On August 26, Dr. Zhao Yupei of CMIC was interviewed by CGTN about the new positioning of the post-COVID film industry. Zhao predicted the trend towards streaming media and analyzed the opportunities to go along with this industrial transformation.

As Dr. Zhao puts it, the underlying evolution towards streaming media has begun even before the pandemic. Offering additional benefits for producers, compounded with great demand for their contents and a strong resistance against media piracy, streaming media is likely to become another main channel for film release.

But the transformation is far from smooth, as shown by the recent high-profile lawsuit between Scarlett Johansson and Walt Disney, which highlighted the anomalies of profit distribution. Traditional revenue distribution as well as the nascent streaming media are now under challenge. Dr. Zhao believes that streaming media in the post-COVID era will remain promising as more potentials may be detected in niche markets such as documentary and art films.

About Dr. Zhao Yupei

Dr. Zhao Yupei is the Hundred  Talents Young Professor and is one of the doctoral advisors of the  CMIC. She is also a contributing commentator for CGTN and People’s  Daily. Dr. Zhao’s research focuses on digital culture and politics and  new media communications from the perspective of global communication.