American entertainment company Netflix is finally entering the Chinese market via Baidu subsidiary Iqiyi.
Functioning in much the same way as Netflix, Iqiyi provides viewers with a wide range of movies, TV shows, documentaries and so on. With Iqiyi, access to certain shows is blocked and requires viewers to pay for subscription options, but a large majority remain free.
While Netflix would dearly love to provide Chinese viewers with access to their entire database, it is clear that this will not be the case. Not all material is deemed fit for Chinese viewers and as a result filtering will become easier. All content will go through rigorous censoring by the government in order to ensure regulations are kept in check and Iqiyi is seen to be abiding by the law.
This may deter certain viewers from choosing this option, for the knowledge of censored shows will be enough to continue use with a VPN. However, it is assumed that for the larger majority of Chinese streamers whom do not use a VPN, what will be selected from Netflix to be shown through Iqiyi will be sufficient.
