On May 18, iQiyi Inc. (IQ.US) released its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026. The company's total revenue for the quarter reached RMB 6.23 billion. Membership services revenue contributed RMB 4.20 billion, representing a 2% increase from the previous quarter. Online advertising services revenue was RMB 1.24 billion, content distribution revenue was RMB 360 million, and other revenue amounted to RMB 430 million.
Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQiyi, stated, "We are strengthening our core business, igniting new growth engines, and building for long-term development. In the first quarter, hit series drove sequential growth in membership revenue, and our market share in effective play volume led the industry. Meanwhile, our overseas business continued its strong growth momentum, with overseas membership revenue achieving its best quarterly performance ever. Moving forward, we will leverage AI to reduce content production costs, accelerate the production process, and continuously enrich our content ecosystem."
Zeng Ying, acting CFO of iQiyi, commented, "In March of this year, iQiyi announced its proposed listing on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and launched its first share repurchase program, demonstrating the company's commitment to creating value for shareholders."
During the quarter, iQiyi's core series pipeline delivered continuous successes, maintaining the top market share in total effective play volume for series. "Crime Crackdown 2" and "Chasing Jade" both achieved content popularity values exceeding 10,000, while the self-produced period drama "How to Behave" surpassed a content popularity value of 9,000. The new self-produced variety show "Universe Blink Please Notice" secured the top spot for cumulative effective play of variety shows in the quarter. High-quality animations such as "The Great Ruler Year 2" and "How to Behave Season 2" received positive audience feedback. The currently airing iQiyi-produced alternative absurd crime drama "Low IQ Crime," praised for its innovative fusion of comedy and suspense, saw its content popularity value exceed 10,000 on May 13, becoming the platform's third series this year to achieve this milestone.
In Q1, iQiyi made significant breakthroughs in exploring AI-powered content innovation. The "Peter Pau · iQiyi AI Theater" launched 16 works spanning genres like sci-fi, thriller, martial arts, and fantasy. The creation process utilized iQiyi's professional-grade film and television production platform, NaDou Pro, showcasing the disruptive potential of AI in professional content creation. Built on public large models and self-deployed large models, NaDou Pro incorporates iQiyi's deep experience in film and television industrialization and professional content production into self-developed production agents. Combined with iQiyi's IP library, digital asset library, and creator community, it forms a unique, callable platform capability, providing creators with end-to-end support from content production to operations and commercial partnerships.
For the quarter, iQiyi's total costs were RMB 5.23 billion, a 3% year-over-year decrease. Content costs, the primary component, were RMB 3.74 billion. Selling, general and administrative expenses and research and development expenses were RMB 820 million and RMB 400 million, respectively.
Under Non-GAAP measures, the operating loss for the first quarter was RMB 150 million. Regarding liquidity, net cash inflow from operating activities was RMB 190 million, with free cash flow at RMB 110 million. As of March 31, 2026, iQiyi's cash balance (including cash, cash equivalents, short-term restricted funds, short-term investments, and long-term restricted funds within prepayments and other assets) totaled approximately RMB 4.0 billion.
As of May 18, iQiyi had repurchased approximately 6.5 million American Depositary Shares at a total cost of $8 million.