Content
iQIYI Original Drama Why Try To Change Me Now Selected for Berlinale Series
iQIYI has announced on Jan. 17 that original Chinese series Why Try To Change Me Now has been selected for the Berlinale Series section of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, making it the first Chinese language drama series to be chosen for this section. As a selected series, it will also be competing for the inaugural Berlinale Series Award.
Poster of Why Try To Change Me Now
Wang Xiaohui, Chief Content Officer at iQIYI, shared: “The show has rewritten history for our industry bagging nomination as the first Chinese language drama series from the world’s leading film festival and awards. As one of our key content directions, we strive to revamp the storytelling to shed light on the lives of the small fry against the macro environment. This is a recognition given to modern Chinese drama by the international community, and a testament to iQIYI’s continued commitment to creativity and innovation.”
As the 11st suspense drama of iQIYI’s Light On series, the show debuted on iQIYI on Jan. 16 and will premiere globally on www.iq.com and iQIYI international app.
iQIYI Original Series The Knockout Becomes Instant Hit with Strong Ratings
The Knockout premiered exclusively on iQIYI on Jan. 14. The drama series achieved a peak content popularity index of over 9,900 after launch, currently scoring a high rating of 8.7/10 on Douban, most-used TV and movie review platform in China, based on more than 27,000 reviews.
iQIYI-presented show The Knockout
The Knockout weaves in scenes from 2000, 2006, and 2021 to tell the story about a two-decade-age struggle between good and evil. In recent years, works launched by iQIYI featuring similar themes including The Thunder, Ordinary Greatness, and Chasing the Undercurrent, all of which saw outstanding viewer reception. The Thunder is the first web series drama that won the Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Awards, one of the most prestigious awards for TV dramas in China, and Chasing the Undercurrent was the highest-rated Chinese drama series on Douban in 2022.
iQIYI Presents Rich Slate of Films During Chinese New Year Holiday
On Jan. 6, iQIYI announced that Ping-Pong of China, an iQIYI-presented film, is set to hit cinemas on Jan. 22, the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday. iQIYI also announced on that it will premiere ?akra and Northeastern Bro Ⅱ: Endless Love during the Chinese New Year's holiday under the Cloud Cinema Premiere distribution model.
iQIYI-presented film Ping-Pong of China
Based on real-life events, Ping-Pong of China sets the scene in the early 1990s, when the performance of China’s men’s table tennis team was at an all-time low. After going through arduous training, the team finally won the 1995 World Table Tennis Championships in Tianjin.
?akra and Northeastern Bro Ⅱ: Endless Love to premiere on iQIYI’s Cloud Cinema
Since iQIYI unveiled the Cloud Cinema in May 2021, which is an online platform dedicated to the production and distribution of films, it has released 34 films under the PVOD model, including Kungfu Stuntmen, Malignant, and New Kung Fu Cult Master. Over the past year, more than 12.2 million users have watched films on the iQIYI Cloud Cinema through the video-on-demand model. Notably, Blind War became the most-watched film of the year with 40 million yuan in box office.
iQIYI Releases Original Animations and Games, Advancing in ACG Sector
From Dec. 31 to Jan.18, the iQIYI release three original animation series respectively, The Land of Miracles season 2, The Flame Imperial Guards and The Tales of Wonder Keepers. The company also announced on from Jan. 5 and Jan. 18 the launch of the mobile games Immortals of the Godless Age and The Bad Kids on Steam, deepening its commitment to delivering high-quality content across a wide range of genres, including anime, comics, and games (ACG).
Animation series The Land of Miracles, The Flame Imperial Guards and The Tales of Wonder Keepers
An adaptation from iQIYI’s award-winning suspense short series The Bad Kids, the game The Bad Kids adds to the original plot elements of adventure, puzzle solving, and reasoning. The Immortals of the Godless Age, a 3D animated card game, is also adapted from its original IP. The two releases illustrate iQIYI's diversified monetization model through original IP development. Since 2019, iQIYI has developed a wide range of IP adaptations of Immortals of the Godless Age, including online films, animations, and novels.
The Bad Kids and Immortals of the Godless Age
On Jan. 1, iQIYI also released 3,000 limited-edition, 3D avatars based the animation adapted from iQIYI's 2022 hit drama Love Between Fairy and Devil. iQIYI brings the animated characters to life using 3D modeling techniques. 3D avatars of other anime characters will be introduced to viewers in the future. Each avatar is blockchain-backed as a 3D digital asset with unique identity authentication, enabling fans of the well-acclaimed animation to explore the metaverse with virtual identity.
Business
iQIYI Boosts Revenue for Film and Drama Producers in 2022
On Jan. 1, 2023, iQIYI launched a box office query system for movies released under its Cloud Cinema Premiere model. The launch marks a key step forward in facilitating new upgrade to iQIYI's revenue sharing system and is part of the company’s overall effort on improving its technical and commercial capabilities.
Over the past year, iQIYI released 13 titles under its Cloud Cinema Premiere model, including Blind War, Eye for an Eye and Big Three Dragons. More than half of the 13 releases have generated a shared revenue exceeding RMB 10 million. Over 12.2 million viewers have watched films on iQIYI's Cloud Cinema through the video-on-demand model. Blind War became the top-earning film of the year with a record-breaking box office of nearly RMB 40 million.
Blind War and Eye for an Eye under Cloud Cinema Premiere model
iQIYI also disclosed data on the top-earning revenue-sharing drama series in 2022. In 2022, revenue shared by producers saw an increase of 65% compared to 2021. A number of dramas have successfully reaped a return of over RMB 10 million, among which Shining For One Thing and The Case Solver generated more than RMB 100 million and RMB 92 million in revenue for producers respectively.
Moreover, seven iQIYI dramas were featured in the “2022 Top 10 Revenue Sharing Drama Series by View” list published by Enlightent. In particular, the effective-view of the suspense drama Shining For One Thing reached 19.95 million and topped the ranking of online revenue-sharing dramas.
iQIYI Launches Membership Points Program, Offering Multiple Members-only Perks
On Jan. 11, iQIYI officially launched the membership point system. Subscribers to iQIYI's S-diamond, Platinum, Gold and Student VIP packages can now earn loyalty points and redeem the points for exclusive prizes and discount. iQIYI also issued bonus points, ranging from 30 to 1080, to existing V1-V7 VIP members to thank them for their loyalty. Going forward, new subscribers are entitled to double membership points on future purchases.
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