China's National Day holiday—the annual seven-day “Golden Week” spanning October 1 through October 7—has long served as a key economic and cultural barometer for the nation’s domestic consumption. In 2026, as tens of millions of holidaymakers embarked on highway road trips or gathered in family living rooms across the country, the digital leisure landscape underwent a visible transformation. At the forefront of this shift was iQIYI, China's premier online entertainment service, which released a comprehensive performance snapshot illustrating how evolving viewer habits and advanced technology are reshaping the streaming industry.

According to platform metrics released on October 10, iQIYI recorded a double-digit expansion in audience engagement across its integrated media ecosystem. Driven by an expansive holiday content portfolio and the rapid adoption of multi-terminal streaming, average daily viewing time during the Golden Week surged by more than 12% compared to pre-holiday baseline levels. Far from remaining confined to individual mobile devices, content consumption demonstrated a significant tilt toward shared, immersive environments—with television screens capturing nearly 60% of total daily viewing time and smart in-car entertainment systems recording a dramatic year-over-year spike of nearly 60%.

This structural pivot highlights a broader industry shift: long-form streaming platforms are no longer merely personal video apps on smartphones, but pervasive digital companions integrated into smart home environments, automotive displays, and physical leisure destinations. As competition across Asian digital media intensifies, iQIYI's holiday figures offer a window into how algorithmic content delivery, Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC), and offline intellectual property (IP) monetization are converging to secure market leadership.

Hardware Convergence: Living Room Displays and the Rise of the Smart Cockpit

One of the most defining trends of the 2026 National Day holiday was the dominant position of large-format television screens. Accounting for nearly six out of every ten minutes spent on the platform, TV viewing dominated user behavior. Industry analysts attribute this resurgence to the growing popularity of co-viewing during major national holidays, when multi-generational households gather under one roof. Upgrades in home display technology—including high-refresh-rate 4K and 8K smart TVs combined with integrated OTT (Over-The-Top) operating systems—have made high-production-value dramas and feature films vastly more appealing on large screens.

Simultaneously, the streaming battlefield has extended onto the nation's highways. The nearly 60% year-over-year increase in smart in-car viewing underscores the rapid maturation of China's Electric Vehicle (EV) and connected smart cockpit sectors. Modern vehicles built by Chinese automotive manufacturers are increasingly equipped with high-resolution passenger displays, multi-screen setups, and premium acoustic systems.

During peak holiday transit hours—characterized by long-distance highway travel and occasional traffic delays—in-car video streaming has transitioned from a niche feature into an essential travel companion. By optimizing its application interface for automotive cockpits and syncing viewing histories across mobile, home, and vehicle terminals, iQIYI successfully captured prolonged user engagement while audiences were “on the road.”

Content Performance: Suspense Dramas, Cinema Classics, and Variety Hits

At the core of iQIYI’s holiday audience growth was a curated pipeline of premium programming engineered to cater to diverse demographic segments.

Narrative Drama Dominance In the flagship narrative sector, the platform's specialized "Suspense Theater" continued its track record of critically acclaimed hit programming. The breakout thriller series The Old Story of Yu Hong emerged as the week's undisputed flagship title, reaching an iQIYI content popularity index score of 8,414—a proprietary metric evaluating real-time user engagement, interaction density, and viewing completion rates. Third-party industry data corroborated this dominance: independent entertainment analytics firm Enlightent reported that The Old Story of Yu Hong achieved a peak market share of 63.4% among online drama series during the period.

Complementing this success, a diverse roster of genre offerings maintained high viewer retention. Serials such as A Prophet, Spring of the Blade, and Shadow Punisher consistently occupied top-five positions on iQIYI’s drama charts, demonstrating consumer demand for complex mystery, historical drama, and high-stakes suspense storytelling.

Feature Films and the AIGC Revenue Paradigm The film category benefited from high-profile releases and novel technology formats. Legendary filmmaker Stephen Chow’s anticipated production Kung Fu Soccer launched on the platform on October 3, instantly surging to the top of iQIYI’s film heat index. Chow's signature comedic style and cross-generational appeal provided an immediate traffic boost during the mid-holiday window.

Concurrently, iQIYI demonstrated the commercial viability of AI-driven cinematic production. The platform's internet feature film The Ferry Man: The Dream of the Princess, created leveraging AIGC tools, delivered strong financial performance. By October 3, the cumulative revenue-sharing box office for The Ferry Man AIGC franchise—a dynamic commercial model where production partners split revenues with the platform based on viewer engagement and subscription metrics—surpassed RMB 10 million (approximately US$1.5 million). This milestone highlights how generative AI is transitioning from an experimental technology to a scalable, revenue-generating production pipeline for mid-budget digital cinema.

Unscripted and Family Content In unscripted entertainment, the reality variety program Two Stars, One Boss maintained a commanding lead, capturing a peak market share of 51.4% on Enlightent’s new variety show rankings. On the family and youth front, two newly launched animated titles claimed the top two positions on the platform's children's chart, while consumption of micro-animation content experienced a 57% surge in average daily viewing time, underscoring the growing popularity of bite-sized, fast-paced animated formats.

AI Innovation: Virtual World Communities and Interactive IP

Beyond passive viewing, iQIYI recorded elevated engagement through its proprietary interactive digital environments. User interaction time within “Taodou World”—iQIYI’s virtual social ecosystem—increased by over 40% during the holiday period.

Taodou World allows subscribers to converse in real time with more than 1,000 AI-powered avatars modeled after characters from the platform’s hit dramas, anime, and films. By integrating large language models (LLMs) with character personas, iQIYI enables fans to interact with dynamic digital personas beyond the final episode credits. This increase in interactive engagement suggests that audience retention is increasingly driven by dynamic, multi-modal IP ecosystems rather than traditional linear playback alone.

Real-World Footprint: Offline Ecosystems at iQIYI LAND

The convergence of online entertainment and physical tourism was vividly demonstrated at iQIYI LAND in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. The platform's location-based entertainment park saw heavy visitor traffic, with multi-generational family groups making up more than 80% of total attendees.

Drawing visitors from across Eastern China—including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shanghai, and Shandong—the park translates digital screen IP into physical attractions, themed performances, and interactive retail. This offline strategy mirrors the multi-channel IP lifecycle pioneered by global media conglomerates, providing iQIYI with diversified revenue streams across park admissions, merchandise, and experiential dining.

Strategic Roadmap: The Next Phase of Streaming Ecosystems

iQIYI's 2026 Golden Week performance reflects broader structural developments across China's media industry. As subscription user bases reach maturity in major urban markets, streaming platforms are shifting focus from raw subscriber acquisition to deepening user lifetime value, expanding multi-device access, and maximizing operational efficiency through artificial intelligence.

Looking ahead, iQIYI's strategic trajectory points toward deeper integration of AIGC across both pre-production storyboarding and post-production asset generation, lowering content production costs while expanding creative possibilities. Simultaneously, the platform's expanding presence in automotive displays and location-based theme parks establishes a robust ecosystem designed to engage consumers wherever they are—whether relaxing at home, traveling in a smart vehicle, or exploring real-world leisure destinations.