CONTENT

Wild Bloom Achieves Strong Ratings and Recognition in China and Overseas

Since its release on Nov. 27, Wild Bloom, a realistic drama produced by iQIYI, has become another massive hit that generated much discussion. On Dec. 7, the drama series achieved a content popularity index of over 10,000 after being launched for only ten days, making it the fifth in 2022 and the seventh drama series ever to hit a content popularity index of over 10,000.

iQIYI-presented show Wild Bloom

Developed against the backdrop of China's market economy boom in the 1990s, Wild Bloom tells the story of Chinese entrepreneurs. The show became an internet sensation following its release. It currently boasts a rating of 8.4/10 on Douban based on more than 200,000 reviews. More than 80% of Douban users gave the series a four-star rating. The show has also been well received in global markets, securing a rating of 9.7 on iQIYI's international app  as well as 8.2 on MyDramaList. For several days in a row, Wild Bloom remained the number one trending topic on multiple authoritative watch lists including Enlightent, where the show topped the list of Top Drama Series in terms of effective views with a strong market share of 33.7%. Wild Bloom has also attracted a growing TV audience and is now ranked as the most popular TV shows premiered in 2022 on both Zhejiang STV and Jiangsu STV according to third-party data..

iQIYI Original Productions Scored Multiple Wins at the 27^th Asian Television Awards

On Dec. 13, iQIYI announced that a number of its self-produced dramas and variety shows were named winners at the 27^th Asian Television Awards. Under the Skin, The Wind Blows from Longxi, and Super Sketch Show won the awards of Best Original Digital Drama Series, Best Script Writing, and Best Comedy Programme, respectively.

Award-winning productions of iQIYI

Launched in 1996, The Asian Television Awards recognizes programming and production excellence in the Asian television industry. Held every December, the Awards comprises 56 categories across news, documentaries & current affairs, kids and animation, entertainment, drama, technical, digital as well as performances including acting and directing. The Awards attracted about 1,400 entries each year from a wide range of broadcasters, including free-to-air TV stations, pay-TV platforms, OTT platforms as well as many independent production houses in Asia.

BUSINESS

iQIYI to Launch Its First NFT in Web3 in December

iQIYI held its first Twitter Space on Dec. 9 and announced that Producer C, the first NFT of iQIYI in Web3, will be launched at the end of December. The session was hosted by YM Tsu, Vice President of iQIYI and Vondoom, a Web3 influencer.

Producer C, the first NFT of iQIYI in Web3

 “Producer C” is a character from iQIYI's first Chinese new-gen virtual idol band RiCH BOOM. In April this year, iQIYI already launched a digital collectibles set based on the virtual IP in China.  The latest collaboration is due to release at the end of December this year in global markets. On Dec. 13, Producer C reached a partnership agreement with TwitterScan, a Web3 decentralized social identification platform and the top platform for NFT social media analytic. The partnership features joint exploration and construction of the two brands in Web3.

YM Tsu, Vice President of iQIYI, said: “Producer C will be the guide and builder of the iQIYI metaverse which contains a number of different planets. It will also be the prototype of iQIYI's web3 ecology, where we will see the launch of upcoming features, collections, offline merchandise and subscription benefits.”

TECHNOLOGY

iQIYI Restores Classic Film with Proprietary ZoomAI Restoration Technology

Mu Guiying Takes Command, the classic black-and-white film digitally restored jointly by iQIYI and Xiamen University, was recently launched on iQIYI. The opera film from China’s Henan province was first released in 1958 and is now brought back to the big screen after more than 60 years since its premiere.

The film restored by iQIYI

Leveraging the company’s proprietary ZoomAl restoration technology, the team from iQIYI was able to accomplish automatic scratch removal  for the opera film. The film's original mono audio was also enhanced to 5.1 surround sound effect thanks to iQIYI's sound technology. Jointly set up by iQIYI and Xiamen University, the Film Restoration Joint Lab has successfully restored several heritage Chinese films including The East Is Red, Zhang Ga the Soldier Boy and Li Shuangshuang. According to iQIYI, viewership of these restored classic films has seen a 5-10 times increase.

CSR

iQIYI Launches “Light and Shadow Boosting Growth Program” to Help  Education Development in Hebei

On Dec. 9, the 2022 Light and Shadow Boosting Growth Program, jointly launched by iQIYI Social Responsibility and China Education Development Foundation, officially kicked off in Qing Long, Hebei. With the launch of the program, iQIYI will donate equipment for building 10 multimedia classrooms to Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County in Hebei Province and offer a number of iQIYI annual membership to all 65 primary and secondary schools in the county. The program leverages the company’s high-quality and wide range of film collections to help children grow and thrive.

The “Light and Shadow Boosting Growth Program” was jointly launched by iQIYI Social Responsibility and China Education Development Foundation in 2019. The program donates offline classroom facilities and offers online film resources to promote the value of film in primary and secondary education. As part of iQIYI's commitment to leveraging innovative means to fulfill the company's social responsibilities, the program offers students easy access to films and aims to inspire them to recognize different perspectives through film and TV.