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iQIYI produces original shows and licenses content from other rights holders to attract viewers, primarily in mainland China. Viewers pay for memberships that provide members-only content, earlier access to selected shows and viewing privileges. Memberships bring in most of its revenue. Advertisers provide the next-largest source, paying to reach viewers through ads and placements within shows; brand advertisers usually buy through advertising agencies. iQIYI also earns money by licensing content to other video platforms and television stations.
The business depends on offering shows that persuade members to join and renew, while attracting advertisers. Producing and acquiring content accounts for most of its cost of revenue, so audience appeal must justify that spending. Baidu, its controlling shareholder, also supplies technology, cloud services and traffic that have significantly supported the business.
Mainland Chinese rules restrict what iQIYI can show and require operating permits and content approvals; authorities can order content removed or restricted. Foreign-investment restrictions also shape its structure: iQIYI is a Cayman Islands holding company, and most revenue comes through mainland entities it does not own but accesses through contracts. Its ability to receive their economic benefits depends on enforcing those arrangements.
The risk section is the longest, dullest part of the filing. This keeps only what can really hurt you: where it hits, how hard, when it plays out.
Every company claims an edge. Each one is checked against hard numbers like margins and returns: which hold, and which line gives way first.
Bilibili competes with iQIYI for viewers, professionally produced video content and advertising spending in China. Its advertising revenue is worth watching for competition over advertisers’ budgets, though its video community also earns money from value-added services and mobile games.
Baidu controls iQIYI and includes it in its consolidated accounts, but also competes for advertisers’ budgets by selling search and feed advertising while iQIYI sells video ads. Watch Baidu’s ownership decisions: it can sell control of iQIYI without ADS holders’ approval or buying their shares.
Alibaba Group’s Youku competes with iQIYI for paying streaming subscribers in China, premium programming and video advertising budgets.
Weibo competes with iQIYI for Chinese advertisers’ brand budgets and the audiences that attract them, selling ads on social media rather than video entertainment. Watch Weibo’s advertising and marketing revenue for a view of the spending pool both companies pursue.
iQIYI, Inc. earningsThis company
Memberships and advertising made up about four-fifths of iQIYI’s 2025 revenue, and this report will show whether its content can retain paying viewers, attract advertisers and support profit.
Read membership revenue, advertising revenue and operating income together. If both revenue streams hold up and operating income improves, the content is retaining paying viewers and attracting advertisers without costs absorbing the gains. If revenue keeps falling and operating income weakens, viewer appeal or ad demand is still not enough to cover operating costs.
Weibo Corporation earningsWB
Weibo’s report will show whether advertisers are spending more or less on social-media marketing, offering a read on the budget pool iQIYI also pursues with video ads.
Watch the change in Weibo’s advertising and marketing revenue, bearing in mind that social-media ads are not the same as video ads. Stable or rising revenue suggests advertisers are still spending in a competing channel, which supports the broader budget pool iQIYI seeks; a decline may signal tighter budgets and tougher selling for iQIYI, but Weibo alone cannot establish iQIYI’s own ad performance.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited earningsBABA
Alibaba’s report can show how its Youku streaming and video-ad business is doing, offering a read on the market where it competes with iQIYI for subscribers, premium content and advertisers.
Look for Youku’s paid-streaming and video-ad performance, not Alibaba’s overall results as a proxy for the video market. Strength in both would suggest viewers and advertisers are still spending in streaming, supporting the market iQIYI competes in; weakness in both would point to tougher conditions for its memberships and ads, which iQIYI’s own results would still need to confirm.
