Chinese streamer iQiyi has unveiled a slate of 60 drama and variety titles and a ramped up brand-driven content marketing strategy as rumours continue about a merger/acquisition by rival Tencent in the face of mounting losses.

Forty of the new titles are drama and 20 are variety. 

Variety titles include new seasons of The Rap of China, Youth With You, I Can I BB, Fourtry and The Big Band. Others are Let’s Party, iQiyi Scream Night at Chimelong and virtual idol competition Dimension Nova.

Drama includes suspense series Luoyang based on Ma Boyong’s novel, and romance Go Go Squid 2: Dt and Vacation of Love. 

Under the banner of “new content, new consumption and new growth”, iQiyi bosses talked about entertainment industry trends, including “content marketing” and “redefining” content.

iQiyi SVP Chen Xiao said “nurturing new idols” was central to the platform’s “redefined content” to meet user needs for IP that is “of high quality and trendy and emphasises social networking”. He also said tech was being used to “improve the efficiency of content creation”.  

The platform, talking about “multi-dimensional content scenarios”, will focus on five types of variety shows, including  “youth idols, popular youth culture, innovative vertical content and lifestyle”.

For drama, iQiyi plans to build on its Mist Theatre strand and launch more themed sections, including romance and new year celebration theatres.

“Content will be the starting point of new business models for the next decade,” CMO and president of iQiyi’s new consumer business group, Vivian Wang, said.

“Content is now shaping consumption trends. Businesses will only be able to gain traction by creating content-based consumption scenarios and expanding their content-driven business, using content as their entry point and making their brands popular,” she added. 

The Rap of China, which iQiyi says  “spawned a market for rap performance and related consumption”, and reality show Fourtry, which led to the creation of the Fourtry brand.  

“In the future, we will build consumption scenarios around high-quality content. We will integrate online and offline models and create consumption opportunities with brands by leveraging the influence of celebrities and KOLs, leading the upgrading of consumption through the next decade,” said Vivian Wang.