The Finale Interrupted

Xiaomin had eight minutes of the finale left. She had cast the drama from her tablet to the TV, propped the tablet against a cushion, and settled into the corner of the couch. The killer's face was about to fill the screen.

Instead, the screen filled with text.

Danmaku, the scrolling comments Chinese streaming platforms layer over the picture, she was used to. But these came from all four sides at once. They carried a brand mark she didn't recognize. CS Scanner. The copy read like a commercial. The lines crossed in two bursts, about twenty seconds total, then vanished.

She rewound. They came again.

A paying Platinum member, Xiaomin had never seen this format. She took screenshots. She opened the iQIYI app on her phone and found customer service. The reply came back in the usual script: members' advertising privilege mainly consists of reducing the length of some pre-roll ads before on-demand content. Danmaku ads were not included in member benefits. The platform would control the number and frequency of commercial danmaku. If she encountered such ads, she could press back, drag the progress bar, or block them.

She asked the advertiser next. CS Scanner's customer service said the company had bought advertising on iQIYI in the normal way and did not know how the ad was operated. It suggested she ask the platform.

The loop closed. Nobody had sold her the ad. Nobody had placed it. The ad had simply appeared, inside a scene she had paid to watch.

The member benefits page supports part of the platform's account. Gold, Platinum, and Diamond members' advertising privilege is mainly to reduce the length of some pre-roll ads before on-demand videos. The page also warns that members may still encounter commercial ads delivered in other formats.

That sentence does a lot of work. Some pre-roll ads. Other formats. The contract gives the platform room. The platform's response relies on that room. The contract did not list danmaku ads, so the platform has not breached the contract.

The logic leaves the first question untouched. A format does not become lawful because the contract did not mention it. A member agreement does not need to list every possible ad format before the platform can be asked whether that format satisfies advertising law, whether it protects a workable right to close, and whether the standard-form clause that limits "ad-free" to "some pre-roll ads" is fair.

Danmaku began as a visual form of real-time user comment. Short, conversational, moving across the screen in sync with the plot. A viewer's first reading of a danmaku line is usually "another viewer is talking," not "a commercial message is being delivered." Putting brand marks and commercial copy into the danmaku stream uses that appearance. The commercial message borrows the look of user-generated content.

Article 14 of the PRC Advertising Law requires ads to be identifiable. Ads published through mass media must be clearly marked as advertisements and distinguished from non-advertising information. The SAMR's Guidelines on Identifying Internet Advertising go further. Whether an item is marked "advertisement" is not the only test. The substantive question is whether the commercial information falls within the definition of advertising under Article 2 of the Advertising Law and Article 2 of the Internet Advertising Measures.

CS Scanner's danmaku carried a brand mark and commercial copy and promoted its scanning service. That is commercial advertising. The hard question is what a viewer understands at the moment the line crosses the screen. If a substantial share of ordinary viewers, while immersed in the plot, cannot immediately tell that the line is an ad rather than a comment, the platform as publisher already faces an identifiability problem.

The objection goes beyond the appearance of the ad. The ad appears by posing as user content. The viewer is made to consume a commercial message before realizing that it is a commercial message. A pre-roll ad, however long, at least comes before the episode. The viewer expects it. A pause ad, however large, comes when viewing has stopped. A danmaku ad comes during the plot, borrowing the appearance of audience comment to hold attention. That format puts more pressure on the identifiability duty, not less.

iQIYI's customer service says users can press back, drag the progress bar, or block the ad. That sounds like a choice. Article 44 of the Advertising Law requires that internet ads not affect users' normal use of the network. Ads published in pop-up and similar forms must carry a conspicuous close mark and ensure one-click closure.

When commercial danmaku fly in near the finale, the viewer's first experience is intrusion. Only after that does the viewer look for a way out. If closing requires leaving the full-screen picture, entering a menu, or turning off normal danmaku along with commercial danmaku, the "choice" includes an operating cost that the platform should bear.

The Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation's guidance on regulating platform advertising has already listed danmaku among the ad forms that must protect users' right to block and choose. Ads delivered through pop-ups, floating windows, pre-roll, danmaku, and similar formats should safeguard users' blocking and choice rights.

iQIYI's response says the user can block. It does not answer why commercial danmaku should appear, disguised as user danmaku, inside a viewing scene the user has already paid for. If a format depends on the viewer being intruded upon first and looking for the close button second, it has already moved away from the "one-click close" and "no effect on normal use" standards. A close path that exists on paper but imposes extra steps on the viewer is not the same as a close right in practice.

"Membership reduces ads" is one of the main expectations that drives payment. If the platform uses "ad-free" as the hook at the point of purchase, then limits "ad-free" in a smaller, less conspicuous clause to "some pre-roll ads," and reserves the right to insert commercial messages in any other format, the arrangement may strip the main contractual benefit.

Article 26 of the Consumer Protection Law requires operators using standard terms to draw attention conspicuously to matters of major interest to consumers. It also prohibits terms that unfairly exclude or restrict consumer rights, reduce or exempt the operator's liability, or increase consumer liability.

Courts have examined similar arrangements. In the advance on-demand clause case, a court invalidated a platform's unilateral clause adding a new paid step. In the 2019 case brought by a Suzhou University law student against iQIYI, the court did not hold that inserting ads was illegal by itself. It did hold that iQIYI's notice about "a small portion of other types of ads" was not sufficiently conspicuous or clear. The notice duty was defective, and iQIYI had to compensate the consumer. The court awarded 30 yuan.

That outcome is often read as a small victory for the consumer. It also describes the platform's exposure: a notice defect, a small damages award, and an ad format that continues. Thirty yuan buys about two cups of coffee in Shanghai. It does not buy back the eight minutes before the finale.

Why does iQIYI keep testing member advertising despite the controversy? The financial statements give part of the answer. In the first half of this year, online advertising revenue was about 2.49 billion yuan. In the second quarter, online advertising services revenue was about 1.25 billion yuan, down 2% year on year, but still nearly 20% of total revenue.

Advertising remains an important business. It is easy to see why a platform would look for more ad inventory among users who already pay.

The problem is what membership means. Membership is supposed to exchange payment for a better experience. It should not mean "pay the membership fee, then accept whatever new ad format the platform invents next." If the platform attracts payment with "fewer ads," then inserts commercial messages through "other formats outside pre-roll," the member benefit is stripped one technicality at a time.

Today the ad is a danmaku. Tomorrow it could be a plot overlay, a character voice-over, or a progress-bar Easter egg. Each time the platform can say the member agreement mentioned only pre-roll ads. Each time the user's trust in membership is spent.

Danmaku ads are not an isolated case. In 2024, members complained that pausing a video produced a near-full-screen ad while the original picture was pushed into a corner. "Basic members cannot skip pre-roll ads" also caused controversy. iQIYI explained that basic membership was designed for users who accept more ads and want a lower price. In April this year, some drama pause pages carried promotional ads with sensational copy and images. iQIYI promised to strengthen reviews.

Each time, the platform could point to a member agreement. Each time, the consumer faced a practical problem: litigation may produce a small award, while the ad format remains.

Regulators can close part of that gap with three standards.

First, commercial danmaku need a workable labeling rule. Because danmaku naturally look like user content, the platform should be required to show, in the viewing state, that a paid danmaku line is an ad. The rule should also address placement. Commercial danmaku should not be inserted at key plot moments in a way that turns the paid viewing scene into ad inventory. A label that appears only after the line has crossed the screen is not a label in the relevant sense.

Second, the notice duty for member ad clauses should be stronger. If a platform limits "ad-free" to "some pre-roll ads," the purchase page should say, in a conspicuous place, that the user may still encounter danmaku ads, pause ads, overlay ads, and other commercial formats. If the notice is buried in a long agreement in small type, the clause should face fairness review under the Consumer Protection Law.

Third, "one-click close" needs a concrete standard for danmaku ads. Blocking commercial danmaku should be independent of the normal danmaku switch. Closing should not require leaving the full-screen picture or interrupting viewing. If the platform's close path adds steps, it should not be treated as compliance with Article 44.

These standards do not ban advertising. They put advertising back on the track of being identifiable, choice-respecting, and closable.

Xiaomin watched the rest of the finale. The ads did not return that night. She finished the episode. Then she opened the membership page and looked at the renewal date.

The contract, she knew, would not mention what had happened. The page would still say "some pre-roll ads." The small print would still warn about "other formats." The platform would still have room.

She closed the app. The renewal date sat there, a month away. She had not decided yet. But she had taken screenshots. She had the timestamps. She had the customer service chat log. The next time the danmaku came, she would know what to call it.

An ad, wearing a comment's clothes, inside a scene she had paid for.

The contract didn't say so. That was the problem.