iQIYI Expands Roster of Revenue Shared Internet Drama Series to Tap Fast-Growing Market

BEIJING, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI Inc. (NASDAQ: IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company"), an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, today announced the release this month of 13 new revenue shared internet drama series from its content partners, made available on the paid section of the company's premium streaming platform.

Comprised of a total of 274 episodes with a combined run time of almost 170 hours, this month's newly released series includes the hotly anticipated coming-of-age teen drama Judo High, Unimedia's costume drama Brother as well as Waiting For You For A Long Time, the first series to be produced as part of iQIYI's "Yunteng Plan", an online literature-IP program launched in 2017. The new release takes the number of such online series shown on iQIYI's streaming platform to a total of 166 titles, with shared revenue surpassing 10 million RMB for many of these titles.

In addition to licensed online series and self-produced productions, iQIYI launched its innovative model for sharing revenue with video production companies in 2016, in which part of the proceeds generated from paid subscribers are shared directly with the production companies. To encourage content partners to produce more high-quality content, iQIYI classifies revenue from shared dramas into four tiers (ABCD). Productions of higher quality will receive greater remuneration, incentivizing them to produce the highest quality drama they can and ensuring iQIYI's lineup of shows is as a good as it can be.

Over the past two years, iQIYI's selection of revenue shared internet drama series has increased in both quality and quantity. In 2016 the platform featured 30 revenue shared online dramas and by 2017 this number had more than doubled to 77 titles. In 2018 iQIYI plans to release more than 100 such online series, drawn from both emerging developers and established production teams.

According to iQIYI, the cooking comedy Little Miss Chef, produced by New Shengtang Pictures, accumulated more than 900 million views over two seasons. Monster Emperor, a costume drama fantasy set in ancient times, also has a very impressive record, reaching 10 million views on the day of its launch and earning shared revenue of 10 million RMB in the space of three months.

"The quality of material produced by our content partners is improving every year, and iQIYI couldn't be happier to provide them with a platform to reach new audiences," said iQIYI Senior Vice President Geng Danhao. "Our system of revenue sharing for newly developed video content is to everyone's benefit, as our users see greater quality due to our unique incentivization model, and our production partners can identify suitable audiences for their content through iQIYI's AI powered recommendations and our social community 'Paopao'."

As a result of the its success, iQIYI's revenue sharing model has expanded across the full range of entertainment formats offered to the platform's users, including online dramas, movies, variety shows, animation, documentaries and children's content.

About iQIYI, Inc.

iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company") is an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China. Its corporate DNA combines creative talent with technology, fostering an environment for continuous innovation and the production of blockbuster content. iQIYI's platform features highly popular original content, as well as a comprehensive library of other professionally-produced content, partner-generated content and user-generated content. The Company distinguishes itself in the online entertainment industry by its leading technology platform powered by advanced AI, big data analytics and other core proprietary technologies. iQIYI attracts a massive user base with tremendous user engagement, and has developed a diversified monetization model including membership services, online advertising services, content distribution, live broadcasting, online games, IP licensing, online literature and e-commerce etc. For more information on iQIYI, please visit http://ir.iqiyi.com.

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SOURCE iQIYI, Inc.