The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 719: The jealous Hunan TV and Mango TV
Monday, October 10.

"Running Man" started airing on October 10th and will be broadcast once a week.

On the morning of the 8th, after two days of fermentation over the weekend, the reputation of this variety show showed an unstoppable momentum and quickly spread across the entire network.

#Running Man opens a new model for mainland variety shows, the first episode was hilarious and there were no boring moments throughout#
#Running Man won the first battle, with 1200 million views on the first episode of PPS that night, setting off a viewing boom#
#The premiere of "Running Man" received impressive ratings, revealing the secret of the original version's success#
#The torture of "Running Man" is endless. Jing Tian was "broken" by Sa Bei. Her fans increased by 130 million in two days. A new variety show goddess was born#
#Peking University is also okay, I think it is really okay, on Sabei's ability to control the situation in "Running Man"#
#Running Man's Dragon TV premiere on Saturday had a viewership rating of 1.29, second only to the veteran variety show Happy Camp#
"Running Man" made a stunning debut this time, with impressive first broadcast data and excellent online playback volume.

During the program, several guests were genuine and unpretentious, disregarding the halo of being a star, and won wide praise from netizens.

As a celebrity reality show, "Running Man" has a novel format and lots of laughs, bringing a refreshing viewing experience to audiences across the country.

It quickly gained popularity after its premiere, and as word of mouth continued to spread, its playback volume on the PPS platform showed a geometric growth trend.

In less than a week, the online playback volume of the first episode exceeded 3000 million.

At the same time, the number of searches on topics related to "Running Man" across the entire network exceeded 20.

The seven guests’ Weibo followers have increased by more than 500 million in total, and they have frequently appeared on hot search lists, becoming the focus of public attention.

October 10, Hunan Satellite TV Building.

Several female employees were talking in low voices in the tea room.

"Did you guys watch the latest episode of Running Man last night?"

"Of course I watched it. I followed it on PPS. The production crew went to Shenzhen for this episode. I heard that the next episode will be in Shanghai. The scenes are shot all over the country. Each episode has a story background. I am looking forward to it more and more."

"Haha, before the show started, I was worried that Jing Tian wouldn't be able to let go, but she turned out to be a real tough girl in the show, working hard and doing things without hesitation. She's just too innocent, anyone can tease her, especially Xiao Sa, who always bullies her in a mean way."

"That's right, Sabe is so mean, he always bullies our Jing Tian."

"Well, I kind of like them as a couple. They're like the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. They're kind of sweet for some reason."

"I prefer Wang Baoqiang and Xue Zhiqian!"

"Oh, you are so weird."

"Hey, listen to my explanation. In the last episode, when Wang Baoqiang was running, Xue Zhiqian didn't care and said some sarcastic things. But when he stepped on the acupressure mat with the old lady on his back, the contrast, the expression, the sourness, and the look in each other's eyes after he suddenly understood Baoqiang made me laugh to death. My dad almost sent me to the hospital, saying I was having epilepsy, hahaha."

"Do you have that feeling? It's really fun to see those big stars who are usually glamorous and beautiful being abused on the show."

"Yes, yes, the more miserable they are, the happier I am."

"Why are you so miserable? They get paid well, and they can also gain fans and popularity. Look at Sa Bei, a host, who has now started to accept endorsements. I think those cameramen squatting in the swimming pool are the ones who have the hardest time."

Several employees came out of the tea room chattering and ran into the station manager Lv Huanbing who was holding a teacup. They immediately fell silent.

"Good leadership!"

"Hello, Lu Tai."

"Yeah." Lu Huanbing smiled and nodded.

Several young girls looked at each other and walked towards their seats guiltily.

Lu Huanbing took the glass of water and watched the people leave without saying anything.

He also watched "Running Man" broadcast on PPS with his family. To be fair, this is indeed a very good variety show.

But he felt bad and regretful.

It was he who approved the idea to allow several guests from "Running Man" to appear on "Happy Camp" for promotion.

Helping other platforms promote variety shows is nothing.

Hunan Satellite TV and CCTV have been fighting each other secretly, and many popular programs have been taken off the shelves by Big Brother. Yet now they are premiering "Let's Get Married" together.

This is something we didn’t dare to think about before, and anyone who dared to mention it would be criticized!
This promotion for "Running Man" was actually an exchange of interests.

Currently, the relationship between Hunan Satellite TV and PPS, or to be more precise, Yuanfang Media, is very close.

The achievements of "My Love from the Star" have made the words "produced by Yuanfang Media" synonymous with quality in the industry.

Hunan Satellite TV earned more than 1 billion yuan in advertising fees from this drama, making its peers the envy of it.

It also indirectly increased advertisers' budget for the satellite TV station's annual advertising bidding next year, i.e. 2014.

Not only that, "Eternal Love" co-produced by Yuanfang Media and Tangren will also premiere on Hunan Satellite TV.

It is very necessary for Hunan Satellite TV to maintain good relations with Yuanfang Media.

In addition, Lu Huanbing actually holds a contemptuous attitude towards the cooperation between PPS and Dragon TV.

He doesn't care much about it. He feels deep down that they are just two makeshift teams, just like Wanda, Tencent and Baidu joining forces to engage in e-commerce, which cannot threaten Taobao's position.

Similarly, PPS’s cooperation with Dragon TV cannot threaten Hunan TV’s position as the big brother in the variety show industry.

If it was Jiangsu Satellite TV or Zhejiang Satellite TV, he would never agree.

In 2013, the competition landscape for variety shows among China’s provincial satellite TV stations was led by Hunan Satellite TV, Zhejiang Satellite TV and Jiangsu Satellite TV.

Hunan Satellite TV still occupies an absolute dominant position.

Its programs "I Am a Singer", "Happy Camp" and "Day Day Up" have produced many phenomenal variety shows with strong innovation capabilities, and are leading in advertising revenue and ratings.

Zhejiang Satellite TV has risen rapidly thanks to the "The Voice of China" series.

The final of "The Voice of China 7" which aired in July this year had a viewership rating of over 2%, an average of over 6% per episode, and a market share of over 4%, firmly ranking second and always trying to dethrone Hunan Satellite TV.

Jiangsu Satellite TV, whose representative programs include the old IP "If You Are the One", has an average viewership of about 2.3%, but it lacks innovation and the ratings of its new programs have not met expectations.

As for Dragon TV, are there any variety show IPs that are still fresh in the minds of netizens?
Although Dragon TV boasts of its superior ability in variety show production and exaggerates it as if it is amazing, it can only fool laymen.

"The Voice of China", which premiered in May 2013, was designed to compete with "The Voice of China", but its popularity fell far short of expectations and was treated as a joke by Zhejiang Satellite TV.

"The Voice of Asia" and "Dancing With the Stars", which are the tallest among the short ones, only have a few audiences in Shanghai, with a viewership rate of less than 1% and a mediocre response.

Dragon TV, at the bottom of the second-rate, still needs to practice!
This is the industry's judgment on the satellite TV station based on years of data, and Lu Huanbing agrees.

As for PPS, perhaps relying on Yuanfang Media, it has reached a first-class level in the industry in film and television production.

But in the field of variety shows, it is just a newbie. What’s the use of buying the copyright? Youku and iQiyi have tried before, but they all failed and none of them was successful.

The second-rate Dragon TV and the inexperienced PPS together pose no threat.

The more confident he was at that time, the more ashamed Lu Huanbing felt now. He had to admit that he was careless.

"Director!"

"Ah."

He held a teacup and walked slowly towards the meeting room. In his other hand, he held his phone and browsed the online reports. #Running Man premiered on Dragon TV. The first episode had a viewership rating of 1.39. Last night, the second episode had a viewership rating of 1.79, surpassing Happy Camp and becoming the top variety show in China in the same period.#
#Running Man wins both online and offline ratings, and is popular online#
#The streaming media PPS variety show debut was a huge success. "Run" became a money-making tool. Mengniu won the online broadcast naming rights at a sky-high price of 5000 million yuan. PPS advertising revenue reached 1.1 million yuan#
#Preparing for Double Eleven, Suning signed a contract with "Running Man" captain Sa Beining, and the endorsement fee is reportedly as high as 800 million#
Lu Huanbing fixed his eyes on the title #PPS earns 1.1 million in advertising fees#.

According to his understanding, the copyright of "Run" belongs to PPS, which is jointly produced by PPS and the Dragon TV team, and PPS has greater say.

The 1.1 million yuan in advertising fees only refers to the revenue from online broadcasting channels, all of which belongs to PPS.

When the show is broadcast on Dragon TV, advertising investment will also be carried out, and the revenue from this part far exceeds that of online broadcasting channels.

"The Voice of China" is a watershed in variety shows. Since then, Chinese variety shows have completely entered the "blockbuster era", and the sponsorship fees for variety shows on traditional TV stations have skyrocketed.

Nowadays, if a variety show is excellent, it would be embarrassed to say hello if the sponsorship fee does not exceed 1 million!

A good show makes money faster than a good movie.

Dragon TV brought in Yili Group for "Running Man" and won the naming rights for the first season for about 1.19 million yuan.

Together with various other advertising and peripheral revenues, the total revenue reached 2.9 million, which was shared proportionally by PPS and Dragon TV.

This means that the total revenue of the variety show "Running Man" is as high as 4 million!

Lu Huanbing is not clear about the specific details of the profit-sharing ratio between PPS and Dragon TV, but even if it is a 2.55- split, PPS will still get million.

This is only the first season of Running Man.

There are 15 episodes in the first season. If the subsequent reputation remains strong, the ratings are bound to rise.

So, when this show enters its second season, how high will its advertising costs rise?

6 million, 7 million, or even higher?
When he thought of this, Lu Huanbing felt shocked and uneasy.

At the same time, I can't help but think of the upcoming TV show "Where Are We Going, Dad?"

This program was produced by him personally. It is also an outdoor reality show that focuses on parent-child relationships and is on a different track from "Running Man".

When the contract was signed with PPS for the premiere rights of "My Love from the Star", it was confirmed that "Where Are We Going, Dad?" would be broadcast simultaneously on PPS and Hunan Satellite TV.

Since PPS can attract 1.1 million advertising sponsorship for "Running Man", how much advertising sponsorship will "Where Are We Going, Dad?" attract?
In addition, according to the terms of the contract, PPS also has the right to select multiple programs from Hunan Satellite TV's variety show library. How much revenue will this bring to the other party?

This revenue of hundreds of millions should originally belong to Hunan Satellite TV!
It’s Hunan Satellite TV’s money!
Lu Huanbing's mood at this moment was complicated and indescribable.

Last year, when Lu Yuan was seeking cooperation with "My Love from the Star", he proposed that Hunan Satellite TV invest in PPS. The two sides would complement each other, with Yuanfang Media providing film and television content and Hunan Satellite TV providing variety shows.

But he refused.

Afterwards, PPS turned around and joined hands with Shanghai SMG.

If he had agreed to invest in PPS at that time, would "Running Man" have become another trump card of Hunan Satellite TV?

Things are unpredictable!

Lu Huanbing put away his regret. He knew that Hunan Satellite TV could no longer sit idly by and watch hundreds of millions of advertising fees fall into the hands of others.

Instead of letting PPS earn the advertising fee, it is better to earn it yourself!
He had conceived the plan a long time ago, and now he finally made up his mind.

No matter how the people below try to stop it, the preparation of Mango TV must be put on the agenda immediately.

Lu Huanbing approached the meeting room and vaguely heard a fierce argument coming from inside.

"As PPS, iQiyi, and Youku continue to grow, getting involved in the long video field is short-sighted and a very stupid decision. We lack relevant technical reserves and Internet talents. In addition to variety shows, our production capabilities in film and television dramas are even weaker. How can we support a platform with only variety show content?"

"Everything is difficult at the beginning, except for PPS. When platforms like iQiyi and Youku were first established, didn't they have production teams? Didn't they build up slowly? They have hundreds of millions or even more in revenue every year. Why should they give it away? This is a loss of state-owned assets!"

"But we have signed a contract with PPS, and they have the exclusive broadcasting rights for many of our variety shows!"

"We only promised not to license the copyright to other long-form video platforms such as iQiyi and LeTV, but we did not stipulate that we cannot build our own platforms for broadcasting. One show, My Love from the Star, has made them a lot of money. How many of our variety shows have they obtained the exclusive broadcasting rights for? They should be content. At worst, they can break the contract. What can they do to us?"

"Well, it's not like we're going to fall out. We only signed a two-year contract for the reruns, and only one year for the variety shows that will be aired simultaneously!"

"I still think that the long video industry is a thankless task. Why not wait until the cooperation with PPS ends and then re-authorize it to other streaming media? The highest bidder will get the reward and we can easily collect the money. Isn't that good? Why do we have to get involved in this muddy water? Apart from LeTV and PPS, which platform has made money?"

"This is raising a tiger to cause trouble! Selling programs to Internet platforms earns a little copyright fee and network influence, while Internet platforms use these high-quality content resources to continuously expand their competitive advantages, which will inevitably erode the market space of traditional media. Since the content value is so high, it is better to use it yourself rather than making wedding clothes for others."

"Zi~"

Lu Huanbing listened for a long time until he heard a fight breaking out inside, and then he pushed the door open.

"Director!"

"lead!"

The discussion in the conference room came to an abrupt halt, with only the sound of chairs rubbing against the ground.

Lu Huanbing extended his hand, motioning for everyone to sit down. He looked at his colleagues on both sides who were arguing and laughing, and said, "We have to do Mango TV, even if it means selling everything we have!"

"Master, I think..."

Before the other party could finish, Lv Huanbing interrupted: "I understand that it is difficult to enter the long video field at this stage, but we must take a long-term view. In the environment of media convergence and intensified competition, our good days are numbered, at most five years, at least three years. Instead of waiting for death, it is better to fight and exchange short-term pain for long-term survival."

He paused, his eyes deep: "Do you remember what the old director said when we established the station?"

"Do it or die!" a square-faced man in his forties responded loudly.

Lu Huanbing's eyes fell on him: "Zhang Ruobo."

"Director!"

"You are fully responsible for Mango TV!"

In Xiamen, after two months of filming, "The Sun Also Rises" was finally completed.

Lu Yuan took the flowers prepared in advance from the staff and took photos with everyone with a smile.

He is in a good mood today.

Since the launch of "Run", the number of new downloads of PPS has continued to rise, with the highest daily month-on-month growth reaching an astonishing 80%.

In the monthly ranking of video websites in October 2013, PPS ranked first, far ahead of other competitors.

With an average of more than 7000 million traffic per episode, an average daily user base of 3078 million, and the growth rate of paying users, it leads the entire video industry.

To some extent, PPS has flexed its muscles to the entire industry through "Running Man", injected variety show genes into the platform, and at the same time seized an IP with great commercial value that can lay golden eggs.

Of course, what he didn’t know was that PPS was about to face a strong rival in the variety show field.

"Teacher Lu, can we take a photo together? Our whole family is your fan."

"of course can!"

(End of this chapter)