iQIYI eyes 200 new staff as it forms international HQ in Singapore

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Streaming service iQIYI International has launched its new international headquarters in Singapore as a sign of further investment in Southeast Asia and its international expansion plans. The company is eyeing 200 new employees in the next few years and hopes to tap on the talent pool in Singapore. IQIYI's spokesperson told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the hiring will be across content, ad sales, community engagement, marketing and partnerships. Zhang Minsi, director of content marketing, currently heads the content marketing team.

According to Kuek Yu-Chuang, VP for international business at iQIYI, Singapore was chosen due to its connectivity and reputation as a prime talent hub, which makes it "the ideal gateway to ramp up [its] global operations". Kuek added that 2020 has been a decisive year for the company, having kickstarted its international expansion and enlarged its content catalogue with investments in more markets.

Besides managing regional markets from Singapore, iQIYI International will continue to deepen its presence in the coming years through partnerships with local production houses. They include mm2 Asia, Clover Films, G.H.Y Culture and Media and CJ ENM HK, to innovate and bring more high quality Asian stories to a global audience.

Since its soft launch in 2019 with its website iQ.com and app, the team has grown to take on roles in content, ad sales, community engagement, marketing and partnerships, with the majority of them based in Southeast Asia. The company is owned by China-based iQIYI Inc and has offices in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and North America.

Howie Lau, assistant chief executive for media and innovation at Infocomm Media Development Authority said iQIYI's anchoring in Singapore is testament to the attractiveness of the city-state as the place for leading corporations to expand their regional presence.

"I look forward to working with iQIYI to grow our media industry here and regionally, nurture our local media talent and helping our companies leverage on iQIYI’s technical capabilities to produce more content targeted for an expanded audience," he added.

This latest news comes a month after iQIYI partnered with Singapore Tourism Board to feature Singapore as the exclusive destination partner for the third season of its variety competition Youth with You 3. Kuek said its multi-year partnership with STB is one of the ways iQIYI has been expanding its global footprint and it is on the lookout for more partners. Meanwhile iQIYI's spokesperson told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE then that more concrete details about the partnership with STB will be shared in the next few months.