Alipay+ E-Wallet Partnerships Power iQIYI’s Fast Asia Expansion

• More than 1 million consumers outside the Chinese mainland used Alipay+ partner e-wallets for subscription payments on iQIYI international app in 2022
• Alipay+ in 2023 offers bespoke marketing solutions to help retain loyalty and boost growth for merchant partners

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Popular Asian e-wallets are helping iQIYI, a leading international streaming platform, accelerate its expansion through Alipay+ to help digital and entertainment (D&E) platforms reach young middle-class consumers looking for quality online video content.

Introduced by Ant Group in 2020, Alipay+ is a suite of cross-border digital payment, marketing and merchant digitalization solutions connecting global brands with mobile-savvy consumers worldwide, aimed at enabling businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, to process a wide range of mobile payment methods and reach more than 1 billion regional and global consumers.

Starting in 2021, iQIYI utilizes Alipay+ marketing solutions, such as Alipay+ Rewards and cashier-based marketing service, to reach potential consumers and improve transaction conversion rates in key markets. Developed by Alipay+ and partner e-wallets, Alipay+ Rewards is a new digital marketing platform that helps global brands engage better with consumers worldwide by offering incentives and exclusive services.

In 2022, more than 1 million consumers outside the Chinese mainland, mostly in Southeast Asia, used Alipay+ partner e-wallets, including TrueMoney (Thailand), GCash (The Philippines), DANA (Indonesia), Touch ’n Go eWallet (Malaysia) and Kakao Pay (South Korea) to pay for subscriptions or content on iQIYI’s international app.

In addition to these alternative payment methods, since 2023, Alipay+ has started offering customized marketing solutions through Alipay+ Rewards program to enable merchant partners to expand its market outreach efforts. On iQIYI’s international app, the number of new users making subscription payments through GCash, DANA and Touch ’n Go eWallet have increased respectively by 100 percent, 90 percent and 50 percent in March 2023, compared with the end of 2022.

The global over-the-top (OTT) market is expected to reach US$1,251 billion by 2027, representing a CAGR of 30 percent during 2021-2027¹. iQIYI ranks fifth among OTT platforms globally, and was named the top Asian OTT to watch Chinese-language, Thai and Malay dramas across major SEA markets.²

On April 18 in Bangkok, iQIYI kicked off its latest subscriber campaign for Southeast Asia by inviting hundreds of local fans to interact with leading casts of a popular TV series on its platform. The event was co-hosted by Alipay+ as one of its key e-wallet partners, TrueMoney, is popular in Thailand.

In April 2023, AlipayHK, the largest active e-wallet in Hong Kong SAR, China, became the latest Alipay+ partner wallet to support payment on iQIYI International App.

About Alipay+

Alipay+ offers unified global mobile payment and marketing solutions that connect merchants with multiple e-wallets and payment methods from different countries and regions by collaborating with global partners. Consumers can conveniently use their preferred local payment methods while transacting seamlessly in a different market and be able to enjoy marketing solutions offered by the merchants through Alipay+. Alipay+ is developed by Ant Group, the owner and operator of Alipay, one of the world’s leading digital open platforms.

About iQIYI

iQIYI, Inc. is a leading provider of online entertainment video services in China. It combines creative talent with technology to foster an environment for continuous innovation and the production of blockbuster content. It produces, aggregates and distributes a wide variety of professionally produced content, as well as a broad spectrum of other video content in a variety of formats. The Company distinguishes itself in the online entertainment industry by its leading technology platform powered by advanced AI, big data analytics and other core proprietary technologies. iQIYI attracts a daily subscriber base of more than 100 million, and its diversified monetization model includes membership services, online advertising services, content distribution, online games, IP licensing, talent agency, online literature, etc.

¹ https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5633245/over-the-top-ott-market-global-industry
² https://www.screendaily.com/features/unpacking-the-recent-turnaround-success-of-chinese-streamer-iqiyi/5180170.article