The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 568 Entering the game
The main building of Oriental TV Station.

The midsummer sun creates a blurry halo between the buildings.

Two people, a man and a woman, came out of the building side by side, both with work badges hanging on their chests.

The female employee looks young, in her early twenties.

Perhaps because she felt it was dazzling, she wiped the sweat from her cheeks, put her right hand in front of her forehead, tilted her head, and asked with a smile.

"Master, will The Voice of Asia be aired soon?"

"Voice of Asia" is a super large singing competition produced by Dragon TV and more than a dozen top record and agency companies.

This program is comparable to Zhejiang Satellite TV's variety show "The Voice of China". In the field of variety shows, Dragon TV also wants to compete.

The middle-aged male employee was not good-looking, with a dark complexion and a pair of large eyes that were particularly eye-catching.

"We have to wait." He shook his head and replied, "I received a notice from the station a few days ago saying that the broadcast date will be postponed until we have an agreement with PPS."

"PPS? Didn't the satellite TV station announce that it has reached a cooperation agreement with Fengxing.com?"

The middle-aged man shook his collar, bringing a hint of coolness, and explained: "During the time you asked for leave, the higher-ups changed their minds again. Maybe they felt that PPS was more suitable than Fengxing.com."

"Does that mean that our variety shows, TV dramas, etc. will all be broadcast on PPS in the future?"

"It depends on how the cooperation is carried out. I don't know the details."

"Master, do you think the integration of Taiwan and the Internet is reliable?"

The female employee took out a parasol from her bag, opened it, thought for a moment, and without waiting for his answer, she said, "Forget it. It's too far away from us, and it doesn't matter much. The higher-ups always have their own ideas, so there's no need to worry about it. Who knows, maybe it will be replaced by Fengxing Network in the end. The most important thing is that "Voice of Asia" starts smoothly."

"Yes." Yan Min agreed, feeling that his scalp was about to smoke from the sun. He grabbed a handful of hair and looked at the strands in his palm, his face suddenly filled with gloom.

He was born and raised in Shanghai. After graduation, he joined Dragon TV and stayed there for several years.

This year, Dragon TV organized a singing variety show "Voice of Asia", and he was appointed as the deputy director.

This opportunity is a rare experience for him, which is related to his subsequent career development and is of great significance.

If "Voice of Asia" can achieve the ratings target set in the calendar after it is broadcast.

He can take off the title of assistant director and personally lead a team to produce the variety show.

As the two chatted, the female apprentice talked about what she saw and heard during her vacation, and Yan Min retorted from time to time.

By chance, he noticed that not far away, the station director and several channel directors were standing in front of a black business car, saying goodbye to a group of people.

Yan Min stared at the back of one of them and asked in confusion, "Hey, why does he look familiar?"

"Where where?"

"The tallest one, wearing sunglasses and a white T-shirt." Yan Min pouted and pointed.

Upon hearing this, the apprentice pushed up his ugly black-framed glasses and looked in the direction he said.

When the man in white turned sideways, she confirmed again and again, and said in surprise: "It seems to be Lu Yuan, yes, it's him!"

"Lu Yuan?" Yan Min glanced at her in surprise.

He knew very well that the female disciple next to him was secretly a fan of Lu Yuan.

When he was thinking about identifying them carefully and looked over again, the group of people had already got on the car.

"What is he here for?"

The young girl quickly took out her phone and was about to take a photo, but when she saw the car door was closed, she said angrily: "I don't know, let me go to the forum and ask, maybe there will be some activities."

Lu Yuan, Director Mu and others waved goodbye before closing the car windows.

Since Hunan Satellite TV cannot reach a cooperation, there are not many satellite TV stations left for him to choose from.

In terms of variety show production capabilities, there are only three outstanding TV stations in China today, namely Dragon TV, Jiangsu TV, and Zhejiang TV.

Having been in the industry for many years, he has a relatively closer relationship with Dragon TV.

From the early "Insidious", "Dwelling Narrowness" and "Before the Dawn", the two sides have collaborated many times.

Lu Yuan is well aware of PPS's weaknesses compared with other streaming media websites on the market, and this cooperation with the TV station may be a way to complement each other's advantages.

From the audience perspective, the audience of video websites is relatively young, while the audience of television is older. After the two platforms are integrated, the audience base can be expanded rapidly.

In terms of media complementarity, through cross-platform cooperation, TV stations can make use of the advantages of the Internet such as strong interactivity and freedom from time and space restrictions to make up for their own shortcomings of one-way communication and short communication cycle.

Video websites can also use the authority and credibility of TV stations to enhance their own communication effectiveness and influence.

In terms of the most important marketing effect, the two parties integrated marketing across platforms.

Not only can it effectively increase the ratings of the program, but it can also expand the attention and social effects of the advertisement, attract more advertisers, and thus bring in rich economic income.

In addition, Lu Yuan has another consideration.

Because some of the stories in his dreams are quite explicit and the subject matter is sensitive.

Whether the TV drama script can pass the review and be successfully broadcast on TV requires strong support.

The broadcast of "Xuan-Yuan Sword: Scar of Sky" which started broadcasting a few days ago was once stopped by the General Administration.

The reason was that they believed the drama promoted feudal dregs, so they ordered it to be suspended and reviewed again.

But things took a turn for the better with the intervention of Hunan Satellite TV.

Similar to Hunan Satellite TV, Shanghai SMG is also good at doing this kind of thing.

In addition, he has some ideas and plans on content selection for the PPS platform.

Whether based on the review mechanism or actual operation, PPS needs a TV station to endorse it and negotiate for it behind the scenes.

The integration of TV and the Internet is actually a trade-off in the industry and an exploration to achieve a win-win situation.

The cooperation between PPS and SMG is mainly reflected in content, platform and advertising.

Especially in terms of content resources, PPS will carry out in-depth cooperation with SMG's channels on independent copyrighted content.

For example, Dragon TV's variety shows such as "China's Got Talent", "Voice of Asia" and "The Voice of China" will be exclusively broadcast on PPS Video.

PPS has the exclusive online broadcasting rights for Dragon TV's self-produced variety shows.

At the same time, PPS’s subsequent self-produced online variety shows and many online dramas will be exported back to Oriental Broadcasting and Television.

While Lu Yuan was reviewing his gains and losses, Xu Weifeng, Zhang Hongyu and others in the car also had different thoughts.

Several founders of PPS also came along to Dragon TV this time.

PPS originated in 2004 and originally had two founders, Lei Liang and Zhang Hongyu.

In 2004, the two met at a forum. At that time, Lei Liang had a strong interest in P2P technology. The two "technology geeks" immediately began to cooperate and developed many products such as audio and video P2P downloads.

In June 2005, the first version of PPS was officially launched.

Video is a money-burning business, and funding issues soon became apparent. The two partners with strong technical skills were undoubtedly lacking in capital operations.

In 2006, Xu Weifeng joined PPS with funds, and his arrival solved the urgent problem.

Compared with the two technology geeks, Xu Weifeng is obviously more suitable for corporate operations, so he serves as the president of PPS.

With the support of technology and capital, PPS began to gain ground, and it was not until 2010 that changes began to take place.

The reason is that the high cost of purchasing copyrights makes them feel very uncomfortable.

In March this year, Tudou and Youku merged, and their market share surpassed iQiyi to become the number one in China. This stimulated Baidu to come directly to seek cooperation.

From the very beginning, Lei Liang and Zhang Hongyu were not in favor of selling PPS to iQiyi.

Because in the eyes of the two technology geeks, PPS itself is actually doing quite well.

It has relatively positive cash flow and good revenue, but lacks content, which leads to a gradual decline in annual revenue.

But at least it’s still making money, so why must it be sold?

Therefore, after consultation with the board of directors, Xu Weifeng kept iQiyi as a backup while contacting other people, including Sun Zhengyi, Li Zekai, etc.

Sun Zhengyi owns PPTV. While colluding with Blueprint to intimidate iQiyi, he is also actively contacting PPS and cheating in an attempt to merge the two video companies, which means that the acquired PPS will be completely swallowed up.

Lei Liang and Zhang Hongyu naturally disagreed.

They are more looking forward to finding a partner who can help them continue to work hard in the video industry and achieve some results.

During the period when the merger with iQiyi was stranded, in addition to Sun Zhengyi and Li Zekai, PPS also contacted Sohu Video and Tencent Video, but the results were not satisfactory to them.

At a later shareholders' meeting, Lei Liang and Zhang Hongyu jointly set the example that since PPS had no content reserves, they should go out and look for it.

Find a company that can help PPS with content, has relatively few overlapping businesses, and can be effectively integrated. In any case, at least keep the PPS brand.

To the two founders, PPS is like their daughter whom they raised with great effort.

When a company considers mergers and acquisitions, it is really like choosing a marriage partner for a daughter. It will carefully consider all aspects to find the most suitable one.

Even if it is the most suitable one, it still needs to be weighed over and over again. After all, if you divorce after the merger, it will be a very ugly death.

So the content and the blueprint worth billions caught people's eyes. After some negotiation, everyone reached a consensus. Xu Weifeng took the initiative to contact Lu Jing and facilitated the transaction.

The final contract is as follows.

Because PPS is not a listed company and has not yet achieved large-scale profits, its development prospects are not good in today's market, so after the spin-off of PPS Games, the final valuation was 25 billion.

PPS started out as a video network, but due to insufficient content reserves, in order to fully monetize its traffic, it had to open up a new track, namely PPS games.

But Lu Yuan doesn't need PPS games.

In the end, Blueprint acquired all the shares of PPS Pictures for 25 billion in cash.

Soon after, the blueprint copyright was merged into PPS, pushing PPS's valuation to 50 billion.

Vivo and OPPO each invested 2.5 million yuan, holding a 5% stake respectively.

Shanghai SMG invested 5 million yuan and holds a 10% stake.

PPS's original founders Lei Liang, Zhang Hongyu and Xu Weifeng invested 2.5 million yuan and together hold 5% of the shares.

The final shareholding ratios are as follows.

Blueprint: 75%
vivo: 5%
Oppo: 5%
SMG: 10%
Lei Liang, Zhang Hongyu, Xu Weifeng: 5%
In order to avoid a situation similar to Blueprint holding 18% of the shares, which would put Baidu in a dilemma, Lu Yuan imposed restrictions on the shares.

He doesn't want to endure the pain that Baidu has gone through.

In the enterprise, 67% of the shares represent absolute control, and Blueprint holds 75% of the shares, which is equivalent to 100% of the decision-making power.

PPS acquisition completed.

Lu Yuan made new plans for PPS.

A "self-produced" strategy has been formulated around the four dimensions of original variety shows, self-produced web dramas, micro-movies, and short films.

Yes, he never thought about engaging in a price war with iQiyi, Tencent and others.

Make your own, then exchange resources.

PPS has also begun internal adjustments and adopted a new organizational structure, not to mention the board of directors and the board of supervisors.

The company is mainly divided into four major departments.

Technology Department, Content Department, Marketing Department, and Finance Department.

The technical department is divided into: R&D department, product department, and operation and maintenance department.

Lei Liang and Zhang Hongyu are both technical experts, and they continue to do their previous work with their subordinates.

The content department is headed by Lu Jing, who also oversees several subordinate departments.

Yuanfang Media transferred some employees to the marketing department and the finance department as backbones and re-recruited the rest.

The three founders of PPS are all capable.

Xu Weifeng is temporarily serving as the company's CEO, and Lu Jing is also serving as deputy CEO. More people will be recruited later.

Beijing, my sister’s home.

"I will endure all the loneliness and lament the passing of time. Your tears are like amber."

The TV was playing "Xuan-Yuan Sword: Scar of Sky" produced by Tangren. The villain Yuwen Tuo, played by Hu Can, flashed by wearing a golden mask.

Zhou Yaoyao stood in front of the TV, staring at the screen with her eyes wide open. When she saw her aunt appear in a red dress, she grinned foolishly.

Liu Shishi held her nephew Zhou Qi in her arms and ravaged his chubby little face.

Zhou Qi was unwilling. He dodged his little head left and right, jumped his body, and tried hard to slide down, but he couldn't avoid it.

"Qiqi, let me kiss you."

"Ah, no." He struggled, and his T-shirt was pushed to his chest, revealing his bulging belly.

Liu Shishi patted it, feeling good, and tempted: "Give me a kiss, and I will buy you a toy."

Zhou Qi was stunned, his little brain was working rapidly, and then he closed his eyes as if accepting his fate.

"muma~"

Liu Shishi left a few lip marks on his face and teased him for a long time before putting him down contentedly.

Zhou Qi raised his arms, wiped his cheeks in disgust, lowered his head, and went to his uncle to complain without looking back.

He really wanted to change his aunt. This aunt was too annoying. She always kissed him with her red mouth.

"Yaoyao, come sit here with mommy. You look ugly with glasses."

Lu Jia called out to her daughter, and it happened that Tuoba Yu'er appeared on the screen in red, looking both heroic and beautiful. Even though it was not the first time she saw him, it still made her eyes light up.

"Shi Shi, this drama is quite popular online, especially the discussion about you."

"It's okay." Liu Shishi raised her eyebrows.

"Xuan-Yuan Sword: Scar of Sky" premiered on Hunan Satellite TV.

The average viewership for the first two nights was as high as 2.16%, and the audience share was close to 9 points, ranking first in the country in the same period, marking a successful first battle.

Coincidentally, the drama has also become popular on the Internet and ranked among the top TV dramas.

In the seven-day hot rankings of Baidu search engine, "Xuan-Yuan Sword" was far ahead with 4011833 searches, attracting countless attention.

It’s just that the reputation didn’t meet expectations.

Perhaps because it is broadcast weekly, the audience is getting impatient and many are finding fault with it.

Damn it, it seems like that stinky man has predicted it again.

But there are good things too.

This time, she changed her previous gentle and tender image and played the role of Princess Taba, a fierce-willed and bold princess who dared to love and hate - Taba Yuer.

His generous, open-minded and daring character is amazing.

Many netizens commented on Weibo, saying that the character she played, Tatar Yuer, was playful, cute, and heroic.

"Is Xiaoyuan about to join the team?" Lu Jia ate a grape and started chatting.

Liu Shishi pulled Zhou Yaoyao, who was standing close to him, into her arms, rested her chin on her head, and said, "'Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons' will start filming this week."

"What about you?"

"I also want to join the crew and film a TV series."

"That's the bad thing about actors." Lu Jia sighed.

As the two were chatting, Zhou Qi came running back, looking terrified and swallowing his saliva, and said something shocking: "Mom, Dad and uncle killed people. Dad killed more than a dozen people, and uncle killed two. Dad said uncle will go to jail."

"What the hell? How did they end up in jail for playing a mobile game?" Lu Jia was shocked.

Liu Shishi grabbed Yaoyao's braids, thought about it for a moment, and said happily: "He must have been bullied by those people in the studio again. No, to be precise, only the dog was bullied."

Zhou Mingyuan's game has been completed and is in the testing phase.

At this time, my brother-in-law walked out of the study with a dark face: "Too bad, I have never seen such a bad person, don't be a pair with me in the future, no, I have to change the matching mechanism, it affects the mood."

"Blame me. It's obviously you who are not good at playing this game."

Lu Yuan followed closely behind, holding his cell phone, without any shame.

"Defeat!"

(End of this chapter)