A recent research report from Guotai Haitong Securities indicates that as AI significantly reduces film and television production costs and shortens production cycles, platforms are actively embracing AI and initiating a decentralization transformation. These platforms are evolving from traditional content distribution channels into decentralized social media platforms that integrate production tools, creator services, and commercialization capabilities. The firm believes AI's impact on the video industry will further transform the content and creator ecosystem, recommending focus on two main themes: 1) Leading platform companies with robust ecosystem and technological capabilities, which possess strong resource integration abilities during the development of AI tools and content systems; and 2) Targets related to the content and IP industry chain, including series, variety shows, animation, and derivative development companies. Key viewpoints from Guotai Haitong are as follows.
The iQIYI World Conference launched an AI professional film and television creation platform on April 20-21. iQIYI announced the official commercial launch of the Nadou Pro professional-grade film and television production platform and upgraded its AIGC film and television creation service system. These initiatives aim to promote a decentralized creator ecosystem, optimize revenue sharing, and release a diverse content slate covering series and variety shows.
Nadou Pro enhances film and television industrialization. The full-stack AI creation platform integrates deeply optimized multimodal large models, nearly 70 intelligent film and television creation agents, and an IP asset library. It provides comprehensive AI support from concept to final cut for projects, adapting to various production standards from short dramas to S-tier series. By incorporating tens of thousands of licensed IP materials, character models, and scene templates, it streamlines the entire workflow across text, image, video, and audio, lowering creative barriers and costs. The platform is already in use for several internal projects, with pre-production cycles for many shortened by nearly half.
A decentralized creator ecosystem is being built. The iQIYI Creator Program reduces entry costs for creators with zero-barrier entry and full-cycle support. It fully integrates the Nadou Pro AI toolchain for end-to-end creative empowerment, while introducing specialized incentives and revenue-sharing policies for AIGC, short and mid-length series, and derivative content. Content strategy remains centered on "good stories and strong IP" to drive content upgrades. A diversified layout spanning long-form, mid-length, short-form, and animated series, combined with AI industrialization tools, helps overcome creative bottlenecks. This shift promotes an industry transition from traffic-driven to quality-driven models, offering solutions for low-cost, high-quality production. These measures accelerate the evolution of long-form video from a centralized procurement model towards a new decentralized cycle dominated by creators and diverse content symbiosis. They also establish more standardized growth and monetization channels for lightweight content like short dramas and derivative works, providing a reference for long-form video platforms exploring lightweight, diversified content development.
The series and variety show slate continues to expand. The series lineup exceeds 100 titles, covering diverse genres such as realistic themes, suspense, adventure, and mainstream narratives, strengthening content moats through IP adaptation and genre innovation. The variety show slate includes 28 programs, deploying a dual strategy of upgrading flagship IPs and innovating new IPs. By refreshing established franchises and introducing diverse new formats, it reinforces engagement with younger audiences, activating user stickiness and topic热度 with differentiated content offerings.
Risk warnings include slower-than-expected commercial adoption of AI tools and potential shortfalls in the supply of high-quality content.
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