IQiyi top executives and film stars pose at a conference to announce its VIP strategy recently.From left: Yang Xianghua, iQiyi senior vice president; Angelababy, actress; Gong Yu, iQiyi CEO; Huang Bo, actor; Wang Xiangjun, iQiyi CMO and Yang Yang, actor.（Photo/jfdaily.com）
A gaggle of security guards dressed in black, red carpets, film and TV stars, screaming female fans and even ticket scalpers.
It was entertainment promoting entertainment when iQiyi, a video subsidiary of Baidu.com Inc staged an event in Shanghai to publicize its paid VIP services.
"There's little difference between online video and entertainment industries," explained Gong Yu, chief executive of iQiyi.
Indeed, that is the crux of the hot new trend. The digital revolution has transformed the viewing tastes of young Chinese audiences, and video websites like iQiyi are trying to grasp new opportunities by airing experimental productions of original online series and variety shows.
With success comes financing. Production budgets for some online series are rapidly rising, with a few costing up to 5 million yuan ($781,250) an episode. That surpasses the spending on some traditional TV series.
Cyber entertainment, of course, offers diversion anytime, any place as it travels with viewers on their digital devices.
China's online video website market was valued at 4.1 billion yuan in the first quarter, according to the latest figures available from Analysys International, a Beijing-based IT research firm. That represented a 39 percent increase from a year earlier.
In October, top online video firms made news headlines as iQiyi promoted its VIP service, Letv debuted its new smartphone and TV and plans for a self-developed car, and Alibaba announced an investment Youku Tudou.
Despite all the gloss, most online video giants are still losing money, even as their user bases expand. So far, the cost of wooing users is outstripping the returns.
By contrast, US-based Netflix posted net profit of $29.4 million in the third quarter, thanks to increased subscribers, most of them paid users.
Meanwhile, Apple, Amazon and other global industry giants are penetrating into online video as part of their "eco-systems."
