Rakuten Viki joins iQiyi’s Dance Crew

Streaming service Rakuten Viki has acquired the North and South American streaming rights to Chinese SVoD platform iQiyi’s street dance competition show Hot-Blood Dance Crew.

Hot-Blood Dance Crew brings together more than 190 dancers from all walks of life to compete to be crowned the best dancer in China.

The show, which launched on Viki over the weekend, is the first Chinese premium variety show to stream in the Americas on the platform, which is focused specifically on Asian content.

Rakuten Viki, which is backed by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, recently appointed former Sony Pictures Television exec Mark Jocson as senior VP of strategic initiatives and business development.

Chen Xiao, vice president of iQiyi, said that through its range of variety programmes, iQiyi was continuing to “break cultural barriers and bring premium Chinese content to overseas viewers.”

“We are thrilled to have exported one of our most popular variety shows to the American market via Rakuten Viki,” he added. “Having already become wildly popular in China, we’re confident that the street dance competition will be met with just as much enthusiasm abroad.”

In related news, Hong Kong commercial broadcaster TVB has picked up streaming rights to Hot-Blood Dance Crew for its OTT platform myTV SUPER. The series will be available to myTV SUPER users from the middle of June. Additionally, it will be aired on the Singaporean pay TV station StarHub TV.