The Chinese historical drama Zhu Yu has achieved major milestones on streaming platforms but is simultaneously facing a growing wave of backlash from viewers who accuse platforms of manipulating performance data.
According to reports from Sina on March 11, the drama Zhu Yu surpassed 10,000 popularity points on iQIYI and 30,000 on Tencent Video, a benchmark typically used to label a series as a “major hit” on these platforms. Reaching those levels usually indicates a breakout success that dominates online discussion and viewership.
However, the celebration quickly turned into controversy. Under iQIYI’s congratulatory post about the drama’s achievements, many viewers flooded the comment section accusing the platform of inflating statistics and manipulating viewership metrics. Some comments received 50,000 to 70,000 likes, showing the scale of the growing dissatisfaction.
The backlash intensified when some fans began demanding refunds from the platform. In previous years, fan communities often spent money to boost popularity metrics for dramas starring their favorite actors, helping push titles higher in platform rankings.
With Zhu Yu, however, viewers believe the platforms artificially boosted performance metrics without requiring those promotional efforts. As a result, fans of other actors argue that they previously spent money unnecessarily to support their idols’ projects and are now demanding compensation for what they see as unfair treatment.
The drama stars Zhang Linghe and Tian Xiwei, both of whom have gained attention for their visually striking performances and chemistry on screen. The series has been praised for its cinematic visuals and aesthetic direction under director Zeng Qingjie.
Despite these strengths, some viewers say the story has yet to reach a major dramatic peak or generate the kind of nationwide buzz usually associated with a blockbuster drama. This has made the series’ rapid rise in viewership rankings appear suspicious to critics.
Adding fuel to the controversy, Tencent Video reportedly experienced a system issue that counted even a single second of advertisement viewing as a full drama view, dramatically increasing the total number of recorded views. The platform was also accused of adjusting internal “heat scores” to push the drama through multiple ranking milestones in quick succession.
When iQIYI removed critical comments from its posts, the move sparked further anger among viewers. Many users argued that deleting criticism only reinforced suspicions that platforms were manipulating data to promote specific productions.
Critics warn that such practices could damage trust in the entertainment industry, making it difficult for audiences to determine which shows are genuinely popular. Some viewers have even called for regulatory authorities to investigate whether the alleged data manipulation violates media statistics management rules.
Amid the controversy, the reputations of the drama’s two lead actors have also been affected, as public debate increasingly focuses on whether the series’ impressive performance metrics reflect genuine popularity or artificially inflated numbers.
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