iQIYI(IQ.US)Gong Yu Attends TV Drama Production Industry Conference: AI Sparks Disruptive Transformation, the Film and TV Industry Welcomes Spring

On March 13, the 2nd China TV Drama Production Industry Conference opened in Shenzhen. Gong Yu, Executive Vice President of the China TV Drama Production Industry Association, founder and CEO of iQIYI(IQ.US), attended the event and delivered a speech themed “Spring of the Film and Television Industry.” He said that AI technological innovation is bringing unprecedented changes and opportunities to the film and television industry, driving film-and-television platforms to transition toward decentralization, focusing on the production of top-tier content with greater IP value, and building creator and user communities to strengthen the platform’s public-service capability. Gong Yu emphasized that although AI technology is profoundly changing content production, IP remains the industry’s greatest asset, and creativity and artistry are always the essence of film and television creation. Amid the development opportunities brought by AI technology, those with determination will surely achieve “immense wealth,” and the film and television industry will also usher in a new spring of development.

AI technological innovation is fundamentally changing long-standing industry pain points such as high costs and long production cycles, greatly enriching the supply of film and television content and bringing transformation to the industry. Gong Yu believes that the deep application of AI will inevitably drive the industry to reproduce the “One-One-Two Law”: reducing the unit content production cost by an order of magnitude, increasing the number of creators by at least one order of magnitude, increasing the number of works by at least two orders of magnitude, and thus a disruptive change in the industry landscape is inevitable. In the face of this change, he pointed out that film and television platforms will transition to non-centralized social media, focus on producing top-tier content with high IP value, and at the same time build creator and user communities; by optimizing content production and operation models, they will better serve creators and audiences.

Gong Yu further elaborated on how film and television platforms can enhance their public-service capability across the entire industry chain of content production, operation, distribution, and monetization. First, by providing intelligent production agents and a creator operation platform to help creators conduct more convenient professional content production and operations; second, by assisting creators with IP procurement and providing middle-office services such as funding support and script evaluation; third, by providing “hard services” such as video viewing and “soft services” such as publicity and operation, helping creators’ content reach a broader audience ；; fourth, by enabling more diversified monetization methods such as memberships, advertising, and derivatives to help creators achieve a fairer and more reasonable distribution of earnings.

Taking iQIYI as an example, the AI intelligent agent platform “NaDouPro” combines the world-leading foundation model with iQIYI’s deep experience in professional content production; from script evaluation to final generation, it comprehensively optimizes the production process. Currently, NaDouPro has been providing support in various professional content areas such as films, TV series, and animation for internal teams and key partners, and will soon be released to the market publicly. The iQIYI creator operation platform “iQIYIhao” builds a more convenient support system for creators, comprehensively optimizing end-to-end services such as content operations and revenue settlement.

In the new platform ecosystem, the collaboration models between platforms and creators and production companies will also change accordingly. Creators will have more content brands and copyrights, gain more comprehensive control over private-domain traffic, and form more direct interactions with users; creators’ revenue models will also gradually shift from the traditional To B model to a To C model in which consumers make the decisions. Meanwhile, the cooperation model between production companies and platforms will gradually transform—from the traditional platform-produced content model to a pure revenue-sharing model. In the future, the number of pure revenue-sharing contents will hold an absolute advantage, while the proportion of platform-produced content will gradually decrease.

Currently, AI technology is rapidly overturning categories such as online feature films, TV dramas, short drama series, and animation, and has entered a phase of rapid implementation. However, theatrical films, top-tier TV drama series, and variety shows are the core content strongholds and the main carriers of IP in the film and television industry; they will be the final high ground that AI technology conquers. Gong Yu concluded that while film and television platforms seize opportunities, they should also return to the essence of content and uphold creativity and artistry. iQIYI welcomes more outstanding creators to join; together, through joint creation, let’s embrace the industry’s new spring!