Online entertainment grabs eyeballs

Both Wanda and Huayi have announced plans to boost development of online businesses. Wanda said in its 2019 financial report that the company has included online games into its major business sector, while Huayi predicted that its online businesses would see rapid growth in the first quarter.

The influx of users who spent more time on video-streaming platforms has led to revenue growth for operators, said Zhou Xuan, director of the Chinese Film & Television Industry Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics.

"Traffic to websites means money. Video-streaming platforms cannot only make money from subscriptions, but they can also attract more advertisers and partners like game operators and e-commerce plays as they can design pop-up windows linking to games and online retailers that are relevant to products appearing in videos," Zhou said.

Mango Excellent Media Co Ltd expected its profit to reach 430 million to 490 million yuan in the first quarter, up 2.89 to 17.24 percent year-on-year, thanks to its major video-streaming platform Mango TV, the company said.

Although the big three－Tencent, iQiyi and Youku－have not released first quarter performance data, industry estimates from CSC Financial said that in general, videostreaming platforms are likely to see revenue growth in the first quarter, spurred by increasing viewer demand from a larger audience base.

To better attract audiences, videostreaming platforms are adopting cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality to provide viewers with more interactive involvement.

For example, in the New House Guest Report VR, a spinoff of popular sitcom iPartment, audiences can visit the apartment by scrolling on iQiyi's VR app and VR devices. iPartment also adopted game elements in a recent episode in which audiences can create their own endings by clicking different choices at certain points of the story.

Organizers of the 32nd Flying Apsaras Awards, given by the government to the top Chinese TV dramas, said in April that awards would be given to outstanding TV series broadcast on Chinese TV channels or major online streaming platforms. This marks the first time that web series will be considered.

But not all web series will be eligible for consideration. Organizers said all candidates, whether broadcast on TV or streamed online, must have TV broadcast permits, which have high production standards.

"Nevertheless, this is a very positive signal for web series producers and video-streaming platforms. The industry has a very promising future," Zhou said.