iQiyi Expands Content to Compete for the Attention of China’s Gen Z
At iQiyi’s World Conference held last week, the company announced more than 200 new offerings, including serial dramas, variety shows, anime series, documentaries, and theatrical films. While the company plans to cover the tastes of viewers of all ages, it is specifically grooming Gen Z viewers, who have their own cultural capital and, more importantly, disposable income. Other changes are coming too. iQiyi is expanding its “theater brand franchise,” as the company calls it. Each theater brand is a content library for web series that are part of the same genre. Last year, “Light On Theater,” a catalog of its original suspense and crime dramas, was successful. One hit was “The Bad Kids,” a thriller about the fallout after three children film a murder. It currently holds a rating of 8.9 out of 10 on review site Douban. Read more KR Asia
Livestreamer Banned After ‘Engagement Event’ Turns Into 5-Hour Sale
Kuaishou has banned a particularly polarizing user with 8 million followers after a livestream of his supposed engagement turned into a five-hour sales event. The video platform’s disciplinary action comes amid a wider cleanup campaign against sensationalist marketing tactics in China’s booming commercial livestreaming industry. Viewers who tuned in to see Yin Shihang propose to his on-and-off girlfriend were instead bombarded with product promotions, leading to over 230,000 complaints. Read more Sixth Tone
