Meanwhile. iQiyi's revenues have been increasing over the past three years and stood at 17 billion yuan in 2017. That was more than triple the revenues in 2015.

But expenses were also increasing. The expenses included the purchase of copyrights, self-produced content and broadband fees. iQiyi saw its net losses grow 21 percent in 2017. That was higher than the 19 percent net loss growth in 2016. Advertising was the main contributor to iQiyi's revenues, accounting for 47 percent of income in 2017. Meanwhile, membership service fees accounted for 38 percent of revenues. Analysts say that the platform is undergoing structural changes as ads account for less of its revenue than in 2015 while membership service fees are increasing. iQiyi had about 60 million subscribers by the end of February. iQiyi CEO Gong Yu said that he expects advertising, membership service fees and gaming to each account for one thirds of his company's revenue during the next three to four years. Gong said that iQiyi also expects to generate 73 billion yuan in subscriber fees by 2022. That's 10 times the figure now.