Netflix Enters into Licensing Agreement with Chinese Local Streaming Company iQiyi

Netflix may soon become available in China after it entered into a licensing agreement with iQiyi, a streaming company. Original shows of Netflix would become available in China after its content debuts in other regions first.

China Pulls Plug

However, Netflix did not provide a timetable when its original shows would be seen by Chinese viewers. Only few media brands such as Disney, MTV and Fox were available in China because of the country’s strict censorship laws, CBC reported. However, in 2016, China pulled the plug on Apple’s iBooks and iTunes Movies services and Disneylife via Alibaba.

According to iQiyi, the latest seasons of original Netflix series such as “Stranger Things,” “Mindhunter” and “Black Mirror” would be available soon to its over 20 million subscribers. The streaming platform in China has similar agreements with BBC, Paramount Pictures and Lionsgate, CNN Money reported.

What has prevented Netflix from entering the Chinese market is the country’s censors must pre-approve entire series before it could be shown in streaming sites, such as iQiyi, in China. In the recent past, the censors even banned Hallyu content from South Korea because of Beijing’s differences with Seoul over South Korea’s hosting of the THAAD missiles in the country.

Netflix Content

The deal with iQiyi would include TV dramas, animated series, documentaries and variety shows, Shanghaiist cited a Bloomberg report. In January, Netflix expanded its service by including Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Since Netflix is licensing its content to an existing online service provider in China instead of operating in the Asian giant, the world’s largest paid video service expects revenue from the service to be modest, although the potential audience base is large at 1.4 billion people.

On news that Netflix just inked on Tuesday the deal with iQiyi, shares of Netflix went up to a record-high on Tuesday.