On August 23rd, as of the close of the US stock market this morning, the stock price of video website iQiyi fell nearly 16%, hitting a new 52 week low at $2.6 per share.
On the news front, on August 22nd, iQiyi disclosed its Q2 2024 report. According to the financial report, iQiyi's revenue for the current period was 7.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5%. Among them, membership service revenue was 4.5 billion yuan, a decrease of 9%; Online advertising service revenue was 1.5 billion yuan, a decrease of 2%; The net profit was 68.7 million yuan, while the net profit for the same period in 2023 was 365.2 million yuan.
Recently, there have been constant controversies surrounding iQiyi. Previously, a user sued iQiyi due to being restricted from screen mirroring. In early July, the first instance of the "iQiyi Restricted Screen Projection Case" came to an end. The court ruled that the plaintiff had the right to 720P and 1080P high-definition screen projection before July 15, 2025, and iQiyi platform compensated the plaintiff for 41 days of VIP membership time.
In the middle of July, iQIYI App made a hot search on Weibo because its basic members could not skip the 120 second advertisement in the video title. Many netizens roast that iQIYI basic members could not skip the 120 second advertisement in the video title, "it is ugly to eat", "why should we watch the advertisement when we become a member?" More netizens said frankly that "iQIYI basic members cannot skip the advertisement, what is the meaning of opening a member?"
It is worth noting that starting from the first quarter, iQiyi will no longer disclose the number of members. In a conference call after the first quarter financial report, Gong Yu said, "The number of members can only partially reflect the development of member business. Overemphasizing this number will interfere with daily work
According to media reports, overseas streaming giant Netflix announced in its first quarter performance report for the 2024 fiscal year that it will stop reporting quarterly membership numbers and ARM from the first quarter of next year, and only release data on key milestones in user numbers.
According to Zhang Yi, CEO of iMedia Consulting, in the current competitive environment, long video platforms not only face internal competition within the industry, but also face pressure from competitors such as short videos and micro dramas. Therefore, growth is under pressure, and simply measuring the value of long video platforms based on membership subscription numbers is no longer objective and comprehensive enough.