As digital globalization advances, China’s entertainment industry is capturing increasing international attention. The latest news highlights Yuewen—known as “China’s Disney”—alongside giants like Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance, earning a spot in Fortune’s 2024 list of the “China Most Admired Companies”.
Fortune magazine, renowned for its rigorous selection criteria, evaluates companies on financial performance, innovation, and corporate social responsibility, underscoring the global impact of those named. Yuewen’s inclusion as a leader in Internet industry celebrates its expansive IP ecosystem, a milestone achievement following its second consecutive year on Forbes’ Top 100 Digital Trade Companies list in September 2024.
With a Global Network of 430,000 Online Writers, and Partnerships with Disney and Sony Pictures for Worldwide Distribution
As one of China’s largest platforms for online literature and IP development, Yuewen boasts over 10 million literary works in China, expanding into audiobooks, animation and comics, TV and films, gaming, and merchandise. Known as “China’s Disney,” it has produced some of China’s most iconic IPs, including Joy of Life, The King’s Avatar, Soul Land, Lord of Mysteries, Battle Through the Heavens, and Nirvana in Fire.
Yuewen’s international expansion has brought online literature to a global audience by nurturing local authors and IP development overseas. Yuewen counted 430,000 writers worldwide, with the largest number based in the U.S., followed by key talent hubs in the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the U.K., and Malaysia. Online literature, with over 550 million readers in China, has become a fast-growing international industry.
The CEO and President Hou Xiaonan has emphasized Yuewen’s mission to build a global content ecosystem, partnering with companies in the U.K., U.S., Japan, South Korea, and India to expand international IP production. Yuewen collaborates with global media platforms like Sony Pictures and Disney, to distribute animation and TV content worldwide. In early 2024, Joy of Life Season 2 became the most-watched Chinese series on Disney+. Other series, like The Double, The Legend of Shen Li, and The Tale of Rose, have reached hundreds of millions to billions of views on TikTok, particularly popular in Southeast Asia and South Korea.
(Hou Xiaonan, CEO and President of Yuewen)
With a growing fan base worldwide, Yuewen is exploring diversified business models in international markets through its popular online literature, animation and comics, TV and film content. Recent years have seen Yuewen’s flagship IP showcased at major global events, including the Frankfurt Book Fair and Osaka International Anime Fair. In early 2024, Yuewen hosted the “2023 Yuewen Global IP Awards” in Singapore, attracting fans from across the globe.
In 2024, Yuewen launched strategic partnerships with the Swiss and Singaporean tourism boards, using its IPs to drive tourism marketing abroad. The popularity of its IPs with young international audiences is seen as a strong driver for local tourism by these organizations.
This fall, Yuewen announced its new music festival brand, the “Yuewen Music Festival,” set to be Singapore’s largest music event to date. Scheduled for December 2024, it will feature top artists from China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Netherlands.
Yuewen: “China’s Disney” is Building a Global Entertainment Ecosystem
Yuewen owns the online literature platform Qidian Reading and the global portal WebNovel, along with the TV and film company New Classics Media, the animation platform Tencent Animation & Comics, the gaming brand Yuewen Games, and the IP merchandise brand Yuewen Goods, encompassing more than 20 subsidiaries across the full entertainment industry chain. According to monitoring platform Enlightment, in early 2024, 15 of the top 20 animated shows in China were adapted from Yuewen’s IP, with Battle Through the Heavens alone reaching 25 billion views. In 2024, Yuewen also completed its acquisition of Tencent Animation & Comics.
Notably, Yuewen is a major player in China’s TV and film production industry. Tencent Beacon DataTalk indicates that in 2024, four of the top five series in daily viewership were Yuewen titles, including Joy of Life Season 2, The Double, The Legend of Shen Li, and The Tale of Rose. The three largest streaming platforms—Tencent Video, iQIYI, and Youku—have announced their 2025 line-ups, with 37 of these slated projects produced by Yuewen or adapted from Yuewen’s IP, amounting to nearly 10% of the market. Yuewen’s film productions have also amassed a combined box office of RMB 40 billion, including Hi, Mom, a global history top 100 box office hit ($760 million), and YOLO, which ranked in the top 10 globally for 2024 ($487 million).
