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May 22 (NBD) -- The 2018 iQiyi Technology & Entertainment World Conference was held on Friday in Beijing.

At the conference, streaming service provider iQiyi.com Inc. announced its plan of creating an era of short drama.

Though China's TV drama market is booming, drama producers are facing a cold winter, said Wang Xiaohui, chief content officer of iQiyi, adding that the country has over 10,000 TV drama and film makers, but only one percent of them are gaining profits.

IQiyi's new plan indicates its intention to increase revenues by offering quality dramas with fewer episodes.

Outstanding dramas with excellent stories are absolutely the basis to help nurture members' habits of paying for the shows, Wang pointed out.

According iQiyi, 50 percent of its TV dramas to be launched in 2018 will be self-developed. But the company is still the largest buyer of TV episodes in terms of quantity and input, Li Liying, senior direcotr of iQiyi, told NBD.

Due to limited resources and staff members, iQiyi will focus on producing or purchasing quality, valuable dramas. As for less popular contents, the company will choose to cooperate with small- and medium-sized producers under a revenue-split model.

For partners with great ideas and specialized quality, the online video platform attempts to motivate them by adjusting the revenue sharing strategy. In addition, iQiyi will be willing to invest in the drama if the producer can't afford the costs of employing teams from renowned production firms.

The mass production of quality contents can only be achieved when the entire industry chain is upgraded, Wang Xiaohui noted. 

Such goal can't be reached by one single streaming platform, a firm or a few products, added Wang.

Moreover, short dramas are the major driver for the development of the pay-per-view dramas. The massive supply of short dramas could create user's demands, noted Wang.

He also predicted that in the future, subscription gains from dramas, especially the self-developed ones, will make large contributions to iQiyi's revenue.

Email: zhanglingxiao@nbd.com.cn