iQiyi bags 300 hours of CBeebies shows

Chinese on-demand player iQiyi is acquiring nearly 300 hours of preschool programming from UK-based kids channel CBeebies.

iQiyi today unveiled a Memorandum of Understanding that its chief content officer, Wang Xiaohui, and BBC Worldwide executive VP of Asia David Weiland have signed.

As of June, CBeebies programming will be made available to iQiyi’s 20 million paid subscribers as a branded product.

Programming will include animated comedy Go Jetters, Sarah and Duck and Hey Duggee, and will be serviced in English and /or Mandarin. The deal was announced as Worldwide’s Showcase market gets underway, and where its kids team will be focusing on the aforementioned preschool series.

Weiland noted the deal represents the first time CBeebies programming has been distributed to a Chinese digital platform as a block.

“We first started working with BBC Worldwide in 2015 when we partnered with them to bring their premium factual content to viewers on iQiyi,” said Wang Xiaohui.

“We are excited to expand this partnership to include their very popular CBeebies programmes for our pre-school audience and their parents and carers.”