The Wrap News Inc., the leading digital entertainment news site, and Metan Global Entertainment Group LLC, a leading distributor of American entertainment content in China, have partnered to produce a weekly news show that will be distributed for the fast-growing Asian market.
Weekly video segments featuring exclusive celebrity interviews, entertainment news, features and social media reports by TheWrap will air in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan on Metan’s flagship program “Hello! Hollywood” on online video platform iQIYI, beginning this month.
“China is the most exciting place for TheWrap to expand as the essential voice in entertainment and media,” says Sharon Waxman, the founder and CEO of TheWrap. “We are pleased to partner with Metan and look forward building a passionate audience there, bringing Chinese fans the most important news from Hollywood.”
“Since its launch in 2009, TheWrap has quickly become the definitive news source for the global media industry,” adds Larry Namer, president and CEO, Metan. “We’re delighted to add weekly video segments produced by The Wrap to our critically acclaimed Hello! Hollywood franchise, now airing exclusively on iQIYI to tens of millions of Western entertainment fans in China.”
“Hello! Hollywood” first debuted in China in 2008 and will now be distributed on the popular digital platform iQIYI (www.iqiyi.com) in the region, reaching over 600 million viewers.
iQIYI recently acquired the rights to market, promote and distribute 800 movies and feature films from Paramount Pictures. This deal, along with Hello! Hollywood‘s new home on iQIYI, underscores the company’s commitment to respond to the rapidly growing demand in China for Western entertainment content and celebrities, arming them with a powerful platform for image building and solidifying their brand and fanbase in the region.
“iQIYI is one of the most important media platforms, reaching China’s young, affluent, and educated consumers,” explains Zhi Jia, director of American and European content, iQIYI. “Hollywood news and features are of high importance to our audience and we’re happy to be airing Hello! Hollywood that will now include weekly segments from such a respected entertainment industry source as TheWrap. This cooperation will provide iQIYI with a higher level of exclusive content, taking Chinese audiences up close to the glamour and mystique of Hollywood, as well as spotlighting our brand on the global stage.”
About Metan Global Entertainment Group LLC
Metan Global Entertainment Group LLC is a multi-media company focused on delivering Western entertainment content to China, and conversely, producing and exporting high-quality content in China to be sold and distributed internationally.
The company’s focus lies particularly with the young urban Chinese audience–the fastest growing consumer market in the world. Metan provides global brands the opportunity to engage the Chinese consumer on a variety of platforms including television, film online and digital mobile devices.
Aside from the company’s work in exposing China to a world of multi-faceted content, Metan also leverages its network resources and far-reaching strategic relationships in the US and Europe to drive Chinese culture to more places and more audiences around the world in every possible form and format. Metan currently has offices in Los Angeles, Beijing and Shanghai.
About The Wrap News Inc.
The Wrap News Inc. is the leading digital news organization covering the business of entertainment and media. Founded by award-winning journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009,
TheWrap is comprised of the industry-leading website with its high-profile newsbreaks, investigative stories and authoritative analysis. It also includes premium, glossy magazines with stunning original photography and editorial, distributed to entertainment industry professionals; Wrap Events, a series of high profile gatherings of thought leaders including the Power Women breakfast series; Oscar season screening series; and TheGrill, an executive leadership conference centered on the convergence of entertainment, media and technology. TheWrap also includes PowerGrid Pro, the most current, relevant film development database along with ThePowerGrid, an algorithmic, data-driven ranking system for every person, project and company in the film business.
About iQIYI
iQIYI, launched on April 22, 2010, is an independently operated subsidiary of Baidu, the world’s largest Chinese search engine. Since its launch, iQIYI has pursued the ultimate online video experience for Chinese users, becoming an industry model in promoting innovation in products, technologies, and marketing.
On May 7, 2013, iQIYI announced a merger with PPS. According to IUT data released by iResearch in December 2014, iQIYI and PPS were among the leaders in the industry in terms of all-platform unique visitors and monthly effective viewing duration. As of December 2014, iQIYI’s mobile app (including iQIYI and PPS) was running on 860 million devices, with mobile traffic accounting for 63% of the sites’ total traffic. The monthly viewing time on iQIYI and PPS surpassed 1 billion hours for three successive months in 2014. According to data from November and December 2014, mobile accounted for 1.17 billion hours of monthly viewing time on iQIYI, and PCs accounted for 1.15 billion hours. Unique visitors per day on iQIYI reached 44.27 million on mobile devices and 44.18 million on PCs.
In the future, iQIYI will continue to pursue providing customers with ever richer video content and a ceaselessly improving viewing experience.
