On December 15, iQIYI VIP members announced that they will update the subscription price of iQIYI Gold VIP members from December 16. The new price system will be adjusted to 22 yuan for consecutive monthly subscriptions, 63 yuan for the season, 218 yuan for the annual package, 30 yuan for the non-consecutive VIP monthly card, 78 yuan for the season card, and 248 yuan for the annual pass. Compared with before, this price increase is smaller. At the same time, iQIYI will provide one year of original price maintenance service for users who have previously purchased and have not yet cancelled the iQIYI Gold VIP member continuous monthly/season/year subscription service.
The last time iQiyi members raised prices was last November. At that time, the gold VIP member subscription service fee was adjusted into six files, namely 19 yuan for consecutive monthly subscriptions, 58 yuan for the season, 218 yuan for the annual package, 25 yuan for non-consecutive VIP monthly cards, 68 yuan for season cards, and 248 yuan for annual passes. Previously, iQIYI's annual pass was 198 yuan, compared with 248 yuan, and the price of this round of membership increased by about 25%.
According to iQIYI's financial report, in the third quarter of this year, iQIYI's total revenue was 7.6 billion yuan, an increase of 5.59% year-on-year. Among them, the membership service revenue, the largest pillar of iQIYI's membership, was 4.3 billion yuan, an increase of 8% year-on-year, but the reason was mainly due to the membership pricing scheme that rose by about 25% last year (the price of iOS users remained basically stable, and the price of Android users and PC users increased by about 25%).
At the same time, as of the end of the third quarter, iQIYI's subscription membership was 103.6 million (excluding trial members was 103.0 million), down from 104.8 million in the same period last year. Compared to the second quarter, iQIYI lost 2.6 million users, and according to analysts at China Renaissance Capital, iQIYI may continue to lose 3.5 million users by the end of December.
According to 36Kr, he was previously in the "Focus Analysis | At the end of the quarter of the first three quarters of 2021, iQIYI had cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments totaling RMB13.3 billion in the first quarter, RMB12.3 billion in the second quarter and RMB11 billion in the third quarter. At that rate, subtracting the $750 million of convertible bonds that were prepaid on November 30 means that iQiyi may only have 5 billion yuan in cash on its books at the end of this year, and it will not survive for a year, if not any unexpected problems.
Like the large-scale layoffs and throttling actions some time ago, the slight increase in membership fees is an open source move for iQIYI to save the cash flow crisis.
| Zhang Xinyu
![iQIYI announced a membership price increase, which will remain unchanged for the year[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)