(Yicai) Feb. 11 -- IQiyi will open its second and third immersive indoor theme parks this year, according to the Chinese video streaming giant's senior vice president.

The next two iQiyi Lands will open in Kaifeng in central Henan province and Beijing by the end of this year, Zhang Hang, who is also the general manager of iQiyi's experience business department, told Yicai in an interview. The two parks began construction last year.

The first iQiyi Land opened to the public on Feb. 8 in Yangzhou, eastern Jiangsu province. It spans seven zones across urban buildings, featuring immersive theaters, light-and-shadow spaces, immersive stage performances, live character interactions, social games, and intellectual property-exclusive retail and dining.

"The area of iQiyi Land Kaifeng is more than twice that of iQiyi Land Yangzhou because it will target a wider audience," Zhang said. While the park in Yangzhou is more focused on female viewers aged 16 to 35, the one in Kaifeng will also target male viewers and families, with experiences from more diverse IPs, he explained.

In contrast, iQiyi Land Beijing will be the smaller one despite being located in the biggest city, Zhang noted. For this park, iQiyi opted for a different strategy, choosing a small area in a shopping mall in the core business district rather than a bigger area in the suburbs. Ticket prices will vary from park to park and from day to day.

The three iQiyi Lands will feature different experiences, as the company chose IPs in line with the local culture for each of them, according to Zhang. "This way, fans can come to Yangzhou this year, and then they can go visit other parks next year as well."

Beyond these three parks, however, the development path of the iQiyi Land project remains unclear. Zhang told Yicai that iQiyi has already pre-selected some other cities with large young populations and high spending power, but it has not yet made any final decision because it plans to wait and see what visitors like the most before going forward with building more parks.

"After we open these three parks, we can observe what kind of experiences and performances visitors like and improve based on their feedback," Zhang said. "The most important thing for us now is to iterate these three parks to a better state, so that we can lay a good foundation for the future."

When asked about the possibility of opening iQiyi Land outside China, Zhang explained that iQiyi has already considered it, as the company's overseas platform has grown rapidly in the past two years. "We are actually doing some online verification to see which of our IPs are liked the most and have the best consumption power," he noted.

"As long as we have creativity and imagination and there are new technologies, including artificial intelligence, we can improve our efficiency in the production process and continue growing," Zhang said.

The Road to iQiyi Land Yangzhou

With the opening of iQiyi Land Yangzhou, iQiyi has officially completed its transformation from just online to also offline. On the surface, it only took less than one year for the company to build iQiyi Land Yangzhou, but in reality, preparations began much earlier.

IQiyi established a dedicated team focusing on creating content and driving engineering innovation for offline immersive, interactive experience spaces in 2017. Since then, the firm has opened nearly 60 offline immersive theaters across 30 Chinese cities, including Shanghai.

By integrating virtual reality, augmented reality, and AI with sound and light effects, iQiyi aims to deliver an equally, or even more stimulating experience in a smaller footprint.

"At iQiyi, we have spent 15 years forging emotional bonds online," said Gong Yu, the firm's founder and chief executive officer. "With iQiyi Land, we're bringing that connection into the real world.

"By blending original Chinese IP with immersive technologies, such as VR and AI, we are pioneering a next-generation, interactive theme park deeply tied to our content," Gong noted. "As demand for offline entertainment surges, we see iQiyi Land as a new driver for our long-term growth."

"Over the years, we have accumulated knowledge about offline traffic and the utilization of offline operation and space efficiency," Zhang said. "We have been preparing for a long time."

Zhang explained how iQiyi uses technology to "make space and personnel more efficient, so it can miniaturize the park." IQiyi Land aims to extend IP lifecycles and deepen fan engagement through immersive experiences and consumer products, supporting future content releases. 

About the choice of Yangzhou for the location of the first iQiyi Land, Zhang explained to Yicai that the company had several reasons for choosing it, including the fact that the city attracts hundreds of millions of tourists every year.

In return, iQiyi will boost Yangzhou's tourism industry by attracting new visitors and giving existing ones a reason to stay in the city longer, according to Zhang. Moreover, the park is creating at least 100 local jobs, with the number varying between peak season and off-season.

In terms of visitors, iQiyi has set a maximum number of about 300,000 per year. "Experience comes first,” Zhang noted. “We don't want the experience to be affected just for the sake of having more visitors.”

Editor: Martin Kadiev, Chen Juan