iQIYI's Gong Yu: AI-driven produced blockbuster films will emerge within 2-3 years

On February 26, iQIYI, listed on the U.S. stock market, released its unaudited fourth quarter and full-year financial results for 2025. For the full year of 2025, iQIYI’s total revenue was 27.29 billion RMB, with a Non-GAAP operating profit of 640 million RMB, marking four consecutive years of operating profitability.

In the fourth quarter, iQIYI’s total revenue reached 6.79 billion RMB, achieving year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter growth, with a Non-GAAP operating profit of 140 million RMB. iQIYI’s founder and CEO Gong Yu stated, “In the fourth quarter, our IP-centric strategy strengthened user engagement and market leadership, driving improved financial performance and achieving double growth in total revenue compared to both the previous quarter and the same period last year.”

The development of AI large models has made iQIYI clearly aware that the film and television content production industry will undergo disruptive changes in the future. Gong Yu said, “We estimate that within 2-3 years, AI-led generated blockbuster films will emerge.”

Building an IP Matrix with Over 10,000 Comic Dramas in Reserve

Content is the cornerstone of video platform development.

Data shows that in 2025, high-quality content from iQIYI continued to emerge, with Yunhe’s annual series market share remaining the highest. Throughout the year, five series with iQIYI content’s popularity value (hereinafter referred to as “content popularity value”) exceeding 10,000 were released.

Notably, iQIYI’s IP series development achieved a significant breakthrough in 2025, evolving from creating single hit series to building a long-lasting IP matrix covering diverse content formats and scenarios. The series “Records of the Tang Dynasty’s Strange Events in Chang’an” surpassed a content popularity value of 10,000, and the “Tang Gui” IP also developed into a multi-format IP with long dramas, mid-length dramas, short dramas, and offline experiences.

At the start of 2026, the police and detective series “Punishment 2” surpassed a content popularity value of 10,000, making “Punishment” iQIYI’s second serialized IP with both seasons exceeding this threshold.

In terms of movies, in 2025, iQIYI’s produced theatrical film “Chasing Shadows” extended its popularity from offline to online, ranking first among iQIYI’s film popularity values in the fourth quarter.

In variety shows, “Variety N Generation” and innovative variety shows performed well. “Hello Farming Boy 3” set a new series high in content popularity value. In 2026, iQIYI will continue to deepen the long-term operation of “Variety N Generation” and explore innovative IP.

Data shows that iQIYI has a short drama reserve of over 20,000 titles, with more than 70% being free content. Over 150 self-produced short dramas have been launched, with record contributions to membership and distribution revenue in the fourth quarter.

Currently, iQIYI’s comic drama content reserve exceeds 10,000 titles, with rapid growth in user base and viewing hours. In the new year, iQIYI Animation will significantly expand its self-produced Chinese animation matrix; the children’s channel will ensure coverage of top-tier licensed IPs, increase self-produced content, and expand AI animation content.

The continuous supply of high-quality, diversified content has driven iQIYI’s total revenue in the fourth quarter to achieve double growth both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. Among them, membership service revenue was 4.11 billion RMB, online advertising revenue was 1.35 billion RMB, with a 9% increase quarter-over-quarter. Content distribution revenue for the quarter was 790 million RMB, and other income was 550 million RMB.

Rapid Growth in Overseas Business and Continued Expansion of Experience Business

iQIYI’s Deputy CFO Zeng Ying stated, “We are creating new growth engines through emerging businesses. Overseas business maintained strong growth momentum, with record-high revenue in the fourth quarter. Additionally, the first iQIYI theme park recently opened, receiving positive feedback, marking an important milestone in the development of our experience business. We look forward to these emerging businesses creating long-term value for the company.”

While consolidating its domestic core business, the overseas segment in 2025 demonstrated strong growth potential, becoming a sustainable and scalable “second growth curve.” Full-year 2025, iQIYI’s overseas membership revenue increased by over 30% year-over-year, with the second half seeing a 40% year-over-year growth rate, reaching a new high in membership scale. Notably, markets like Brazil, Mexico, and Indonesia saw membership revenue growth of over 80% year-over-year.

Yang Xianghua, President of iQIYI’s overseas business, stated during the earnings call that the overall strategy for 2026 is to achieve continued high growth in revenue. The focus remains on mainland Chinese dramas, while increasing the production and procurement of local content in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and promoting content through celebrity outreach and market activities to enhance iQIYI’s brand influence internationally.

Leveraging rich IP assets, iQIYI is building a new growth engine centered on IP consumer products and iQIYI Parks, aiming for sustainable expansion.

In Q4, iQIYI’s self-operated IP consumer products business steadily advanced. In 2026, iQIYI will strengthen its authorized business while focusing on expanding its self-operated IP consumer products, replicating successful card game experiences into categories like GuaZi and trendy toys.

On February 8, the Yangzhou iQIYI Park officially opened. Within the year, two more parks in Kaifeng and Beijing are expected to open, moving toward scaled operations. iQIYI Parks operate with a light asset model, generating revenue mainly from ticket sales and in-park consumption. Compared to traditional theme parks, iQIYI Parks incorporate IP with cutting-edge technologies like AI and XR to provide more flexible and immersive experiences.

Gong Yu: AI-Generated Blockbusters Will Emerge in 2-3 Years

Recently, the development of AI large models has made iQIYI clearly realize that the film and television content production industry will undergo disruptive changes within 1-3 years.

Gong Yu stated that video large models significantly reduce the costs of long-form video production, shorten production cycles, and lower creative barriers, enabling more creators to enter the long-form video industry. Ultimately, this will greatly improve both the quantity and quality of long videos, which is highly beneficial for long-form media platforms like iQIYI.

Currently, AI-native content includes not only comic dramas but also children’s animations and short dramas, which have been verified to be directly generated by AI, with production costs reduced to one-tenth or less of traditional methods. Traditional online movies, animations, documentaries, and more are also increasingly using AI in production. Live-action theatrical films, dramas, and variety shows are beginning to adopt AI technology to cut costs. “We estimate that within 2-3 years, AI-led generated blockbuster films will emerge,” Gong Yu said.

iQIYI is developing an AI intelligent platform called “NaDou Pro,” which combines the world’s leading foundational models with iQIYI’s extensive experience in professional content creation, optimizing the entire production process from script evaluation to final generation. Currently, NaDou Pro is in closed testing.

Over the past year, iQIYI has filed nearly 1,000 new patents, most of which involve AI technological innovations. By the end of 2025, iQIYI had applied for over 12,000 patents in total, ranking 72nd among Chinese companies for effective invention patents.

Gong Yu stated that in 2026, iQIYI will focus on three core strategic goals. First, to strengthen domestic core business by improving self-produced content quality and consolidating membership and advertising revenue; second, to maintain strong growth in overseas and experience businesses, building a more solid long-term growth engine; third, to seize opportunities by vigorously developing a vibrant AIGC ecosystem. The platform’s model will shift from centralized to decentralized, with specific initiatives to be announced at the iQIYI World Conference in April.