iQIYI Pushes for Bigger International Market With Export of Several Hit Shows

BEIJING, Dec. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI, China’s largest video and entertainment service provider, has reached deals to distribute several dramas to international distributors including Netflix. 

The online dramas, Tiensin Mystic and Burning Ice, were premiered exclusively on iQIYI's platforms in Chinese mainland and Taiwan during the third quarter this year. iQIYI has recently sealed deals with international buyers to sell the two hit dramas to other overseas territories.

Hong Kong-based Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) has picked up the streaming rights to Tiensin Mystic for the regions of Hong Kong and Macau, while the show will also be broadcast in Malaysia and Brunei by major local TV player Astro and in Singapore by TV operator StarHub. 

American entertainment company Netflix hosts the rights to the hit drama in other overseas territories. Netflix has also secured the rights to popular iQIYI crime series Burning Ice in Southeast Asia. Netflix will make both shows available to viewers in their designated markets during the first quarter next year.

"We are very pleased that iQIYI's original content has been well received among international distributors," said Chen Xiao, Vice-President of Distribution with iQIYI. "In future, we are looking forward to producing more high-quality shows and bringing them to the audience both locally and globally."

iQIYI has been in recent years exploring its potentials in original content productions including online dramas, variety shows and online films, and such undertakings have paid off as many of iQIYI-produced content including Tiensin Mystic and Burning Ice become hugely popular among viewers.

Tientsin Mystic, an adventure show set in the era of 1930s, has been viewed nearly 2 billion times at the end of November since its premiere on iQIYI in July this year.

Another hit show, Burning Ice, a 12-episode crime series, was produced by Han Sanping, a veteran filmmakers who is often referred in China as "the Godfather of Chinese filmmaking," and features Qin Hao, one of China's best-known film stars of art house productions. Burning Ice has been watched 480 million times since it was first available on iQIYI in September, 2017.  

Prior to the deals, iQIYI's self-produced series including The Mystic Nine, an adventure drama, and With You, a campus romance, have been sold to overseas markets.

iQIYI earlier announced the plans to launch around 80 hit dramas for the year of 2018 including the return of several mega-hit dramas like Tientsin Mystic 2.

Already in the pipeline for overseas market next year are youth romance My Huckleberry Friends and My Classmate From Far Far Away, produced by famed Chinese director and actress Xu Jinglei. There is also Sword Dynasty, a costume epic action drama from Feng Xiaogang, one of China's best-known film directors.

iQIYI hopes the shows will be soon watched by viewers overseas.

Contact: Celine Sun of iQIYI, 86-18610066395

SOURCE iQIYI