Welcome to iQIYI’s bi-weekly news round-up! Here you’ll find the latest news and stories from the company, from entertainment, tech to business and from local to regional. If you are interested in learning more about iQIYI, please do not hesitate to reach out to press@qiyi.com .

(Jul.25, 2022-Aug.5, 2022) 

CONTENT

iQIYI Celebrates Chinese Valentine's Day with Rich Slate of Romantic Content and Exciting Entertainment Innovations

On Aug.4, iQIYI is excited to dedicate a rich selection of online content and offline entertainment activities to the “Qixi” Festival, the Chinese Valentine's Day. Almost Love, an iQIYI-produced romantic film that chronicles the touching romantic journey of a young couple, is set to hit cinemas nationwide on the day.

A Poster of “Almost Love”

In addition, iQIYI has set up a Qixi-themed section on the platform to feature romance-themed content such as Love The Way You Are, Forever and Ever, Moonlight, Sweet Teeth, and Love Under The Full Moon. In addition to Love The Way You Are, iQIYI’s romance-themed Sweet On Theater has also announced in May the upcoming release of four additional romantic dramas—Love Between Fairy and Devil, See You Again, Mr. Bad, and Love In Time, further enriching iQIYI’s already strong offering of romantic content.

On this Qixi, the Sweet On Theater makes its first appearance on Baidu’s metaverse platform XiRang. With the chance to win special awards such as an iQIYI annual membership. Moreover, the original iQIYI variety show The Rap of China 2022 and iQIYI’s Sweet On Theater are hosting a romantic phrases rhyming contest.

XiRang App Users Participated in Sweet On Programs’ Treasure Hunt

iQIYI is also hosting offline activities across China to celebrate Qixi. For example, an event in Chongqing city invites couples to embrace and celebrate love as it shows the classic scenes from the Sweet On Theatre. Several shopping malls in the cities of Jiangmen of Guangdong province and Yantai of Shandong province will also feature exhibitions co-launched between the Sweet On Theater and the Hong Kong jewelry brand 3DG Jewelry. Lastly, as murder mystery games have become increasingly popular in China, users can obtain a discount for NINES, a murder mystery game shop in China, after they bookmark the Sweet On Theater on the iQIYI app.

iQIYI to Livestream All 380 Premier League Matches, Delivering an Immersive Sports Viewing Experience 

As the new Premier League season kicks off on Aug. 6, fans can watch all 380 Premier League matches live on iQIYI Sports across devices.

Matches will be held every weekend, while iQIYI Sports offers 24/7 football-related content throughout the week, with all programming tailored for users to have the maximum enjoyment during every stage of this Premier League season. With the new season now just around the corner, iQIYI Sports launched a special program where famous sports commentators and industry specialists join online discussions with fans to analyze the performance of Premier League teams. As the season progresses, additional programs will be rolled out to keep fans updated on all the latest news. For instance, iQIYI Sports will present a talk show featuring the exclusive interviews between famous sports commentators, popular Premier League coaches as well as football stars.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Premier League, iQIYI Sports and the League will jointly launch a poll on the "Top 10 Legendary Moments through 30 Years of the Premier League", inviting fans to rank their favorite moments in the League’s history.

Providing commentaries in Mandarin, English and Cantonese, iQIYI presents a large-scale, all-around studio live broadcast on each match day of the Premier League. iQIYI Sports has also comprehensively upgraded its product technology. Delivering high resolution images, fluent broadcasting, customized content, and interactive features, iQIYI hopes to offer an all-immersive viewing experience.

iQIYI Debuts The Heart of Genius, Showing the True Realities Young People Face Today

On Jul. 22, The Heart of Genius was released exclusively on iQIYI. The show follows a teen girl (played by Zhang Zifeng) alongside her father (played by Lei Jiayin) and her first love Pei Zhi (played by Zhang Xincheng), with a story of the pursuit of truth and love between the three main characters after travelling in time. The show has achieved an iQIYI content popularity index of over 9,000 till now.

In depicting the characters' growth, The Heart of Genius reflects the realities that young people face today. Despite the deterred ambitions, academic setbacks, and a lack of family warmth, the characters in the show persisted in the pursuit of their goals. With its sympathetic storytelling, the show captures the beauty of everyday lives.

iQIYI Releases Treasure Hunt Series Lost in The Kunlun Mountains, Taking Audience on Journey of Adventure and Personal Growth

On Jul. 27, iQIYI released a treasure hunt-themed series Lost in The Kunlun Mountains.

The series tells the story of DING Yunqi (played by XU Kai) and WU Shuang (played by ZHONG Chuxi) coming together unearth a hidden treasure in the Kunlun Mountains. In addition to depicting an exciting adventure, the series also follows the characters’ personal growth and transformation.

iQIYI Explores IP Value by Developing Comics and Anime Adaptations Based on The Land of Miracles

On Jul. 23, the iQIYI-presented anime series The Land of Miracles was released exclusively on iQIYI. Since its release, the show has been very popular and it has been ranked on the hit lists of animation and adventure categories on iQIYI. iQIYI has adapted The Land of Miracles IP into both comics and anime series. Among the adaptations, the Land of Miracles comics has accumulated more than 5.39 million views after it was released exclusively on iQIYI Bada, an iQIYI application for comics readers.

The Land of Miracles adapts from an eponymous novel by author TANG Sanshao. The story is set on the Planet of Falan during the Ice Age where humans and goblins coexisted. With the advent of a catastrophe, the continent broke apart, and the conflicts between different rival groups began. The Land of Miracles revolves around two characters, FA Hua and LAN Ge, whose lives were brought together by a magic weapon and experience tremendous growth during their adventure.

BUSINESS

Two iQIYI-Presented Films Shortlisted for Tiantan Award as iQIYI Aims to Connect Filmmakers with Major Film Festivals

On Jul. 28, the 12th Beijing International Film Festival announced the films shortlisted for the “Tiantan Award". The short list features films from 16 different countries and regions and includes Kong and Jigme and Off the Stage, two iQIYI-presented films.

Presented by the China Central Television's Movie Channel Program Centre and iQIYI, Kong and Jigme, a movie that is based on true events, tells the story of KONG who travelled to work in Tibet for the first time. He met Jigme by chance, who had studied in the mainland and asked Jigme to be his translator. They cultivated a life-long friendship, which was born out of conflicts but turned into deep mutual understanding.

Off the Stage, jointly presented by the Youth Film Studio of Beijing Film Academy and iQIYI, is adapted from AI Wei's novel An Everlasting Life. The film tells the story of a Yue Opera star QI, who was highly sought after across the country when she was young but experienced severe illness in her later years. The film chronicles her travelling home to see her three children for one last time.

In recent years, iQIYI has won numerous awards at international film festivals including the Beijing International Film Festival. In 2020, the film Damp Season, for which iQIYI was a co-presenter, was shortlisted for the “Bright Future Competition” at the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam, and won the Grand Prize in the International Competition of the 21st Jeonju International Film Festival. In 2021, iQIYI’s original immersive VR interactive work The Final Wish was shortlisted for the Venice VR Expanded section at the 78th Venice International Film Festival with its parallel narrative structure.

Recently, the iQIYI-presented film Fading Shadow was shortlisted for the Séances Spéciales section of the 35th Cabourg Film Festival, and it was also the only Chinese film shortlisted for the film festival.

iQIYI Literature Unveils "New Northeastern Chinese Literature" Program to Provide All-around Support to Registered Writers

On Jul. 22, iQIYI Literature entered into a strategic partnership with Northern Literature to establish the iQIYI Literature Institute. Embodying a new “online platform and professional literary agency” model, the partnership aims to create a new ecosystem for internet writers and online publishers and accelerate the development of original IPs and content. In addition, the two parties launched a joint initiative, the New Northeastern Chinese Literature Program, to provide all-around support for registered writers, with particular focus on setting up an independent website, organizing writing competitions, and providing funds.

WANG Xiaohui, President of Professional Content Business Group (PCG) and Chief Content Officer of iQIYI, said with a deep respect for artists, iQIYI is always committed to building new platforms for emerging talent. iQIYI hopes to work with a wide range of industry partners and break new grounds for the development of literature as well as film and television.

iQIYI Literature also announced a list of 23 original literary works that iQIYI plans on turning into drama series, films and animations in due course. The works feature a wide variety of focus—from history and suspense to youth literature—and provide a basis for incubating high-quality IPs.