MANILA, PHILIPPINES — iQiyi, the Asian entertainment streaming leader revealed today six originals from Asia, including its first five new Malaysian Original productions and first Thai Original along with spotlighting 2021 key wins at this year’s Asia TV Forum & Market – all of which will be available to iQiyi users in over 191 territories come 2022.
During their Content Showcase, iQiyi shared some top highlights as part of their inaugural Year-In-Review campaigns, such as the doubling of its monthly users in Southeast Asia from the previous year largely driven by premium content from South Korea, China, Malaysia, and Thailand. iQiyi’s first Korean production My Roommate is a Gumiho was also crowned their most-watched Original of the year with more than 100 million views worldwide.
Touching on Chinese content, the streamer remarked on the continued growth in C-content viewing, which was four times that of 2020. Largely contributed by the successful launch of their new Sweet On franchise, which was responsible for 180 million views on the service. As of 31st October, the iQiyi international app has been downloaded over 50 million times1 around the world in 2021, making it one of the most downloaded streaming applications in Southeast Asia.
Philippines Year in Review 2021 – Overall Growth
iQiyi highlighted its strong commitment and investment in unique stories from Asia that is set to intensify in 2022: “As the biggest advocates for Asian entertainment, iQiyi will continue to play our part to uplift the Asian entertainment ecosystem. To cater to our growing popularity among users in this region, we are proud to commit and invest in diverse original content from Asia for next year; on top of our already announced original productions from South Korea and the Philippines, we hope these six original series from Malaysia and Thailand will become globally recognised and loved in 2022. We are heartened by our performance this year, which signals that more people are consuming non-English language content,” said Kuek Yu-Chuang, iQiyi’s Vice-President of International Business.
[1] Data is based on reports from third-party platform AppAnnie (1 January 2021- 31 October 2021)Earlier this year, iQiyi PH acquired the rights to the highly-anticipated global event with the 69th Miss Universe pageant. Bringing the pageant to each and every Filipinos’ homes who are passionate supporters of the event reinforces iQiyi’s commitment to opening up the global scene to the local audience in real-time. Thus, the local community has reciprocated iQiyi’s vision of being the most beLOVED Asian app with a record-breaking increase when the daily average users (DAUs) more than doubled on the day of the livestream. Its debut drove a 2.5x increase in VIP members when it premiered in May and became the (top 1) most downloaded entertainment app during the week of the 69th Miss Universe competition.
iQiyi’s continued steady growth in the Philippines is currently being fueled by its latest partnership with ABS-CBN. iQiyi and ABS-CBN’s confluence of vision to provide the local and international audience with high-quality, relatable, and inspiring stories has produced the first multi-title Filipino originals for iQiyi in Southeast Asia. The new romance series include Saying Goodbye and Hello Heart that will be available on the app this December.
First Local Originals from Malaysia
iQiyi is the most downloaded streaming app in Malaysia accumulating over 10 million mobile app downloads this year. As one of the key Southeast Asian markets with continued growth, iQiyi has joined hands with five leading production houses to bring to life for the very first time to produce five local originals in Malaysia.
My Ofis is a light-hearted sitcom that centers around the challenges of Jasper, a rockstar wannabe who chooses to let go of his rock and roll fame to support his single mother by entering corporate life. Jasper discovers the chaos and crazy antics of ordinary work-life, romance, and the struggles of office politics but deep down, he still longs for the life on stage. My Ofis is produced in collaboration with Longhouse Films, one of the only production houses in Malaysia with a global network spanning from China, South Korea as well as Hollywood.
Rampas Cintaku tells the story of an undergraduate student desperate to clear his family’s financial debts and intimidations from loan sharks who looks for a quick way to earn cash by working in a nightclub. He encounters a wealthy and seductive businesswoman and is lured into the world of becoming a sugar baby. The original series is created by highly-experienced and successful MIG Production that has produced more than 8,000 hours of TV series.
In Sori Naik Lori is an original series created by an award-winning production house Tsar Asia. It is a story about a housewife’s instant stardom after her TikTok video goes viral affecting her relationship and adding insult to injury to her husband’s rising insecurity as a lorry driver.
Love You Later is an original romance drama series that explores the time travel of two lovers who are meant to be together but must hold back from falling in love with the wrong version of each other. This series will be produced by Juita Viden, one of the largest and most experienced local and international content providers to Malaysia.
Restu is produced with Infinitus Entertainment, who has had over 30 years of production experience and also produced the highest-grossing film of all time in Malaysia. The upcoming original series is about a recently widowed father meeting three marriage prospects but requires the challenging approval of his 9-year-old daughter who is still grieving her mother’s death.
First Local Original from Thailand
iQiyi is the most downloaded streaming app in Thailand garnering over 12 million downloads this year. On average, Thai users spent twice as long watching all shows on our platform compared to last year, with most notably 20 times more likely to watch Thai content on our platform this year.
KinnPorsche: The Series is about a story of Kinn, a successor to a powerful mafia family who suddenly meets Porsche who saves his life and reluctantly becomes his bodyguard. Both are faced with mysteries and secrets that slowly unfold their past.
The series is directed by Kongkiat Komesiri, an award-winning director who is behind well-known Thai films such as Bang Rajan, Khun Phan and Slice, the latter which won him Thailand National Film Association Awards for his directorial skills in 2010.
KinnPorsche: The series will also be supervised by fight choreographer Sumret Muengput who is behind memorable martial arts scenes such as Halfworlds 2 and The Kick.
Regional Year in Review 2021
| Slate available on iQiyi includes: | |
| iQiyi Malaysian Original Productions | |
| My Ofis Global Original | 2022 | Sitcom centred around the trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional Advertising Agency. At its core, it’s a story about a Rockstar wannabe sacrificing his dreams of fame to support his single-mother after years of supporting his musical ambition. To navigate this dog-eat-dog world, he must rely on his creative and intuitive personality. On his journey into the corporate world, Jasper discovers the chaos and crazy antics of ordinary working life, romance and struggles of office politics but deep down, he can’t contain the voice that calls him to a life on the stage. |
| Rampas Cintaku Global Original | 2022 | An undergrad desperate to clear his family’s financial debts and harassment from loan sharks looks for better wages in a nightclub and comes face to face with a wealthy and seductive business woman. He is tempted into a life of a sugar baby and struggles with his faith. |
| Sori Naik Lori Global Original | 2022 | A TikTok video launches a housewife to instant fame causing a relationship turbulence, adding insult to injury to her husband’s rising insecurity as a humble lorry driver. |
| Love You Later Global Original | 2022 | This romance drama explores time travel where two people who are meant to be together must hold back from falling in love with the wrong version of each other. |
| Restu Global Original | 2022
| A widowed, eligible father faces triple-crossed marriage prospects but the approval of his 9-year-old daughter, who is still grieving her mother’s death, proves challenging. |
| iQiyi Thai Original Production / Content | |
| KinnPorsche: The Series Global Original (excluding Japan) | April 2022
| When Kinn becomes the successor to a powerful mafia family he suddenly meets Porsche who saves his life and reluctantly becomes his bodyguard. The two are faced with many mysteries and secrets that slowly unfold their past. |
| 12% Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan Streaming Exclusive | 2022 | Cake and Seeiw are neighbors and childhood friends, with totally opposite personalities. Seeiw is more reserved and prefers interacting with his own family or Cake’s. Seeiw never thought that his inability to speak well or having few friends would be a problem in his life. But fate had other plans for Seeiw and it pushed Cake away from him. Seeiw suddenly realizes that Cake’s social circle is growing, and the bubble that was once only inhabited by Seeiw, would soon turn into a public space. |
| Dear Doctor, I’m Coming For Soul Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan Streaming Exclusive | 2022 | Top surgeon Prakan Pitakjiti has a special gift – the ability to see the angel of death. Nicknamed Tua-Phee (Ghost’s ticket), patients and hospital workers alike treat his presence as a bad omen as it means that his patient won’t survive any longer. Tua-Phee becomes the person that Prakan wants to meet the least because his presence meant that his patient has no chances of survival. However, fate brings them together when they realise that they are next door neighbours. |
| The Curse of Saree Thailand Streaming Exclusive | 2022 | “Nualnuakaew”, a daughter of an ambassador, was the owner of a famous fashion brand. She needed to visit India urgently as her younger sister “Nilpattama” was getting married with a handsome young prince “Prince Chaiyatas” of Mantrapura. She was openly happy for her sister who would become a princess unexpectedly. But when she arrived, things were not as expected. |
| The Love Proposal Thailand Streaming Exclusive | 2022 | Trinuch, a pretty art teacher, falls in love with Phuwadol, an arrogant and annoyed man. Haunted by the ghost of his previous relationship, Phuwadol was afraid to tell Trinuch that he loved her which caused Trinuch to marry his brother Phak, the president of a big corporation. What’s to come to this “love triangle” that leaves more than meets the eye? Stay tuned to find out. |
iQiyi Philippines Originals
Saying Goodbye
Global Original | 2021
Saying Goodbye is a story about celebrating life despite all the challenges life throws at us. We follow the story of Ricky and Elise, an unlikely pair brought together by their love for music and adventure.
Hello, Heart
Global Original | 2021
Hello, Heart is a romantic comedy that tells the story of Heart and Saul. Heart, a beautiful, perky, hard working but very unlucky woman, finally meets her lucky charm, Saul. Saul, the emotionless, business-as-usual man, hires Heart to pretend to be his wife to please his grandmother with dementia. Though they hate each other’s guts, love finds its way. But when can you tell if love’s finally for real?
