2019 iQIYI World Conference Presents Blueprint of Innovation-driven Win-win Entertainment Ecosystem

BEIJING, May 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ: IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company"), an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, today announced the opening of 2019 iQIYI World Conference (the "Conference"), a two-day annual summit devoted to the future of the iQIYI entertainment ecosystem. Since 2015, the annual conference has reflected the development and opportunities in China's entertainment industry and has become an important platform for iQIYI and industry peers to discuss and share industry trends and innovations.

Held under the theme of "Smart Entertainment, Always Fun & Simple", this year's conference includes 12 forums on topics such as intelligent video technology, online dramas, and talent management. Dr. Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQIYI; Nobel Prize winner in Literature Mo Yan; and Doreen Wang, Global Head of BrandZ™, the world's largest and most definitive brand building platform, delivered keynote speeches at the conference.

In the past year, iQIYI has focused on strengthening its full IP industry chain, as well as implementing innovation and partnership-led strategies, helping cement the company's position as leader of China's entertainment industry. Most recently, it was announced that iQIYI ranked 28^th place on the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands 2019. This achievement represents a 158% year on year increase in brand value, earning iQIYI the BrandZ™ Fastest Growing Chinese Brand Award 2019.

On iQIYI's growth in brand value, Doreen Wang, Global Head of BrandZ™, noted in her keynote speech, "iQIYI's brand value not only represents the company's unlimited potential, but it also symbolizes its ambition and mission as a representative of the Chinese entertainment industry to help Chinese culture go global."

iQIYI's IP-focused entertainment ecosystem

In the backdrop of growing integration between upstream and downstream IP industry chains in China's entertainment industry, iQIYI's entertainment ecosystem has expanded rapidly due to Chinese consumers' growing demand for diverse content. Over the past year, iQIYI's comprehensive ecosystem has grown to be composed of iQIYI's main platform as well as 21 individual apps that caters to long and short-form videos, short videos, fans community, sports, e-commerce, gaming, literature, comics, paid content knowledge, live streaming, movie ticket booking and virtual reality content.

iQIYI also continues to maximize the monetization capabilities and IP value of its comprehensive ecosystem through its nine major IP monetization methods including advertising, paid subscription, publishing, content distribution, IP licensing, etc. 

"Our extensive product and service range is at the core of our ecosystem's expansion. Going forward, we will continue to fully utilize our strong technology and content IP profile to support our diversified business model and further strengthen our monetization capabilities," said Dr. Gong Yu.

iQIYI's technological and content innovation set new industry standards

iQIYI has constantly broken free from standard industry practices by promoting innovation-driven values in both technology and content creation. This has led the company to revolutionize TV show formats through debating talk show Qi Pa Shuo and release original content to unprecedented acclaim, namely The Story of Yanxi Palace, The Rap of China, Idol Producer among others. At this year's conference, iQIYI showed that it continues to lead the development of China's video industry by presenting two industry opportunities.

iQIYI has taken the lead in developing a groundbreaking interaction video guideline which will help content creators and industry professionals develop high-quality interactive entertainment experiences more conveniently and efficiently, from concept development to plot-setting. Through this guideline, iQIYI aims to standardize interactive video creation and build an efficient ecosystem for the industry, in order to explore the full potential of interactive video with industry peers. To date, iQIYI's interactive video platform has been applied to interactive video creation and will be gradually rolled out to the broader creator community within the industry.

iQIYI also proposed that a new movie distribution model is necessary under the current status of China's film industry, which has been experiencing uneven development based on box office performance, viewership numbers and attendance rates. The new distribution model will entail a revenue-sharing element that involves production houses, movie theatres and even audiences.

In addition, the company also aims to strengthen its commitment to producing original content, with an emphasis on a win-win partnership strategy that promotes collaboration with production studios and movie theatres. This partnership-focused production strategy entails a revenue-sharing element which will not only bring productions to a wider audience, but will also allow audiences to view the original productions at a smaller cost as the revenue will be distributed among parties involved in the partnership. This is representative of the company's commitment to partnership-based innovations that call on all players within the industry to promote a sustainable entertainment ecosystem.

"Innovation-induced opportunities are bound to bring forward new industry trends. We are confident this will be the case with interactive videos, and we look forward to collaborating with industry peers to explore the opportunities behind interactive videos as well as our new movie distribution model," said Dr. Gong Yu.

iQIYI's cooperation with partners

iQIYI attaches great importance to empowering partners in order to provide audiences with the best entertainment experience. iQIYI is committed to promoting win-win partnerships that enable greater content, format and technological development for all collaborating partners. This not only strengthens the company's internal IP-based ecosystem but also serves as a basis for the overall growth of the entertainment industry.

"As an industry leader, iQIYI aims to be the best when it comes to content, users and partnership. Having successfully built an entertainment ecosystem through resource sharing, we aspire to continue partnering with other leading players in the industry to jointly explore opportunities in innovation and promote a partnership-based entertainment ecosystem to support the sustainable development of the entertainment industry," Dr. Gong Yu commented in his keynote speech.

At this year's conference, iQIYI highlighted ten partnership plans that covers the entirety of the company's extensive IP industry chain. This includes the literature IP-focused Yunteng Plan, which oversees literature works such as the company's partnership with leading content production to adapt Nobel Prize Winner in Literature Mo Yan's novel Big Breasts and Wide Hips into an online drama. Other partnership plans include Cangqiong Plan, which focuses on generating film and drama products from animation IP, Kiwi Talent Agent Plan, a talent hunting, cultivation and promotion plan that closely engages talent agencies, and Dolphin Plan, which focuses on generating premium online dramas.

The company also reaffirmed its commitment to producing high-quality original content by unveiling over 270 new projects at the co­­nference's iJOY forum. Upcoming releases include variety shows Youth with You, I Actor 2, Qi Pa Shuo 6, TV dramas The Thunder, Love and Destiny, Tientsin Mystic 2, and vertical video drama series Ugh! Life 2 and 3, as well as Arg Director.

About iQIYI, Inc.                                                 

iQIYI, Inc. 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. For more information on iQIYI, please visit http://ir.iqiyi.com

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2019-iqiyi-world-conference-presents-blueprint-of-innovation-driven-win-win-entertainment-ecosystem-300847228.html