The platformization of China’s film distribution in a pandemic era

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally transformed global media industries’ practices and altered audiences’ media consumption habits. The film industries have shortened theatrical windows and expanded streaming services to cope with this reality, which has accelerated the so-called digital distribution revolution. This study focuses on the transformation of China’s film distribution and exhibition sector before and during the pandemic. Specifically, the study tracks the strategies of China’s digital giants, iQIYI, Tencent-backed Maoyan, and Alibaba-backed Tao Piao Piao, for promoting and exhibiting films. By integrating digital media studies and industrial studies, the study seeks to tackle the issue of whether distributional platformization can serve as the infrastructure of the film industry and usher in a new era of the digital entertainment revolution. The findings indicate that digital corporations’ strategies have accelerated the platformization of the distribution infrastructure of the film industry. However, current industrial practices nourish the prospect of coexistence in the foreseeable future.