Popular Asian e-wallets are helping iQIYI, a leading international streaming platform, accelerate its expansion through Alipay+ that helps digital and entertainment (D&E) platforms reach young middle-class consumers looking for quality online video contents.

Introduced by Ant Group in 2020, Alipay+ is a suite of cross-border digital payment, marketing and merchant digitalization solutions connecting global brands with mobile-savvy consumers worldwide, aimed at enabling businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, to process a wide range of mobile payment methods and reach more than 1 billion regional and global consumers.

Starting in 2021, iQIYI utilizes Alipay+ marketing solutions, such as Alipay+ Rewards and cashier-based marketing service, to reach potential consumers and improve transaction conversion rates in key markets. Developed by Alipay+ and partner e-wallets, Alipay+ Rewards is a new digital marketing platform that helps global brands engage better with consumers worldwide by offering incentives and exclusive services.

In 2022, more than 1 million consumers outside the Chinese mainland, mostly in Southeast Asia, used Alipay+ partner e-wallets, including TrueMoney (Thailand), GCash (The Philippines), DANA (Indonesia), Touch ’n Go eWallet (Malaysia) and Kakao Pay (South Korea) to pay for subscriptions or content on iQIYI’s international app.

In addition to these alternative payment methods, since 2023, Alipay+ has started offering customized marketing solutions through Alipay+ Rewards program to enable merchant partners to expand its market outreach efforts. On iQIYI’s international app, the number of new users making subscription payments through GCash, DANA and Touch ’n Go eWallet have increased respectively by 100 per cent, 90 per cent and 50 per cent in March 2023, compared with the end of 2022.

The global over-the-top (OTT) market is expected to reach US$1,251 billion by 2027, representing a CAGR of 30 per cent during 2021-2027. iQIYI ranks fifth among OTT platforms globally, and was named the top Asian OTT to watch Chinese-language, Thai and Malay dramas across major SEA markets.

On April 18 in Bangkok, iQIYI kicked off its latest subscriber campaign for Southeast Asia by inviting hundreds of local fans to interact with leading casts of a popular TV series on its platform. The event was co-hosted by Alipay+ as one of its key e-wallet partners, TrueMoney, is popular in Thailand.

In April 2023, AlipayHK, the largest active e-wallet in Hong Kong SAR, China, became the latest Alipay+ partner wallet to support payment on iQIYI International App.