The three major streaming platforms in China have cancelled fast track for dramas. It can be remembered that back in 2019, Tencent Video suddenly rolled out a new service to its VIP members essentially allowing them to pay in order to watch The Untamed finale in advance. While it would seem like a fair deal for those willing to pay to avoid waiting for episodes to be released, many netizens thought it was “money-grubbing” since VIP members who are already paying for VIP content have to pay again for the option to watch even more episodes. Some were also concerned over consequences like the ending being spoiled online or views being affected. Nonetheless, this soon became the new norm after being adopted by other streaming sites like iQIYI and Youku. The fast track option allowed VIP members to pay more to unlock certain episodes in advance.
The contention over such a service never ended and it seems that a decision has been reached two years later. On October 4, iQIYI announced to their VIP members, “Starting today, iQIYI will officially cancel the fast track ordering of episodes and at the same time cancel the promotional content that members can see. Thank you for your continued support, and hope that every user can have a better experience. Have a nice holiday.” Tencent and Youku subsequently released similar statements to cancel their fast track option.
Source: 1
kdramalover
So that means that i dont need to become a VIP member which im already im for the 3 platform in order to watch the locked episodes, everyone will be have access to the same episodes at the same time?
Trinity
No. There were different options. You have the non-member options which is a much slower release. Then you have the VIP member option which allowed members to access more episodes ahead of non-members. So for example, a lot of dramas on iQiyi and Tencent would release 6-8 episodes of a new drama on day 1, but non-members would only have access to typically 2 episodes. From my understanding, this will remain the same. But then you also had Fast Track episodes above all this which VIP members could access. These were typically the last episodes released a week earlier. For iQiyi you could pay a premium sub and automatically get these or you could share a link with friends who could “Like” for you and unlock those episodes. Tencent you had to straight up pay individually for those episodes above and beyond your normal VIP subscription (and each episodes was like $1-2 each). So these Fast Track episodes which went above and beyond the standard VIP subscription is what will be ending. So we are back to 2 tiers, Member VIP or non-Members, instead of the 3 like before.
HL
Oh my Goodness, they will milk it as much as they can… So Greedy. And there are VIPs who will pay for such service too… Hence the term ‘Crazy Rich Asians…’
kdramalover
aww i get it now, thank you so much for the explanation,
Hunter2020
No they shouldn’t cancel fast track. I was able to pirate so many episodes of Worm Valley in advance because that drama was fast tracked. Without fast tracking dramas, I will only be able to pirate 2 episodes in advance instead of 6…
(P.S: I don’t condone piracy, but with rich companies like Tencent, pirates don’t really affect their overall business)