What is Tencent Video and how to get started

Tencent Video, also known as 腾讯视频, is one of the largest Chinese video streaming websites owned by Tencent.

By the 21YunBox Compliance Team·Reviewed 2026-10-07·Verified against primary sources

What does a foreign company need to distribute content or advertise on Tencent Video in China?

The gate is a broadcast permit no foreign company can hold — not a content deal or an ad account. A foreign film, series, or brand reaches Tencent Video’s audience on Tencent’s own license, because the permit that makes internet streaming legal in China is closed to foreign capital by law.

Three regimes sit beneath the “sign a deal” screen. Operating an internet audio-visual service requires the Information Network Dissemination of Audio-Visual Programmes Permit, and the governing rules confine that permit to wholly State-owned or State-controlled entities — so you publish on Tencent Video’s license, not your own, and your content stays subject to the platform’s statutory review. China’s foreign-investment Negative List goes further and prohibits foreign investment in internet audio-visual program services outright. And imported foreign films and TV dramas carry their own gate — each needs a distribution or screening permit and platform registration before it can be streamed. The guide below covers the advertising and content routes onto the platform; this layer is the licensing map beneath them.

This is a risk map to work through with counsel, not a verdict — what you need turns on whether you license content, run a channel, or buy advertising, and whose personal data you handle. Our China team can map your path onto the platform with you →

What a foreign business must clear to put content or ads on Tencent Video

Fact	Primary source
Streaming video in China runs on a broadcast permit foreign capital cannot hold — so you publish on Tencent Video’s, not your own. Under the Provisions on the Administration of Internet Audio-Visual Program Services (SARFT/MII Order No. 56), “those engaging in Internet audiovisual programme service shall obtain an ‘Information Network Dissemination of Audiovisual Programmes Permit’” (Article 7), and an applicant must “be a wholly State-owned or State-controlled work unit” (Article 8). A foreign company is structurally outside that door, so its content or channel reaches viewers on Tencent Video’s license and remains subject to the platform’s content-review duties.	Provisions on the Administration of Internet Audio-Visual Program Services (SARFT/MII Order No. 56), Arts. 7–8 — DigiChina (Stanford) translation, retrieved 2026-10-07
The foreign-investment Negative List prohibits foreign investment in internet audio-visual program services outright. The current Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2024 Edition, in force 2024-11-01) bars, at item 13, “Investment in Internet news and information services, Internet publishing services… Internet audio-visual program services, cyber culture operation (with the exception of music)… shall be prohibited,” and separately prohibits foreign investment in radio and television “program production and operation (including importation)” (item 26). A foreign-run streaming service is not a licensing step you can satisfy — it is off the table; the compliant route is licensing content to, or advertising with, a permitted Chinese operator.	Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2024 Edition), items 13 & 26 — NDRC & MOFCOM, effective 2024-11-01; English via Shanghai Municipal Government, retrieved 2026-10-07
Imported foreign films and series face their own content gate before they can stream. Under the 2014 SAPPRFT Notice on Further Implementing Regulations on the Management of Online Foreign Film and Television Dramas (新广电发〔2014〔2〔0〔4号; administered today by the National Radio and Television Administration), “foreign films and television dramas that have not obtained a ‘Public Film Screening Permit’ or ‘Television Drama Distribution Permit’ may without exception not be disseminated online,” and “no website may broadcast foreign films or television dramas that have not been registered.” The notice also caps each site’s annual foreign imports against the domestic titles it licensed the prior year. Approval and registration are per-title, and they sit with the platform’s license — not with the content owner.	SAPPRFT Notice on Further Implementing Regulations on the Management of Online Foreign Film and Television Dramas (2014-09-02) — DigiChina (Stanford) translation, retrieved 2026-10-07
Advertising on Tencent Video is sold to registered businesses, not to anyone with a card. China’s advertising rules require a would-be advertiser to show a business license before an agency will run its ads, and an advertiser “may only place ads for products and services contained within its business scope”; a foreign company without a mainland entity advertises through a representative office or an authorized local agency of record rather than directly. So a brand campaign on Tencent Video — the platform’s main open door for foreign companies — is itself an entity-and-qualification step, with the advertiser responsible for the content it runs.	China Briefing — Regulating Advertisements in China (PRC Advertising Law framework), retrieved 2026-10-07
The viewer, subscriber, and campaign data you touch through the platform is personal information under PIPL. Audience lists, ad-targeting and conversion data, and any subscriber details you pull back to headquarters or an offshore tool are personal information; moving them out of the mainland is a cross-border transfer that the Personal Information Protection Law conditions on notice, separate consent, and a transfer mechanism (Articles 38–43). A critical-information-infrastructure operator or large-volume handler must store the personal information it collects in China within the mainland (PIPL Article 40; Cybersecurity Law Article 39 (formerly Article 37)). How much of this bites turns on your role and data volumes — settle it with counsel before you scale.	Personal Information Protection Law, Arts. 38–43 & 40; Cybersecurity Law Art. 39 (formerly Art. 37) — PRC national law, reviewed 2026-10-07

Sources verified by the 21YunBox compliance team on 2026-10-07.

About Tencent Video

Tencent Video, also known as 腾讯视频, is one of the largest Chinese video streaming websites owned by Tencent.

Launched in April 2011 by Tencent, Tencent Video is now China’s second-largest video-streaming platform, after Baidu-owned iQiyi. The two video-streaming giants in China are constantly competing with each other fiercely.

Its most popular categories include China-made animation shows and TV shows. With over 65% original content produced in-house, it has over 1.268 billion monthly active users and 123 million paid subscribers as of March 2022.

Different advertising formats on Tecent Video

How To Get Started On Tencent Video

Like most video-streaming platforms, Tencent Video provides different advertisement formats, such as bumper ads appearing on the Tencent Video mobile application startup transition page in pictures/videos and short videos before the video content is played.

As popular as Tencent Video is in China, many brands are using it as an effective advertising channel to reach the audience in China.

To advertise on Tencent Video, you may visit their advertising platform to schedule a consultation.

Do not have a Chinese entity, Chinese phone number or Chinese ID? We can help!

If you do not have a Chinese entity, Chinese ID, or Chinese phone number, which is essential to get started on Tencent Video, 21YunBox is here to help.

We can provide the necessary supporting documents to use Tencent Video and walk you through the process. Meanwhile, we will also bring your company, product, and service into full compliance with Chinese law.