By Seven Gong

Audiences are becoming more demanding, advertisers are becoming more frugal, long dramas are getting more intense, short dramas are getting crazier, and AI is getting stronger...

How should long video platforms respond to these ever-changing new challenges?

On September 25, 2024, iQIYI held its iJOY Autumn Event in Shanghai, centered around the theme of "Centripetal Growth." The company's founder and CEO Gong Yu and other executives shared valuable insights, including their judgment on industry trends and the latest layouts in content creation, technological innovation, and brand marketing. They also announced over 300 upcoming titles for 2024-2025.

Node Finance has carefully reviewed the event to see what iQIYI said and what it plans to do next.

01 Responding to Change with Flexibility

Currently, the drama industry exhibits four new trends:

Since 2016, the average number of episodes in TV series has shortened year by year, catering to viewers' preferences for more compact plots and faster pacing;

Paid micro-short dramas have emerged as a formidable force, with the market size growing to 37.4 billion yuan in the past year, a year-on-year growth rate of 268%, exceeding half of China's box office revenue. The evolution of long and short videos has brought competition and cooperation possibilities, as well as new growth space to the industry;

The AI wave is in full swing, profoundly revolutionizing content distribution methods that previously relied on manual editing and algorithm recommendations;

Mainland dramas are experiencing an "overseas wave," with their international influence continuously expanding. According to Google search data, recently, the search interest in mainland dramas has surpassed that of Korean dramas. According to AMPD's Q1 2024 data, in Southeast Asia, the popularity and share of mainland dramas have surpassed Korean dramas, becoming the preferred entertainment content for local users.  

In response to these trends, iQIYI will take the following measures:

For TV series, iQIYI will continue to offer movie-quality productions and concise narratives to audiences;

For short dramas, iQIYI officially launched 5-20-minute horizontal "short drama theaters" and 1-5-minute vertical "micro-drama theaters." Notably, VIP members can access these micro-short dramas without additional fees.  

Image source: iQIYI official Weibo

Gong Yu emphasized that iQIYI's short dramas are not simply shortened low-cost web dramas or low-quality mini-program dramas. Instead, iQIYI hopes to collaborate with industry partners to explore innovative approaches. "Unlike the business model of micro-short dramas that allocate over 90% of revenue to traffic acquisition, iQIYI's designed business model allocates over 70% of revenue to content producers," he said.

In other words, iQIYI adheres to the values of co-creation and win-win cooperation, focusing on investing in content production and creating high-quality works rather than spending heavily on traffic acquisition.

In terms of AI, users can chat and interact with virtual characters through "Tao Dou 1.0" within the iQIYI app. A more advanced intelligent assistant, "Tao Dou 2.0," is currently under development.  

At that time, the new tool will integrate large language model technology and combine recommendation, search, customer service, and other scenario functions to provide users with an "instant gratification" entertainment experience.

Regarding overseas expansion, Gong Yu believes that content creators should invest time and resources to create works that appeal to global audiences.

Currently, half of the content on iQIYI's international version is mainland Chinese; the rest is primarily Thai, Japanese, and Korean dramas, as well as purely localized content such as Malaysian dramas, primarily serving local users.

02 Quality Content is Fundamental

For long video platforms, ultimately, everything boils down to one simple truth: high-quality content is the cornerstone for attracting users and achieving long-term success.

Since the beginning of this year, iQIYI has launched several touching and resonating masterpieces, including "My Altay," "The King of Comedy Monologue Season," and "The Mysteries of Tang Dynasty 2." However, compared to Youku and Tencent Video, iQIYI's "hit" dramas have lacked the same level of impact and dominance.

According to Node Finance's observations, Youku's "New Life," "Mo Yu Yun Jian," and "By the River" and Tencent Video's "Flowers," "Celebration of Life 2," and "The Story of Roses" have all generated significant viewing momentum, with "By the River" and "Celebration of Life 2" showing signs of replicating the phenomenal success of "The Speed of Light."

In contrast, iQIYI has been relatively quiet, consistently overshadowed by its competitors.

However, the past is but a prologue. What matters is whether iQIYI can deliver compelling, heart-stopping works with novel themes in the future.

At the event, iQIYI shared its latest slate of over 300 titles for 2024-2025, covering a wide range of genres, including realism, ancient costume fantasy, suspense, and more.

Wang Xiaohui, iQIYI's Chief Content Officer, stated that iQIYI will continue to adhere to the principle of "empathizing downwards and creating upwards." Its primary focus will remain on "positive deconstruction" while also advocating for the courage to subvert conventions and innovate content forms through "reverse construction." Although challenging, this approach can heal hearts, inspire motivation, and give birth to the next big hit.  

Image source: iQIYI official website

Briefly summarizing, these new dramas include "Northbound," "Life Grows," and "Happy" from the "Everyone Theater," "Born to Live" and "Justifiable Defense" from the "Mystery Theater," and variety shows such as "Asia's Next Star," "The Boss's Sister," "Farming Season 3," and "New Rap Battle 2025" from the entertainment sector. In addition, documentaries like "Chronicles of China" and anime series such as "Cubic Power" and "Love and Redemption: The Trilogy" and their sequels will also be released.

Furthermore, sequels to popular IPs like "The Mysteries of Tang Dynasty: Chang'an," "Police Honor 2," "Fearless 2," and "Portrait of a Murderer 2" will continue to engage audiences and extend the life of these quality content IPs.

It is foreseeable that iQIYI will unveil a series of heavyweight works in the coming period, which are worth our anticipation.

03 How to Help Brands Win, Retain, and Expand?

In today's uncertain marketing environment, long video platforms face a common challenge: how to help brands win, retain, and expand their presence?

Wu Gang, Senior Vice President of iQIYI, provided a clear and feasible growth path for brands from three dimensions: emotional consensus, scenario marketing, and holistic ecosystem.  

In terms of emotional consensus, when users encounter well-crafted content, they often resonate deeply. This resonance serves as a bridge to connect with brands and achieve emotional consensus. iQIYI will continue to produce high-quality content, fostering a unique spiritual core for brand communication, presentation, and refinement.  

For example, the close collaboration between NIO and "My Altay" through offline wilderness concerts and the derivative film "Home, Altay in My Heart" deeply explored and reinforced the universal emotional theme of "home" in the drama, touching the hearts of audiences and conveying the brand's philosophy.  

Image source: iQIYI official Weibo

In terms of scenario marketing, from PCs to mobile devices and large screens, and from individual viewing to office and family viewing, iQIYI's extensive coverage across terminals and diverse scenarios provides brands with comprehensive, high-precision, and high-frequency reach to target audiences, effectively promoting brand awareness and reinforcing the "seed planting" logic.

Taking Woxiaolu as an example, the brand accurately captured the leisure scenario of "snacking while binge-watching dramas." Leveraging iQIYI's high-quality dramas as a platform and the flexible application of AI band-aid ads and video-in placements, Woxiaolu quickly gained popularity and drove viewers' behavior from passive viewing to active purchasing.  

In terms of the holistic ecosystem, the launch of iQIYI's micro-short drama theaters signifies the continuous improvement and upgrade of its content marketing ecosystem and the further unleashing of its commercial potential.  

Specifically, in long-form drama marketing, brands can utilize the reservation function to lock in and attract target groups in advance, laying out strategies around the entire IP lifecycle to ensure deep integration and real-time interaction between products and IPs;

In short-form drama marketing, brands can focus on theatrical operations, projecting differentiated theaters and customized short-form drama content to target groups, enabling brand messages to be seen and remembered immediately, thereby maximizing brand value perception;

In variety show marketing, iQIYI innovatively introduced the "long-short-live" model, whose effectiveness has been validated in the second season of "Farming." As this model is implemented in more projects such as "Burning Moon" and "My Arena," it will provide brands with a one-stop closed-loop marketing solution, facilitating comprehensive coverage and deep penetration of brand messages.  

In summary, this pivotal event highlights iQIYI's courage and strength in reinventing itself. However, only time and the market will reveal its new look.

*The featured image is generated by AI