Douyin, Baidu-backed iQiyi team up for content licensing

A new agreement will authorize Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of short-video app TikTok, to use content from iQiyi, the video-streaming platform backed by search giant Baidu, Nikkei Asia reported.

Under the deal, Douyin users can take clips from films and shows in iQiyi’s content library to make their own short videos. The financial details of the agreement, however, remain unclear.

The companies are teaming up after repeatedly clashing over alleged copyright violations. The deal “is a milestone that showcases the mutual respect and collective efforts in protecting intellectual property,” Gong Yu, iQiyi’s founder and CEO, said in a statement.

In 2020, iQiyi tried to break into the short-video market by launching Suike. Ultimately, the firm decided to stop investing in the platform.

Though it has had a history of losses, iQiyi reported its first fruitful quarter earlier this year, gaining US$25 million in profit. Its membership services revenue grew by 4%, but its total revenue decreased by 9% year on year.

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