Chinese equivalent to Netflix? No, we want to be China’s online Disney, says iQiyi CEO

The Nasdaq-listed company, which was spun off from online search giant Baidu, has sharpened its focus on artificial intelligence, big data analytics and other technologies to improve its efficiency in content production, sourcing and even censorship

Nasdaq-listed iQiyi, China’s leading online video-streaming service, expects to grow its business in the mould of media and entertainment conglomerate The Walt Disney Company, rather than Netflix, Tim Gong Yu, the founder and chief executive of iQiyi, said the company’s strategy does not include building bricks-and-mortar theme parks like Disney. Photo: Xinhua

While many investors compare iQiyi to US-based Netflix, the head of China’s largest online video-streaming service said it was built to be like The Walt Disney Company, the media and entertainment conglomerate behind Mickey Mouse and the Star Wars franchise.

“Our business model is more like Disney’s than Netflix’s,” said Tim Gong Yu, iQiyi’s founder and chief executive, in a recent interview at the firm’s headquarters in Zhongguancun, a hi-tech zone in Beijing.

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