Baidu subsidiary iQIYI is to purchase and produce more than 40 new shows for its Internet and mobile video steaming service in China next year.
The investment in new content represents about half of iQIYI's overall budget for 2016, the company said in a statement.
"Through our efforts over the years, iQIYI has grown to become China's leading online streaming website with the largest online paid subscriber base and the biggest collection of premium content," said Xianghua Yang, iQIYI senior vice president.
"We are confident that subscription revenue will become a major revenue source for iQIYI, and we will continue to invest to provide the best premium content and user experience for our paid subscribers."
The video-on-demand (VOD) provider has enlisted the help of three Chinese stars - Yang Yang, Angelababy and Huang Bo - to help grow its paid subscriber base, which currently stands at five million. iQIYI also claims to have 500 million users accessing 6,000 titles in its content library. US productions account for 2,500 of these.
A recent deal with Paramount Pictures has seen the addition of 800 existing and soon-to-be released movies, and a new agreement with Lionsgate will further enhance the company's Hollywood offer, with titles such as Hunger Games Mockingjay 2, Allegiant, Now You See Me 2, Sicario and Deepwater Horizon.
iQIYI has also registered success with online viewers in China from its self-produced TV series Notes of Tomb Raiders. A new distribution model is currently being trialled for its recently released show Shu Shan Zhan Ji to enable subscribers to access premium content prior to broadcast on television.
