Pursuit of Jade Leads iQIYI's 130% H1 Viewership Surge
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- iQIYI International reported a 130% year-on-year surge in global viewership in H1 2026, crediting a dual-engine strategy pairing premium Chinese dramas with fast-paced microdramas.
- "Pursuit of Jade" ranked first across every content category on the platform and has led Google search volume among Chinese historical dramas worldwide since 2025, driven by its female-growth narrative and eastern aesthetic.
- "Midnight Temptation" became the top-performing microdrama globally, with class reversal and female empowerment themes leading the platform's top 10 microdrama chart.
- All 10 titles on iQIYI International's H1 2026 top Chinese drama chart were produced in-house, spanning historical epics, contemporary romance, and coming-of-age stories.
- Localization now spans subtitles in 13 languages, plus dubbing and the "iQIYI Starship Project" sending actors to Thailand and Malaysia for live events; Thai-language dubbing alone pushed seven Chinese dramas into Thailand's local top 10.
- In Japan and South Korea, microdramas now make up half of the top ten trending titles, while Middle East audiences continued favoring realism and military-themed premium dramas and expanded Spanish- and Portuguese-language dubbing widened reach in Latin America.
Why it matters: iQIYI is making a self-financed bet on in-house production pay off — every top-10 drama came from its own studios, meaning the 130% growth margin stays largely in-house rather than leaking to licensors. The microdrama surge in Japan and South Korea, where vertical-format mobile viewing now accounts for half of trending content, signals iQIYI is cracking markets dominated by entrenched local streamers.
