BEIJING, Feb. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI, Inc. (NASDAQ: IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company"), an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, recently released the finale to the fifth season of iPARTMENT (the "Show" or "iPARTMENT 5"), a show that was exclusively broadcasted by iQIYI and viewed by more than 74 million iQIYI subscribing members during its over-a-month run. The Show has also performed well internationally by regularly appearing on the Company's overseas iQIYI App's weekly top 10 content ranking during its run.
iPARTMENT Season 5 Viewed by Over 74 Million iQIYI Subscribing Members
iPARTMENT is a sitcom that revolves around the daily lives of six friends who live in neighboring apartment units in Shanghai. Released over the past ten years through five seasons, the Show is regarded by Chinese audiences as a classic that captures the growth of a generation. In particular, the fifth season of iPARTMENT has especially been well received by its viewers for its use of technological features that promote viewer engagement and interaction.
This includes the use of the "branching plot" function in one of the episodes, allowing viewers to choose from 16 different storyline options that lead to alternative endings for the episode. According to iQIYI's official data, 97.4% of the interactive episode's viewers proactively used the function while approximately 75% of the interactive episode's viewers finished viewing one of the episode's storylines. In addition, more than 85% of those that did finish viewing a storyline chose to re-watch the episode through another storyline alternative. The Show also introduced a 45-minute episode that is displayed entirely in portrait mode and presented as a WeChat group chat conversation between the Show's main characters. Viewers can navigate through the episode by scrolling up and down the conversation as one does in messaging applications. The episode received more than 820,000 in comments and 10 million in 'likes', breaking the record for most comments posted for a single episode on iQIYI's platform.
Moreover, a feature known as Qiguan (AI Radar) allows audiences to identify characters that appear in the Show, have quick access to the background of the actor that plays the character and join discussions about the characters in iQIYI Paopao, an entertainment community for fans to follow and interact with celebrities, all through one click. iQIYI's database estimates that the AI Radar function was used approximately two million times within the first day of the Show's release.
Other social interaction-based features deployed in the Show include the star chat room function in which a pop-up chatroom appears on the side of the screen as viewers watch the Show. When an actor who plays a character from the Show joined the star chatroom discussion on January 20, over one million visitors entered the chatroom within a period of 50 minutes. With multiple channels established to enable audience interaction, the iQIYI content interaction rating of the Show was twice that of iQIYI's t main piece of content released at the time. Furthermore, iQIYI also launched a short VR video derived from the Show, titled The New Tenant Report VR, that is made available on the iQIYI VR App and Qiyu VR devices. The short VR video allows viewers to create their own immersive show experience by playing a tenant in the apartment where the Show takes place.
In 2020, iQIYI will continue creating premium content catered to all audience groups while also producing more content to meet the needs of targeted audience groups. In addition to iPARTMENT Season 5, several trending drama series under various genres have been launched on iQIYI's platforms, including Under the Power, Detective Chinatown, The Great Ruler and New World. In 2020, highly anticipated drama series such as REUNION: The Sound of The Providence, PINGPONG, Tientsin Mystic 2, If There is No Tomorrow will also be released in order to meet the preferences of different audience groups.
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.
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