Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 636 The Three Major Sects Prepare to Besiege Bright Peak

Changsha, Golden Eagle Building, is where Hunan TV is located.

It was almost lunchtime, but the floor where the variety show department was located was anything but relaxed. Staff members hurried along the corridor, and project proposals were piled high on their workstations.

For Hunan TV, which has long held the title of "Number One Satellite TV," this is the norm.

"Dong Dong Dong~"

Three urgent knocks broke the silence of Long Danni's office. It was clear that the person knocking was in a hurry, but probably intimidated by the office owner's imposing presence, they dared not barge in.

Long Danni was in front of her computer revising the sponsorship proposal for a new variety show. Without even looking up, she said, "Go in."

The person who pushed open the door was Xiao Zhou, an intern from the new media team. She rushed in, her voice filled with barely concealed anxiety: "President Long, I just received news that Zhejiang TV, Jiangsu TV, and Dragon TV all updated their official Weibo accounts at almost the same time!"

Long Danni paused, her hand gripping the mouse pausing, and looked up at Xiao Zhou: "Be more specific..."

Her fingers, gripping the mouse, were rapidly tapping on the desktop; this habitual action often indicated that she was quickly organizing information.

Xiao Zhou quickly handed over the laptop, and the official Weibo pages of the three TV stations had already been displayed on the screen:

"Zhejiang TV has officially announced that 'The Voice of China' will air on the first Friday night of November during prime time. Jiangsu TV will air 'Running Man' on the second Saturday night during prime time. Dragon TV will air 'If You Are the One' on the third Sunday night, also during prime time. They're definitely doing this on purpose, just to take over all three days of prime time on the weekend!"

Long Danni ignored him and instead glanced at the official announcement on the screen.

The copywriting from the three companies is different:
The slogan under the golden microphone icon of Zhejiang TV is: "Find the most authentic voices and turn ordinary people into stars."

The official announcement for "Running Man" posted by Dragon TV's official Weibo account was a 15-second teaser rather than a static poster:
In the footage, several guests dressed in bright colors are running. Some of them are chased and hide in a corner, still clutching a cardboard sign that says "Name Tag". In the last second, the camera suddenly zooms in, revealing an exaggerated face of a guest as his "name tag" is ripped off.

The caption clearly has a family-oriented tone: "The second Saturday of November at 8:30 PM, a happy time for the whole family to sit together! 'Running Man' will show you new ways to play outdoors..."

Jiangsu TV's official Weibo account took a more sentimental approach.

The official poster for "If You Are the One" uses a light pink tone, with a blurred city night scene in the background and two pairs of hands about to hold each other in the foreground, with tiny "heart-fluttering codes" printed on the back of the hands.

The caption made no mention of competition or music, focusing solely on "emotion": "On the third Sunday of November at 9:00 PM, unwind from the week's fatigue and listen to the love stories of strangers—'If You Are the One,' and wait together for a sincere encounter."

She tapped her finger on the screen, her voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of seriousness: "Friday is music, Saturday is sports, Sunday is romance. Each one is precisely targeted at a different audience, covering viewers of all ages. They even deliberately avoid each other's schedules. When did these three companies form an alliance?"

Xiao Zhou added from the side, "Our new media team just compiled the data. The number of reposts from the three official Weibo accounts all exceeded 10,000 within half an hour. Netizens in the comments section are saying, 'Our weekend has been taken over by variety shows.' Even some of our advertisers just messaged us to ask if we should adjust our upcoming advertising plans."

Long Danni stood up, walked to the French windows, and looked down at the bustling street below.

As a producer who has created many hit variety shows, she knows all too well the power of this combination of three programs.

Singing competition shows like "The Voice of China" have the highest audience acceptance.

Running Man targets the outdoor entertainment needs of young people.

"If You Are the One" precisely hits the emotional pain points of family viewers.

The three programs are of three different types, so there will be no competition between them, and the broadcast times have been specially planned.

This isn't just three programs; it's clearly three satellite TV stations challenging Hunan TV's position as the "number one satellite TV station."

This is a declaration of war!

Even a fool would know that these three TV stations have joined forces when they posted on Weibo at the same time.

Long Danni turned around, her eyes no longer showing the initial seriousness, but rather a fighting spirit. They wanted to break the deadlock by using the weekend prime time slot as a 'siege', and we couldn't just sit and wait to die.

She picked up the landline on the table and dialed the variety show department: "Pass the word that we need to have an emergency meeting at 3 p.m. Bring all the variety show proposals that are currently being prepared, especially the music talent show and the outdoor experience project. We need to reassess their schedules and content highlights."

After hanging up the phone, Long Danni looked at the official announcements on the Weibo accounts of the three TV stations on her laptop, her gaze finally settling on the date "November".

"November, less than a month away, is enough time for us to come up with a solution."

In the corridor outside the office, many people are looking towards the office through the glass curtain wall, intentionally or unintentionally.

Everyone knows that a battle for the title of "Number One Satellite TV" has officially begun with the joint announcement from the three satellite TV stations.

This is a war, and variety shows are their battleground.

The simultaneous announcement of three programs hit Weibo like a stone thrown into the square.

The hashtag #ThreeMajorTVVarietyShowsReleaseDates# surged to 12th place on the trending topics list within half an hour of the post being published. Clicking on it revealed a flood of netizens' "schedule markings": "Watching 'The Voice of China' on Friday, catching up on 'Running Man' on Saturday, and waiting for 'If You Are the One' on Sunday, my November weekends are all booked up!"

On the "Entertainment Gossip" section of Tianya Forum, someone immediately started a "Prediction Thread for Three Variety Shows Competing Against Each Other," and the poster even made a schedule: "Zhejiang is targeting young music fans, Dragon TV is targeting family groups, and Jiangsu TV is targeting late-night emotional viewers. They're splitting their audience into three parts to eat!"

Even colleagues in the film and television industry are forwarding and discussing it. One producer wrote on Weibo: "Simultaneous official announcements + staggered releases, the three major TV stations are starting the November variety show battle ahead of schedule."

……

Star Entertainment
Zhang Chen, Zhong Lifang, and Dong Jianqiang hid in the meeting room eating boxed lunches.

"Old Dong, your teriyaki chicken rice... President Zhong, your beef rice... and my braised pork rice..."

Zhang Chen opened the lunchbox lid, and a fragrant aroma wafted out.

"They have lamb skewers here. Eat them while they're hot, they won't taste good when they're cold~"

It was raining outside today, and the group was too lazy to go out, so they simply asked the secretary to pack "Teacher Tian's Braised Pork" to eat.

They used to eat this fast food often, especially the braised pork, which tasted really good.

On the contrary, I've been eating less since I became rich. If it weren't for the rain today, I really wouldn't have remembered.

Before long, the sound of chewing filled the conference room as the three of them ate and chatted.

Many employees who bring their own lunches are used to eating in the conference room. Today, they brought their lunchboxes as usual, but when they saw that the three big shots had taken up the space, they all wisely left.

"Wow, those three families actually planned to post on Weibo together today!"

Dong Jianqiang discovered something new, and the two people next to him also saw the Weibo posts from the three satellite TV stations.

"This is a challenge!"

"They've been second-in-command for too long, and they're all thinking about ousting the leader. As for who will become the leader among the three after the leader is dethroned, we'll see..."

The group ate their meal while also enjoying some melon seeds.

"Wow, Hunan TV actually gave a thumbs up to three satellite TV stations! Ouyang Changlin is so generous!" Hunan TV's actions were truly beyond Zhang Chen's expectations.

The three were engrossed in their gossip when another Weibo post appeared, this time announcing that Huayi Brothers—China's first privately-owned film and television company—would be listed on the ChiNext board on October 30th…

"Number 30?"

"Yes, number 30."

"Tch, they dare to be the first to go public?"

Speaking of this, Dong Jianqiang looked very unhappy.

Huayi Brothers' IPO prospectus states that its net profit for the entire year of 2008 was 6806.45 million yuan.

This profit is nothing to Star Entertainment. Zhang Chen's profit from just one movie is many times that.

Dong Jianqiang always felt that Star Entertainment should have been the first to go public, but unfortunately, they submitted their IPO application earlier than them.

The Wang brothers were quite shrewd; as early as 03, they realized the importance of film distribution channels and began to expand their distribution business to make up for their shortcomings in this area.

Then they raised funds, started artist management business, accumulated more and more resources, and finally, with the help of capital, completed their IPO.

The reason the Wang brothers want to ease tensions with Star Entertainment is none other than to prepare for their IPO.

If Star Entertainment announces on the day of its IPO that it will go against Huayi Brothers, its stock price will likely fall below the offering price.

Star Entertainment itself has also submitted an IPO application, but it will have to wait until at least next year to go public.

In fact, Zhang Chen himself does not have a strong need to go public. He already has Jiahe, a listed company, and Cube, a cash cow.

Cube, despite being an independent production company, makes a lot of money.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon, released last month, had a production cost of only $50 million, but it grossed $1.43 million in its opening weekend.

Totally unreasonable.

This film didn't receive good reviews in North America, but that's okay, as long as it does well at the box office!
That's just how fan-made movies are.

With Cube and Jiahe, Zhang Chen wasn't short of money, but he had to think about his subordinates.

Why did such talented people as Dong Jianqiang, Zhong Lifang, and Chen Xiaowei follow him?
It's all for the day when the company goes public and I can achieve financial freedom.

If he insists on preventing Star Entertainment from going public, the end result will be a loss of morale and a growing disunity among its members.

Therefore, Star Entertainment's IPO is inevitable.

"Mr. Zhong, there's something I don't understand about the IPO. Could you please enlighten me?"

Since we're on the topic of going public, Dong Jianqiang has always had a question, and Zhong Lifang is an expert in this area, so it's a good opportunity to ask her for advice.

"You said~"

"A couple of years ago, didn't all the domestic companies go to Nasdaq to go public? How come those e-commerce companies have changed their focus in the last two years and are all settling down on the domestic ChiNext board?"

Zhong Lifang nodded upon hearing this. She was indeed an expert in this field. One of the main reasons that Xingchen Entertainment initially recruited her was to prepare for its IPO.

"There are two main reasons. First, domestic channels have opened up. When the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) was first launched in 2009, cultural companies that wanted to go public faced strict restrictions on 'asset-light, high-volatility' film and television companies on the domestic main board, so they could only try their luck on NASDAQ."

However, the ChiNext board now explicitly supports "innovative cultural enterprises," and Huayi Brothers benefited from this trend, enjoying a shorter review period and faster disbursement of funds compared to overseas listings.

She paused for a moment: "The second is the alignment of valuation with the market. Nasdaq doesn't really 'recognize' Chinese film and television companies listed in the US. For example, the company that went there a couple of years ago, overseas investors didn't understand our box office revenue sharing model, so the valuation they gave us was 30% lower than that of domestic companies."

But the situation is different in China. Before Huayi Brothers went public, institutional investors were eager to acquire it because they believed that the projects it had in its portfolio could generate revenue and they were willing to pay a high premium.

Furthermore, there are policy safeguards. The "Cultural Industry Revitalization Plan," released just last month, explicitly states that it will "support cultural enterprises in listing and raising funds." Isn't that a clear enough signal?

"I think it's a good thing to be listed, no matter where it is."

Zhang Chen, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up, "The second round of negotiations for the Sino-US film agreement is about to begin. Hollywood is coming on strong, and we can't rely on Star Entertainment alone to shoulder the heavy responsibility of resisting Hollywood."

I actually hope that all domestic film and television companies can go public soon. The film and television industry needs money to develop. Making big-budget productions, establishing distribution channels, and cultivating new talent all require money. Going public will allow them to raise funds immediately. Only when the film and television industry is strong will it not be afraid of foreign invasions..."

He was telling the truth. In China, there isn't a single film and television company that can produce several big-budget productions every year like Star Entertainment.

Most of them have very poor risk resistance. If one or two movies lose money in a row, the company may go out of business.

How can anyone feel at ease expecting such a fragile company to withstand Hollywood's onslaught?

……

In the afternoon, in the office of the Variety Strategy Department of Hunan TV, the station director Ouyang Changlin personally arrived, and the low pressure in the air seemed to be visible to the naked eye.

On the big screen, the official announcements from the three major TV stations were displayed in a split-screen format, with real-time data scrolling below: The Voice of China's official announcement was forwarded more than 5000 times in half an hour, the discussion volume of Running Man's parent-child forum increased by 30%, and If You Are the One was forwarded more than 200 times by relationship bloggers.

Long Danni was in charge of explaining, while data analyst Xiao Li helped her change the slides: "Director, look at these schedules—Zhejiang TV chose Friday at 20:00 PM, which is targeting our 'Day Day Up'; Dragon TV chose Saturday at 20:30 PM, and it's also a game show, so it's definitely targeting our 'Happy Camp'; Jiangsu TV's 'If You Are the One' on Sunday doesn't conflict with ours..."

Director Ouyang remained noncommittal, his gaze sweeping over the banner on the wall—"Number One in Provincial Satellite TV Ratings for Five Consecutive Years."

He picked up a pen and circled three dates on the "November schedule," his strokes so forceful it seemed he would snap the pen tip: "Hunan TV's current status is built on variety shows. The alliance of these three companies today is aimed at dismantling our foundation."

He paused for a moment: "What was the average viewership rating for 'Happy Camp' last month?"

"2.1%."

What about "Day Day Up"?

"1.9%."

"We must maintain this, Dani. You are fully responsible for this matter. You have the authority to adjust all programs in the variety show department. If you need cooperation from other departments, you can contact me anytime. I have only one request: you must ensure our station's dominant position in variety shows."

"Okay, Director~"

Long Danni was given this critical task, and just then, Xiao Li reported again: "Director, President Long, Zhang Chen from Xingchen Entertainment just liked and retweeted three Weibo posts!"

Long Danni and Ouyang Changlin exchanged a glance. Zhang Chen's move was tantamount to taking sides, and it seemed that it was time to turn against him.

(End of this chapter)