The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and iQIYI have signed a 10-year content partnership lasting until 2017.
iQIYI will become the WTA's digital rights partner in China, providing fans access to women's tennis action.
iQIYI will be bringing fans live transmission of over 2,000 women's tennis matches, including singles and doubles, along with exclusive highlights, player interviews and content from the WTA Magazine Show.
Non-exclusive rights include video clips and use of the WTA newsfeed. WTA content will be available to iQIYI users on their personal computers, mobile phones and Over The Top (OTT) TV via internet in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
"Since we were established in 2012, iQIYI Sports has featured tennis as part of its core programming and has broadcast WTA tournaments, including the China Open, WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, Wuhan Open, Tianjin Open, and Guangzhou Open,” said iQIYI SVP Geng Xiaohua.
"As tennis' popularity continues to boom in China, we believe that iQIYI's high quality users and traffic make it the perfect channel for the WTA to further promote its tournaments in China,” added Geng.
Micky Lawler, WTA president, said this is a first-of-its-kind partnership for the WTA in China.
iQIYI's platform reinvents our digital offer in China in line with the new ways fans consume sports and entertainment content today, and in the future,” said Lawler.