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| iQIYI President of Movie and Overseas Business Group Yang Xianghua speaking at the "International iJOY Conference: 2024 Grand Reveal" during the 2023 Asia TV Forum in Singapore (Image Source: PR Newswire/iQIYI) |
Asian streaming leader iQIYI hosted “International iJOY Conference: 2024 Grand Reveal” at the 2023 Asia TV Forum held in Singapore last December 6, 2023. The event kicked off with the 2023 milestone celebration to have brought 500 shows in a total of 6,000 hours of premium entertainment experience for the global aficionado of television shows and films this year followed by the exciting announcement of more than 280 new Chinese language dramas, films, variety shows along with 35+ original productions and licensed series from Southeast Asia region to be released across iQIYI's international audiences for the next two years.
iQIYI President of Movie and Overseas Business Group Yang Xianghua shared, “iQIYI has achieved invaluable success after three years of exploration and testing in overseas markets. We’ve verified the popularity and influence of iQIYI original productions outside of China, as well as how China’s business model can be adopted for international markets. We also anticipate an annual income growth and profit for our overseas business in 2023. To aim for greater heights, iQIYI will roll out more than 280 Chinese language movies, drama series, variety shows and kids programs. We focus on three strategic areas including ‘oriental fantasy’, ‘mature romance’, ‘sweet crush’ to meet the emotional needs of our international audiences.” At the same time, the international adaptation of Youth With You will be rolled out worldwide. The blockbuster-maker of Danger Zone, Lesson in Love, and Oh No Here Comes Trouble will continue embracing a ‘quality over quantity’ approach and invest in nearly 30 original productions and licensed shows from the Taiwan market to further strengthen their Chinese-language content leadership. Among those is the highly anticipated Not a Murder Story slated for release in January 2024.
In efforts of further cementing its presence in Southeast Asia, iQIYI will slate out more than 12 Malay-language Local Originals slated for release in 2024, including the second season of the highly acclaimed Rampas Cintaku, iQIYI’s first Malay language original. Rampas Cintaku concluded its first season with an overwhelming success, garnering over 100 million digital views globally. The streaming platform will continue to work with top creators in Malaysia such as MIG Productions and Infinitus amongst others to bring more Malaysian content to the global audience. Outlining plans for Malaysia, iQIYI Malaysia's Head of Original Content Zebedee De Costa shared that iQIYI is carving out its own space by not only complementing the existing content offering in the market such as the popular young adult, family-themed and romance genres, but also provides genre-bending and bold storylines that are rarely seen on traditional TV today. In Thailand, iQIYI will bring forth four Thai original productions and 20 new shows from top-notch production houses including One31, Star Hunter Entertainment, Studio Wabi Sabi, Mandee Work, Me Mind Y, and Change 2561 to present the best of Thailand to a global Gen Z viewers. iQIYI Thailand Country Director “Poppy” Parnsuk Tongrob shared that the online entertainment service's ambition in Thailand is to showcase stories without boundaries, going beyond language barriers, genre limitations and exceeding fans’ expectations. He also revealed the exciting news that 2024 will see iQIYI’s very first Thai original production My Stand-In that is targeted for a global launch next Spring as well as City of Stars and Sunset x Vibes created by Star Hunter which will be available exclusively on iQIYI in 2024.
The “iQIYI International iJOY Conference: 2024 Grand Reveal” ended on a high note with the partnership renewal agreement signing ceremony with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). STB’s Assistant Chief Executive for International Group Juliana Kua said, “STB is pleased to renew our partnership with iQIYI for another three years which will enable us to continue to market Singapore to our key target audiences through iQIYI’s strong line-up of entertainment content as well as their reach in China and many other international markets. We look forward to working with iQIYI to showcase Singapore as a compelling destination in an authentic and engaging manner and co-create exciting campaigns to inspire travel to Singapore.” iQIYI launched iQIYI International via www.iq.com and mobile apps downloadable from Google Play, App Store (iOS) and other app stores where it is available, a service tailored to global viewers with Asian TV and films as core offerings. iQIYI International is accessible via almost any internet-connected device across 190+ territories in the world with a satisfyiny unique user interface and subtitles of 12 languages including Simplified and Traditional Chinese, English, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean and Spanish. It has served more than 100 million users worldwide with more than 1,700 drama series, variety shows, anime and 2,000 films. iQIYI manages its overseas operations via dual headquarters in Beijing and Singapore with the setup of independent functions for content, product, research and development (R&D), membership, advertisement sales, and marketing. iQIYI also has its local offices based in Thailand, Malaysia and North America.
