iQIYI Bi-weekly Newsletter (Feb.3 2025-Feb.14 2025)

CONTENT

iQIYI’s 'Love On Theater' premieres 'Love of the Divine Tree,' attracting a strong female audience

Last week, iQIYI premiered monumental fantasy-romance drama “Love of the Divine Tree.” This newest iQIYI-presented “Love On Theater” release, adapted from the wildly popular eponymous online novel, tells the story of Yishui SU (played by Wei DENG) and Qingge MU (played by Hanzhi XIANG) who swap roles as master and disciple and form a bond following two lifetimes, embarking on a magnificent adventure to protect their world.

The highly anticipated drama not only innovatively adapts a much-beloved story, but also skilfully demonstrates a great level of creativity in terms of production and visual effects. “Love of the Divine Tree” incorporates numerous traditional cultural elements spanning ancient architecture, poetry, and music as well as large-scale special effects to craft a fantasy world of immortals. Since airing, the drama has been welcomed by female audiences and achieved a content popularity index of over 8,000.

iQIYI new mini-dramas dominate CNY popularity rankings, powered by enthusiastic viewership of younger demographic

Over the eight-day holiday period, iQIYI’s CNY lineup of new mini-dramas dominated in popularity, topping the platform’s TOP10 content popularity rankings for all mini dramas. Topics related to several titles also topped Douyin trending rankings and Weibo trending searches, demonstrating the growing influence of iQIYI’s top-tier mini-dramas.

The platform released over 28 new mini-dramas as part of this year’s CNY lineup. Viewership data revealed that audience aged 35 and under, accounting for over 73% of viewers, were the main force behind mini-dramas during the holiday season, exhibiting the appeal of the platform’s high-quality micro-dramas among younger users and bringing user growth and vitality to the industry.

iQIYI additionally set up a special “Mini-Drama CNY Lineup” channel which provided viewers convenient reservation services to watch shows, displayed popularity rankings of each mini-drama as well as offered surprise gifts through completion of different tasks, further enhancing user experience and engagement. Furthermore, the platform teamed up with 30 mini-drama stars to livestream New Year’s greetings.

iQIYI sees surge in viewership during Chinese New Year: users favor classic IPs, long and short content, and strong interaction

Following Chinese New Year (CNY), iQIYI released its viewership data and content trends for the holiday period. iQIYI’s variety show channel emerged as the top category in terms of viewing time, with original variety shows delivering exceptional results, including the travel-themed reality show “The Blooming Journey” and the iconic comedy IP “Super Sketch Show.” Additionally, the platform’s extensive lineup of premium dramas resonated strongly with audiences, with new series like “The White Olive Tree” dominating the content popularity rankings, and the suspense-themed drama brand “Light On Theater” seeing a 22% increase in overall viewing time compared to the pre-holiday period. Meanwhile, mini-dramas continued to gain traction, and data revealed that more than 70% of the audience was aged 35 and below.

The record-breaking holiday box office performance of sequels to popular IP films significantly boosted interest in related content on iQIYI. For example, the predecessor of “Ne Zha 2” saw a remarkable 624% uptick in viewing time compared to the pre-holiday period. Further data revealed a surge in content engagement through technology, with a 118% year-on-year increase in bullet comments, and viewers actively interacting with the AI-powered chat feature, engaging in conversations with fictional characters from iQIYI’s hit shows.

TECHNOLOGY

iQIYI continues expansion of VR immersive experience with 6 new locations, strengthening synergy between premium IP and cultural tourism

During CNY, iQIYI expanded its VR immersive theater experience, “Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty 2: To the West,” to six new locations, including Shenzhen and Nanchang, bringing the total number of venues to 17 across China. These new sites join existing locations in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, further strengthening iQIYI’s presence in location-based entertainment.

Adapted from iQIYI’s highly acclaimed drama IP, the VR experience merges cutting-edge technology with China’s rich historical heritage and captivating aesthetics inspired by the original drama, transporting visitors to the golden era of the Tang Dynasty. The grand openings attracted enthusiastic crowds who enjoyed a vibrant atmosphere filled with dance performances and beautifully designed photo spots.

According to iQIYI’s latest report, released after the 2025 CNY holiday, the VR immersive theater has become a cultural tourism highlight in several cities. Visitor numbers surged by 206% compared to the pre-holiday period, while viewing time for the series increased by 15%, demonstrating the strong synergy between premium IP and cultural tourism.