International producers yet to crack Chinese SVoD market
China's three streaming majors have yet to open up to international content with an average of nearly 60% of all content carried of Chinese origin. The use of local content in China is far higher than other single-language markets, but is partly influenced by local censorship rules and local demand. US content owners have had some success at breaking into the Chinese market, with US content accounting for around a third of catalogue. Other international suppliers have some way to go to crack the huge potential offered by the market. The three largest Chinese services—iQIYI (owned by Baidu), Youku (owned by Alibaba) and Tencent Video—account for two in five SVoD subscriptions globally. Of the three SVoD majors in China, Tencent is by far the most international—although also has the smallest content offer. Chinese content makes up only 40% of Tencent's catalogue, compared to nearer 70% for Youku. Chinese streamers have a particularly heavy focus on movies, which consistently form the majority of titles, at between 80-90%. This is far higher than for SVoD services in North America or Europe, which are typically composed of around 60% movie content, and have increasingly been downsizing movie catalogues in favour of a wider array of TV seasons. Moving beyond a movie focus could be the key to seeding the Chinese market for a wider array of international suppliers.

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