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China’s appetite for online entertainment content has seen steady growth. In 2025, the estimated revenue of the online video market in China was approximately *** trillion yuan, double the revenue of 2019. The Chinese online video market was dominated by four platforms: iQIYI, ***, Youku, and ***.

The early bird’s fall

Once known as China’s YouTube, Tudou and Youku were the most popular video platforms in the country until other rivals arrived on the scene. In early 2010, iQIYI and Tencent Video were launched, while Youku merged with Tudou with a shift to low-cost in-house production. The competition became intense, especially when iQIYI acquired the streaming rights of overseas blockbuster shows. Being drawn into the costly content race, Youku Tudou slowly lost its market dominance in terms of content variety. It was then acquired by Alibaba Group in 2015 and reverted to the name Youku.

A fierce battle

Today, the online video arena remains fierce with soaring content costs and cutthroat competition. With a diversified content library, iQIYI, the so-called "China's Netflix", has become the market leader in terms of monthly active app users. The entertainment tycoon planned to expand its business into short-form videos, which are still dominated by Douyin (Chinese sister app of TikTok). On the other side, ** has also invested millions of dollars in gaming and eSports streaming platforms, like Huya and Bilibili. With the roll-out of 5G in China, the online streaming and video sector will see plenty of room for growth.