The signing ceremony Photo: Courtesy of iQIYI

Malaysian users will be able to enjoy contents like movies, TV dramas and shows on China's streaming giant iQIYI thanks to a strategic partnership with Astro, the country's service provider, which was signed on Wednesday. 

The partnership will allow users to use their Astro accounts to login to the iQIYI app or use their Facebook or Google accounts to register for new iQIYI accounts. 

"The exchange global contents has become more accessible with the help of wireless technology, data storage technology and bigdata analytics. We hope to provide quality entertainment services to overseas users by sharing our research and development results, data storage capability and computing power with our partners," Yang Xianghua, president of iQIYI's Membership and Overseas Business Group, said at a press release sent to the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Asia is seen as an important part of the global streaming industry's growth plans. According to an AFP report about the booming Asian market, Google-owned YouTube earns the largest share of revenues in Asia, but Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney's Indian platform Hotstar have all experienced significant growth in the past few years.

One of top three streaming giants in China, iQIYI has attracted more than 100 million paid users in the Chinese mainland with self-produced original programs such as The Thunder, Arsenal Military Academy, Last One Standing, Qing Chun You Ni, The Rap of China and I Can I BB, many of which have previously aired on Astro. 

"Astro is excited to be iQIYI's first App partner outside China. The partnership is timely in an era of streaming services where consumers are able to enjoy abundant choices in entertainment. The demand for fresh and compelling content, great experiences and services matters as consumers become increasingly savvier," said Henry Tan, CEO of Astro, at the press release. 


Newspaper headline: Chinese streaming giant iQIYI partners with Astro for Malaysian market