Most used SVOD platforms in China 2021

According to a Chinese consumer survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in May 2021, iQIYI was the most used subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform, with 70 percent of respondents reporting that they had used its services. Following closely in second place was Tencent Video or WeTV, backed by Chinese tech giant Tencent, used by 69 percent of survey respondents.

 Major Chinese SVOD providers

    Baidu’s iQIYI is currently one of the SVOD giants in the world with over 115 million daily active users. Since reaching a licensing deal with Netflix in 2017, the number of iQIYI's subscribers has more than doubled. When it comes to video streaming on mobile phones, Tencent Video ranked first with almost 400 million monthly active users as of May 2021. In general, many SVOD distributors, especially those newcomers like Bilibili, saw a significant increase in the amount of paying customers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 A booming SVOD market in China

Both the SVOD subscription number and video streaming revenue are forecasted to rise steadily in China over the next few years. As a large share of Chinese SVOD subscribers uses the services several times a week or even every day, video streaming has become a regular activity for many. What’s more, it’s common for SVOD users to pay for multiple SVOD platforms to widen their access to exclusive offerings.