On April 23, the 2-day 2025 iQiyi World Conference opened in Beijing. At the opening ceremony, iQiyi founder and CEO Gong Yu, Liu Wenfeng, president of the Infrastructure and Intelligent Distribution Business Group, and Wang Xiaohui, chief content officer, delivered speeches respectively, releasing a number of measures for iQiyi in business layout, technological innovation and content creation. At present, users' demand for "short and exquisite" video entertainment is increasing. iQiyi has launched a series of measures to echo the theme of "advance with the times, dare to be the first, and create extraordinary" at this conference, demonstrating iQiyi's action ability to adapt to innovation.

In the field of content creation, iQiyi will focus on the "short, exquisite, multi-, and new" strategy, enter the micro drama and provide more shorter and more creative high-quality content. In terms of product experience, iQiyi officially launched the "Skip View" function and the "Tao Dou" personal intelligent assistant, using AI to reconstruct user video viewing logic and upgrade intelligent interactive experience. In his speech entitled "The Power of Technology and the Spirit of Art", Gong Yu said that in a time when attention is lacking, the film and television industry should change with the times, the environment, and the needs of the audience. iQiyi will also launch more high-quality content that allows the audience to like, love to watch more, not bother to watch, and never get tired of watching, and continue to innovate and improve the user experience.

In terms of IP ecosystem construction, iQiyi will continue to focus on developing large IPs, relying on high-quality content to expand its derivative business territory, actively deploy offline paradise, and vigorously explore overseas markets. At this conference, iQiyi also announced that it had officially entered the content e-commerce market, further promoting the diversification of traffic monetization in addition to membership and advertising revenue.

Content change cycle: Micro-short drama breaks the deadlock video innovation

Wang Xiaohui entitled "Which is important, the pressure of life and the dignity of life? 》's speech proposed that "short" is the only keyword in the content field in 2025, namely, the length of micro-short dramas, the number of long episodes, and the time taken for movies. The audience has both a "simple and refreshing" emotional need and a spiritual pursuit of "the meaning of life". The dual needs of users prompt that current content creation needs to be "long and short" and "deconstruction and construction" to meet users' life companionship with rich and diverse content and respond to users' spiritual value demands with high-quality works.

In 2025, the film and television industry has entered a new cycle of transformation that "micro dramas rely on speed to win, short dramas will break through the deadlock, long dramas experience the pain of transformation, and movies need innovation and nirvana." iQiyi takes long video as its strategic core and micro-drama as its incremental business, and has launched new initiatives in the fields of micro-drama, short drama, long drama and film.

In the field of micro-dramas, iQiyi Speed ​​Edition App will be renamed to iQiyi Micro-dramas to promote product transformation based on micro-drama content, and through the "Thousands of Premium Micro-dramas Plan", "Hundreds of Hong Kong Film Micro-dramas Plan", "Legal and Public Micro-dramas Plan", etc., it will form a multi-party linkage between internal and external IPs to continuously supply wonderful micro-dramas to users. In the field of short dramas, iQiyi will launch the "Short Drama Plan", and popular IPs such as "Soul Ferry" and "Tang Dynasty Strange Events" will launch short drama works.

In the field of film and television content, Gong Yu said, "The number of episodes and durations must be reduced, but the number of projects and total budgets must be increased. This is the development direction of iQiyi. We will gradually increase projects and increase budgets reasonably." The newly released annual film list by iQiyi in 2025 shows that the Mist Theater, Lianlian Theater, Xiaodou Theater, Daquan Theater, and Weichen Theater all have many high-quality project reserves, and there are rich new works in many types of works to be launched outside the five major theaters. In terms of film, iQiyi will invest funds and resources through the "Liaoyuan Plan" and the "Pre-Bao Plan" to allow more young directors, screenwriters, and actors to participate in the creation and gain more opportunities.

AI innovative user experience: combining length and short "more exciting" and intelligent interaction "more considerate"

Every year, iQiyi World Conference will bring cutting-edge trends and application results of video technology. This year, the AI-enabled "jump" function and the "Tao Dou" personal intelligent assistant have become two highlights in user experience.

In his speech entitled "Attention-driven Innovation", Liu Wenfeng introduced that iQiyi's "jump-watch" function uses AI technology to deeply analyze the video images, and can find out the most attractive and exciting points that can truly promote the development of the plot. Users only need to swipe up and down the screen to jump freely between the essence of narratives, without missing out on exciting points, and at the same time realize a personalized viewing experience. Liu Wenfeng said that as more and more users’ real viewing behaviors are recorded, AI models will be able to continuously optimize the recognition results of exciting points. The same content may be a complete version for different users, or it may be a diverse form such as a 35-minute fine-edited version or a 20-minute quick-cut version, which truly realizes the content presentation of 'thousands of people and thousands of faces'. "By 'jumping', we give the right to choose to the user and think about content creation and product design from the perspective of user's attention, everything will become very different."

In terms of user intelligent interaction, iQiyi’s “Tao Dou World” welcomes a new member - “Tao Dou” personal intelligent assistant. "Taodou" can provide users with personalized intelligent interactive services in all aspects, covering film searches, film recommendations, customer service Q&A, chat content, etc. During the live demonstration session of the conference, "Tao Dou" quickly gave accurate operation suggestions, and with its in-depth understanding of the rich content of the platform and its accurate insight into the user's personal preferences, it gave a personalized response that fits the user's actual needs. In addition, based on the "Open Reminder" command, "Taodou" can also considerately make an appointment for users in "Huaishui Bamboo Pavilion". When the drama is officially launched, it will promptly remind users to watch it. Since the launch of iQiyi's "Tao Dou World" in 2024, nearly 1,000 IP characters have had more than 100 million rounds of dialogue and communication with users. These IP character AI robots retain their original personality, language style and worldview settings, and can interact with fans all day and all year round. This innovation has truly made IP roles "live" and also achieved new growth in IP value.

On the content production side, iQiyi's AI application achievements maintain a leading position in the industry. Currently, AI has been upgraded from a tool to a "creative collaborator" on iQiyi. The script workshops and image workshops in the creative stage, and the virtual shooting and digital asset library in the production stage effectively help creators become "super individuals" and allow more talented young people to enter the content creation industry. At this conference, iQiyi released a new upgraded version of its self-developed QClip all-in-one machine, which greatly improves efficiency through cloud production and further improves the level of film and television industrialization.

New additions to commercial development: IP diversified development, diversified traffic monetization, overseas market expansion

In the development trend of "short, exquisite, multi-, and new", iQiyi will focus on creating more top quality content and developing large IPs, and explore and continue the commercial value of IP through derivative businesses, offline paradises and full-sense theaters. At the same time, we actively go overseas and promote high-quality Chinese content to the global market.

Since the beginning of 2025, iQiyi has officially announced that it will land iQiyi Paradise in Yangzhou and Kaifeng to create an immersive offline entertainment space with film and television theme IP experience as the core. At this conference, Gong Yu disclosed the location, space design and core experience of iQiyi Park. At that time, users will be able to explore the bizarre "Tang Wei World" in iQiyi Paradise and ride somersault clouds with Supreme Treasure in the world of "American Journey". The immersive interpretation of the theme of "Lotus Tower" will reproduce the famous IP scenes such as the Red Silk Sword Dance and the East China Sea Battle through stage technologies such as the rotating audience, the water stage, and the CNC Wia.

In terms of diversified traffic monetization, iQiyi officially announced its entry into content e-commerce, expanding new revenue growth in addition to members and advertising. With iQiyi's new content combined with the new form of live streaming sales, we will give full play to iQiyi's resource advantages in IP, content, artists and celebrities, members, advertising, etc., and provide merchants with high-value sales channels. For early merchants, iQiyi will also provide great discounts and free traffic support.

Gong Yu said that there are still many difficulties and challenges ahead, but the future is full of expectations. Faced with a series of changes, iQiyi will focus on quality products, innovation experience, and innovative development with the power of technology and the spirit of art.

[Editor in charge: Yang Yingying]