IQIYI Inc – ADR (NASDAQ: IQ), with a market capitalization of this company is $11.82 billion, is the Beijing, China headquartered online entertainment service. The company has recently launched new features to its streaming platforms that operate locally. These include Revolving Bullet Comments and Heartbeat Mode. In addition, IQIYI Inc is eyeing an enhanced viewing experience for its viewers.
What’s next?
Last year, the company had launched Dance Mode, which makes use of a rhythm detection algorithm. This was used extensively in The Rap of China 2020. Now, with Heartbeat Mode, the company mimics heartbeats and tries to strengthen the audience-character connection. After being launched in an interactive video platform (IVP), this Heartbeat Mode shall become accessible as a plug-in, which will also be added to other shows in post-production. Meanwhile, the other feature, i.e., Revolving Bullet Comments, uses AI character recognition along with portrait matting technologies, which creates dynamic background between characters and the original background. There are already some existing shows which are using this technology.
Aligning with the viewer needs
These two features are a testimony of the company’s focus on evolving viewers’ needs. The new features enable the audience to interact with the characters in reality rather than in their imagination. The company builds interactive and immersive viewing through these features, which adds to a rich user experience.
Interestingly, content engagement has become the buzzword, gaining more traction than content creation. For example, the latest report from China Netcasting Services Association regarding the online video industry in China says that almost half of total viewership engages with the content actively. In the report, it is mentioned that as many as 44.6% viewers hit the ‘Like’ button on those materials which they appreciate. Meanwhile, 27.9% read all bullet comments, while 24.1% also ‘share’ the content on their social channels.
