“Descendants of the Sun” is a game-changer for Chinese viewers who were used to watching free TV or pirated shows, until the blockbuster Korean drama altered the country’s viewing landscape.
Video streaming site iQiyi, which owns the right to broadcast the 16-episode drama, had around 3 million additional VIP members since it started to air “Descendants of the Sun” every Wednesday and Thursday night since Feb. 24. The new members added to the 10 million existing members as of December 2015, boosting views to more than 1.2 billon in China since Episode 1, said Zhang Yuxin, iQiyi intellectual property rights manager.
Yearly VIP membership fee of iQiyi is 198 yuan. That means the new VIP members brought in at least half a billion extra revenue for iQiyi, reported Xinhua News Agency.
Dramas are apparently adding numbers to iQiyi’s members. In July 2015, about 1 million Chinese signed up with the video streaming site when it broadcast a Chinese series “Grave Robbers’ Chronicles” which was based on blockbuster young-adult novels. VIP membership provided the new members immediate access to all episodes, unlike free users who are given only regular updates.
Other online providers in China, such as LeTV and Youku are also introducing VIP packages, encouraged by the success of iQiyi. In just 12 months, the amount paid by paying members of online streaming sites in China doubled to 590 million yuan from 210 million yuan, according to iQiyi, China Internet Network Information Center and I Research, a Chinese consulting firm.
Zhang noted, “We took four years to find the first 5 million VIP users, but only five and half months to see another 5 million.”
Now, China has apparently made an about turn when it comes to the drama. Unlike two weeks ago when the Ministry of Justice warned about Chinese women falling so much in love with lead star Song Joong-ki, an editorial by the People’s Daily, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, described “Descendants of the Sun” as “an excellent advertisement for conscription” because it showcased South Korea’s national spirit and communitarian culture. The daily even suggested that China make a similar military-themed drama, reported BBC.