Online viewership fraud stirs criticism in China

Chinese TV drama Legend of Fu Yao has been enjoying high popularity at home and abroad, but a recent announcement that the TV series has earned more than 10 billion views online seems to have caused trouble for the show as it has placed the industry’s practice of fraudulently increasing views under the spotlight.

The drama, starring famous Chinese actress Yang Mi and actor Ethan Juan, has received more than 13 billion views on video streaming platform Tencent Video. Based on statistics by Maoyan, the most-viewed record was created by sensational drama Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, which has 50 billion views. This works out to an average of over 287 million views an episode for the 58-episode series, a number many Chinese netizens find hard to believe.

According to an investigation by China Business News, viewership fraud on video platforms is common in China. The industry’s focus on data has pushed many companies to pay for views in order to boost the perceived popularity of their productions – an effective way to attract investment and advertising. As such, companies that help “increase views” have sprouted up throughout the internet.

Based on the report, the average price for boosting a video by 10,000 views is 5 yuan (72 cents) for Tencent Video, 22 yuan for Youku and 72 yuan for iQiyi, an increase in price that parallels the technical difficulty involved.

Facing the wave of doubt, a Tencent spokesman responded saying that considering the number of episodes that makes up one series, views in the tens of billions is not impossible.

Video platforms, including Tencent Video and iQiyi, have expressed their determination to fight against data fraud, but added that methods to screen out fraudulent hits is still being developed.