Criticized by the Consumer Protection Committee! Tencent Video launches advanced on-demand selections unlocked

Not long ago, after being criticized by the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee, Tencent Video explicitly stated that it would adjust the unlocking rules for advanced on-demand viewing. After testing by the author today, the advanced on-demand viewing of the hit drama "Yunnan Worm Valley" can now be unlocked for selected episodes.

According to reports, the Shanghai Consumer Council previously pointed out that Tencent Video's advanced on-demand program requires that episodes must be unlocked in order, and consumers cannot choose the episodes they want to watch. For example, if you want to watch 23 episodes on demand, you must first buy episodes 20, 21, and 22. Originally, you only needed to spend 3 yuan to watch it, but now you have to spend 12 yuan to watch 23 episodes.

The Shanghai Consumer Council stated that since Tencent Video's advanced on-demand service is charged on a per-episode basis, consumers have the right to choose the episode they want to watch . The so-called "unlock and watch in sequence" is suspected of bundled sales, which disregards consumers' right to choose.

Tencent Video said that the original intention of setting the episode-by-episode unlocking rule was to protect the continuity of the viewing content and respect the artistic creation of the content creators, but it also caused inconvenience to some users who wanted to skip episodes.

It is worth mentioning that after Tencent Video released an announcement to adjust the unlocking rules as soon as possible to support users to unlock selected episodes, the Shanghai Consumer Council issued a statement expressing support for Tencent Video’s promised improvements, and at the same time hoped that other platforms with similar situations would also actively follow up, such as Youku, iQiyi, etc.

In response, iQiyi said that we have previously paid attention to users' suggestions for the option of advance on-demand viewing of single episodes, and the relevant function is under development and is expected to be launched before September 15.