Overview

iQIYI, China’s leading online entertainment platform, reported a robust first half of 2026, highlighting dominant performance across dramas, variety shows, animation, and other content categories.

Drama Performance

  • iQIYI accounted for ten of the sixteen newly released long‑form dramas that received an S+ rating from third‑party data platform Enlightent during H1 2026.
  • Three of its drama titles surpassed a popularity index of 10,000: historical romance “Pursuit of Jade” peaked at 10,604 with a 55.1% viewership market share on Enlightent and placed three characters among Enlightent’s top‑10 most‑watched drama characters; crime drama “The Punishment” reached a peak index of 10,209 and secured a 26.9% market share; absurdist crime drama “Born with Luck” recorded a peak index of 10,054 with a 30.4% market share.
  • Across fourteen industry indices from Enlightent, Maoyan, Dengta, and Ky.live, iQIYI titles held the majority of top‑10 positions for cumulative playback, episode‑average views, and peak‑period performance.

Variety Show Strength

  • iQIYI’s variety slate earned three Enlightent S+ ratings in H1 2026 for “Wander Together”, “HAHAHAHAHA 6”, and “Become a Farmer 4”.
  • “HAHAHAHAHA 6” set a new peak popularity index record for long‑running seasonal IPs and topped Enlightent’s variety‑show chart 68 times, ranking first overall for the period.
  • “Wander Together” captured a 71.4% viewership market share on Enlightent and ranked first on Enlightent’s Q1 cumulative effective playback chart.

Other Content Categories

  • Original Chinese animation viewing duration surged 98% year‑on‑year, while playback volume grew 63% year‑on‑year.
  • The platform’s micro‑drama library now exceeds 50,000 titles, with several leading both platform and industry charts.
  • iQIYI‑produced online movies set new platform records for both popularity index and audience ratings.
  • In children’s content, iQIYI held the industry’s top viewership market share for effective playback according to Enlightent.

Significance

The H1 2026 results demonstrate iQIYI’s scale, consistency, and creative depth, reinforcing its position as China’s premier streaming destination and its ability to meet the evolving tastes of a growing audience.