Riding on the coattails of its parent company, Baidu Inc, online video-on-demand company QIYI announced Wednesday that it had recorded about 90 million users in October alone, according to an online research report.

Qiyi.com's rapid growth, taking place over just seven months since the firm was launched, has been attributed to its Web links to China's biggest search engine, baidu.com.

The site's 90 million hits last month were announced by Millward Brown Digital, a research firm.

It was the first time since QIYI's April 22 launch that it has released its online traffic figures. The company's website claims all its contents, including HD movies, TV series, documentaries and cartoons, strictly adhere to copyright laws and regulations.

QIYI CEO Gong Yu said at a press conference Wednesday that he attributes the user growth to the massive investment and support provided by Baidu.

"When Internet users search for the TV series A Dream of Red Mansions (a fictional Qing Dynasty-era story) on Baidu, QIYI's videos appear at the top of the page," Gong said.

The company recently spent 50 million yuan ($7.54 million) to add a system designed to avoid bottlenecks in 30 major cities. "It is really a huge amount of money ... but it is worth it because it improves the user experience," Gong said.

High costs including from purchasing copyrights and technology improvements, coupled with low advertisement income, are some of the major challenges for domestic video websites. Gong said he expects QIYI should break even in three years.

And dozens of big advertisers, including Sony and Adidas, have already signed contracts with QIYI.

Given the site's growth rate, Gong speculated that QIYI will list overseas within five years.

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