Netflix signs a partnership with iQiyi, a unit of China’s Baidu, to offer its content in the world’s most populous country.
Global streaming giant Netflix has finally found a doorway into the vast Chinese entertainment market, months after pulling back on efforts to launch its service there.
The Los Gatos, Calif., company has made a deal to license its original shows to online video platform IQiyi, owned by Chinese Internet search company Baidu, Netflix said Tuesday. Previous efforts by Netflix to tap into the world’s most populous country have been hobbled by the nation’s regulators.
Now Netflix has a foothold in China through the 7-year-old IQiyi platform, which already has licensing deals with Hollywood studios including Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate.
By teaming with Beijing-based Baidu, Netflix has gained a powerful partner that is seen as the Chinese counterpart of Google. Baidu is the country’s biggest search engine, though its dominance has been undercut by apps including WeChat and Toutiao.
China is one of the few markets Netflix has yet to enter as it tries to dominate the global streaming video market. Netflix, known for such series as “Orange Is the New Black” and “House of Cards, ” this month said it has nearly 100 million subscribers worldwide, with much of the growth coming from outside the United States. It is available in nearly 200 countries, with China still conspicuously absent from its list.
Financial details about the new pact, first reported by Variety, were not disclosed. The companies would not say what shows and movies would be made available to customers in China, where the government keeps tight control over what its population sees.
