Video site iQiyi is one of China’s largest Netflix-style platforms, offering a large streaming library of movies and TV shows. But with a new app called Suike, it’s becoming a little more like YouTube.
The Suike app offers movies and shows already available on iQiyi, but it also highlights user-produced short videos. The Baidu-owned streaming company said it already has more than 3 million content creators. While Youku and Bilibili have both been referred to as “China’s YouTube,” iQiyi CEO Gong Yu reportedly said in a recent earnings call that the YouTube model still hasn’t “developed in scale” in China. Like Tencent Video, its biggest competitor, iQiyi still isn’t profitable.
Video platforms in China and overseas alike are working to expand content offerings. Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, is known for offering 15-second video clips -- but it now also provides full-length movies. And YouTube is reportedly working on a short video app that will help it compete with TikTok.