Tencent set to dominate acquisitions in China

Tencent may become an even bigger destination for distributors of US and UK shows in China. The company is reportedly planning a takeover of its biggest rival, iQiyi, making it the biggest buyer of US & UK titles in this massive market. As China has no Netflix or Amazon presence this would disrupt the local SVOD market up drastically

Tencent and iQiyi together currently have a 60% share of US & UK new season shows acquired in the past two seasons

Sales of new shows in China are so far limited by ongoing trade tensions. UK distributors are finding more success than their US counterparts with ITV licensing three shows to Huanxi, currently the third biggest buyer

When trade stabilises in the future between China and the US a backlog of titles could become available, with Tencent positioned to take the biggest share of what is to come