BEIJING, May 20, 2018 /CNW/ -- iQIYI,
Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company"), an innovative
market-leading online entertainment service in China, today announced that it has officially
opened its first offline "Yuke" on-demand movie theater in
Zhongshan, Guangdong, marking the
launch of the company's offline penetration strategy.
iQIYI will work to bring Yuke movie theaters to first- and
second-tier cities throughout China, providing more consumers with a
high-quality, on-demand entertainment experience.
Yuke movie theaters combine the convenience of on-demand service
with the high quality audio-visual environment of traditional
cinemas. Users are free to select the time and location of viewing,
as well as content from iQIYI's online movie library.
"The development of on-demand movie theaters poses an exciting
opportunity to increase the strength and overall scale of
China's film industry," said Yang
Xianghua, iQIYI's senior vice president. "iQIYI will take advantage
of our strong brand awareness, massive user base, popular content
and advanced technology to contribute to the growth of this booming
market and extend our premium viewing experience to offline
consumers."
As a leading online entertainment platform in China, iQIYI has been active in acquiring a
large amount of high-quality movie content from around the world
and now boasts China's largest
online movie content library. In terms of viewing experience, Yuke
is equipped with top-quality technology and facilities. Customers
at the Yuke Zhongshan theater will enjoy world-class acoustics
featuring Dolby audio. The theater is also equipped with
high-quality facilities from the world-class brands following THX
certification by Lucasfilm, a globally recognized assurance of
uncompromising quality, consistency and performance.
During the three-month period ending December 31, 2017, the number of average monthly
active iQIYI mobile users reached 421.3 million, and average
monthly PC users reached 424.1 million. At the end of March 2018, iQIYI had 61.3 million paid
subscribers. In the future, iQIYI's online and offline membership
systems will synchronize user benefits across both platforms,
providing more conveniences for both online and offline users.
The launch of the Yuke cinemas also creates opportunities for
the integration of retail services and offline consumption, with
merchandise related to iQIYI content available for purchase in
cinemas.
China is one of the largest
film production countries in the world generating nearly a thousand
films each year. In 2017, a total of 970 films were produced, yet
only 487 of them were played in theaters. As the national income level continues to rise,
consumer demand for cinema viewing is rising sharply. Booming film
production capacity and audience demand have created tremendous
value and development potential for the cinema industry. Meanwhile
the government is also encouraging the development of China's movie industry and supporting the
application of innovative measures to push forward its
progress.
The launch of iQIYI's first Yuke movie theatre has made the
company the first major online entertainment platform to tap into
the on-demand movie theatre market, and the box office generated by
iQIYI's Yuke movie theaters will be included in China's official box office estimation.
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SOURCE iQIYI, Inc.