The Descendants of the Sun fever continues to be a big hit China. Now, the on-screen couple Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo has been credited for the increase of paid membership subscription in China's online streaming platform iQIYI.

The South Korean megahit drama series turned out to be the "biggest force" that boosted iQIYI's paid users, the Beijing-based Korean Creating Content Agency said, citing a report entitled White Paper on Individual Consumption of Online Video, Yonhap News Agency learned.

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iQIYI, which is one of the largest internet and mobile video providers in China, announced that its paid membership reached the 10 million milestone last December. Within three months, the subscription has increased by 50 percent, exceeding to over 15 million.

"Descendants of the Sun obviously made Chinese start to believe it is worth paying for a good drama," an official from the office said.

The series, which was exclusively broadcasted by iQIYI, was aired in China and South Korea simultaneously.

Meanwhile, most Chinese video streaming sites used to permit users to watch their contents for free. However, they have been forced to charge for their contents in accordance with China's new policy.

In iQIYI, a user is required to obtain a VIP membership to watch the Korean hit drama. The platform charges 19.8 yuan ($2.97) for a month and 58 yuan ($8.71) for three months.

"Paid users on China's video streaming sites daily consume online content for 4.3 hours on average, which is nearly 2.8 times that of nonpaying users," the representative said.

iQIYI, an independent subsidiary of Baidu, has the biggest pool of paid subscribers among China-based websites, according to the 2015 Report on Development of China's Internet Audio-Visual Media.

TagsDescendants of the Sun, Song Joong Ki, Song Hye-kyo, iQiyi