How the back-stabbing imperial concubines of ‘The Story of Yanxi Palace’ helped China’s iQiyi set a viewership record
The online soap opera attracted more than half a billion views on August 12, setting a viewership record in China
The Chinese sure love their palace intrigues.
A 70-episode period drama about a quick-witted maidservant investigating the death of her sister amid a group of back-stabbing Qing dynasty imperial concubines has set the single-day online viewership record in China. A total of 530 million viewers tuned in on August 12 to follow the scheming on iQiyi, the nation’s biggest streaming platform.
Some other staggering numbers: The Story of Yanxi Palace, co-produced by iQiyi and Huanyu Film, has attracted a cumulative 5.6 billion views since its release last month, or an average of 130 million views per episode, according to Maoyan, an online ticketing and statistics provider.
The hit drama, set in the court of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799), is available in more than 70 markets globally, making it one of the most widely distributed period series produced by China, according to iQiyi.
Hong Kong’s TVB recently bought the distribution rights for the show in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia. Similar distribution agreements have been made with TV channels and platforms in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.