-2025), covering dramas, variety shows, movies, documentaries, animation, children and other fields.

Launch of short theatre

More than 70% of the revenue is distributed to content producers

High-quality content has always been the driving force behind the steady growth of iQiyi’s business. In the first half of 2024, iQiyi has released about 50 dramas to China Central Radio and Television, satellite TV and local TV stations, further strengthening the long-tail effect of high-quality content. The company has also successfully launched a series of touching and resonant masterpieces such as “My Altay” and “The King of Comedy Stand-up Season”.

In terms of growth rate and development prospects, “micro-short dramas” are becoming the “leading actress” in the online audio-visual industry. The “China Online Audio-visual Development Research Report (2024)” shows that in 2023, the scale of the online audio-visual market will exceed 1 trillion yuan for the first time, and 30% of users have paid for micro-short dramas.

Faced with the strong rise of short dramas, major platforms are actively making plans. In the increasingly fierce market competition, iQiyi must not only adapt to changes and seize opportunities, but also adhere to its own adherence to and bottom line for high-quality content. In Gong Yu’s view, iQiyi short dramas are not the same as short low-cost web dramas, and iQiyi micro dramas are not the same as low-quality mini-program short dramas. Instead, it hopes to explore innovation together with industry partners. He emphasized: “Unlike the short drama business model in the market that uses more than 90% of revenue for streaming, the business model designed by iQiyi is to distribute more than 70% of revenue to content producers.”

“We need to study in a down-to-earth manner what kind of long video stories our 800 million users really need.” Wang Xiaohui, Chief Content Officer of iQiyi, said that on the road of integrating long and short videos, the flame of long videos will still be burning. He believes that good long video content: first, it must stabilize the basic market in the face of the general trend; second, it must accumulate new momentum; third, it must persist in innovation.

“Our creations are closely related to the public.” Wang Xiaohui said that iQiyi will complete the deconstruction and construction of creation through different types of drama content. In terms of short dramas, iQiyi will further promote the integration of long and short videos in creation.

Released over 300 latest film lists

Laying out a new ecosystem of “long + short” content

According to the latest financial report released by iQiyi, the company achieved total revenue of 7.4 billion yuan in the second quarter, operating profit (Non-GAAP, non-US generally accepted accounting principles) of 500 million yuan, operating profit margin of 7%, and achieved positive operating cash flow for 9 consecutive quarters. In the previous earnings call, iQiyi disclosed the progress of the serial development of more high-quality IPs. At this Yuexiang Conference, iQiyi released a variety of types and rich themes of upcoming dramas, with heavyweight dramas appearing in multiple tracks such as realism, ancient costume fantasy, suspense, etc., with a total list of more than 300 films.

For example, the Micro Dust Theater will present “In the World”, and the Everyone Theater will present works such as “Northward”, “Give Birth to All Things”, and “Happy”. At the same time, iQiyi will continue to promote the serialization development of drama IPs, and “Tang Dynasty Weird Stories: Chang’an”, “Police Honor 2”, “Fearless 2”, “Hunting Crime Picture Book 2” and other works will meet users one after another, continuing the vitality of high-quality content IPs. In addition, iQiyi has made new breakthroughs in documentaries, movies, animation, children’s content, sports events and entertainment.

At the same time, the newly launched “Micro Theater” will launch two new works every week, focusing on male and female channels and the elderly, with 1 to 5 minutes of vertical screen content as the main content; “Short Theater” plans to launch a new work every week, covering a variety of genres such as suspense, with each episode lasting 5 to 20 minutes, mainly horizontal screen content. With the launch of the Micro Short Theater, iQiyi’s “global ecology” of content marketing will continue to upgrade. Wu Gang, senior vice president of iQiyi, said that iQiyi will further release the commercial potential of the new ecology of “long + short” series.

While laying out a new “long + short” content ecosystem, iQiyi is committed to widely applying AI to improve content creation capabilities, operational efficiency and user experience, while expanding into more overseas markets. Data shows that in recent years, the popularity of Chinese-language content in overseas markets has increased significantly, and it has become the main source of top content for iQiyi’s international version. In the second quarter of this year, iQiyi’s overseas total revenue and membership revenue maintained both year-on-year and month-on-month growth. Gong Yu specifically reminded content creators to start investing more energy and focus on creating some content for the overseas market.

Regarding the latest progress in AI research and development, Gong Yu also revealed in his speech that iQiyi’s intelligent assistant “Taodou 2.0” is under development. This tool integrates large language model technology and integrates scenario functions such as recommendation, search, and customer service, and is committed to providing users with an “what you want is what you get” entertainment experience. Currently, in the iQiyi App, users can chat and interact with virtual characters through “Taodou 1.0”.

(Source: Shanghai Securities News)

Source: Shanghai Securities News

Original title: “Long + short” takes into account content as king iQiyi releases a list of over 300 new films

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