iQIYI has recently announced that its first local original ‘Rampas Cintaku’ concluded its season by reaching over 100M digital views, marking its position as the top local title that Malaysians are willing to pay for. The success saw the streaming platform’s pipeline of local originals, paving the way for local originals to have substantial revenue stream potential for iQIYI in Malaysia.
Based on the Asia Video Content Dynamics 2022 report, from January to July 2022, Malaysia recorded a total of 2.4 billion hours of video streamed. While OTT consumption in Malaysia has been dominated by English and Korean content, over the years, iQIYI has seen a rapidly growing demand and preference for local content amongst Malaysians. A number of Malay dramas have garnered great success on the streaming platform, with Rampas Cintaku making its mark as the most profitable Malay drama.
During its entire 14-episode run, ‘Rampas Cintaku’ consistently topped the iQIYI Malaysia charts within the top 2 spots. The drama was also trending on TikTok throughout the season.
Commenting on the success of Rampas Cintaku, Dinesh Ratnam, Country Manager of iQIYI Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei said, “We are thrilled that our first local and Malay original kicked off strongly beyond our expectations, and to see that Malaysians are willing to pay for premium local productions. The exceedingly high viewership demonstrates the strong appetite for hyper local content with authentic storytelling that is real and differentiated.”
Dinesh added on the brand’s content curation strategy: “In line with our commitment in being the home of beloved Asian entertainment, we value differentiation over a numbers game and a localised approach when it comes to sourcing stories. Our focus is to be bold in bringing unique storylines that represent the essence of local communities other platforms do not have and creating a strong local content ecosystem. This is part of our efforts to add value to our customers’ diversified taste, entertainment options and those who are cultivated to pay to support what used to be niche or free. Taking the success of Rampas Cintaku as an example, local originals chart a very promising pathway to generate revenue and be profitable.”
Taking a page out of China’s playbook, iQIYI constantly leads innovative changes to shape a sustainable business model that is unique to the Asian content ecosystem. From renovating a consumer-friendly scheduling, revamping flexible paywall designs, to rolling out Sorry Naik Lori, the brand’s latest content integration partnership collaborating with foodpanda Malaysia, iQIYI looks to showcase the best of Southeast Asia and its monetisation potential to a broader audience.