Unboxing, Director!

Chapter 99 Light Rain, Moderate Rain, Heavy Rain, Disaster Level (Two in One)

Time goes back to a month ago.

Friday, September 9, at the GMA TV headquarters in the Philippines.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the atmosphere in the conference room was a little depressing.

The reason is simple. The advertising investment progress in the fourth quarter is only halfway to the expected level.

This time last year it was already completed!

Same expectations, same time, but half the difference.

Faced with such performance, the newly appointed leadership team will naturally not be in a good mood.

What should we do when shareholders are about to ask questions?
Fortunately, it is not too late now. There is still nearly a month until the fourth quarter, and we can still make up for it with some effort.

However, the various suggestions put forward by the group were not very reliable, so no definite proposal could be put forward for a while.

At this moment, Technical Director Recardo's phone rang. The abrupt ringing silenced the conference room. Chairman Reyes frowned and said, "You have to mute your phone during meetings. Did you forget?"

But Recardo said, "It's important. I have to answer it."

President Duo Wan immediately signaled: "Technology is no small matter, Chairman, let him take it."

When the technical director calls, it is basically a technical matter and he has to answer it. It is definitely not because this person is on your side.

The chairman nodded, and the discussion continued. A moment later, Recardo returned, and Vice President Rosa immediately asked, "What's the problem?"

"No, it's about the Chinese imported drama last night."

This answer made President Duo Wan feel a little disappointed. Since people have asked this question, you should talk about some big issues. Can you bring up the matter of a mere drama in this occasion?
Sure enough, Rosa's tone turned sarcastic. "A single drama can make the technical director ignore the meeting to answer the phone. It seems the technical department is really short-staffed. Chairman, the technical department is one of the core departments of the TV station. Recardo is too busy to handle it. What will happen if problems arise in the future? I think we have to consider adding more staff."

This proposal attracted support from Rosa's group.

But Rosa wasn't done yet. "This Chinese drama was originally scheduled to air next month. I really don't know why you had to put it this month, President. I also don't understand why you didn't buy 'Close Family'. The ratings for that show are pretty good right now, 19%. It's a shame it was snatched away by a competitor."

Upon hearing this, the chairman glanced over.

President Duowan will naturally come up with a rebuttal.

But before he could speak, Recardo said, "Chairman, the ratings for the imported drama yesterday are out, 31%."

The "well" symbol on the chairman's forehead was about to transform into thunder, but it was suddenly interrupted. He looked up suddenly and said, "What did you say?"

"Ratings, 31%." Recardo remained concise and efficient.

"31%?!"

President Duo Wan stood up and asked, "Is the data reliable?"

"Reliable! 13.73% opening, 41.63% peak, 31.07% average."

When the detailed data was reported, everyone was stunned.

Although the 31% viewership rating did not break the station's TV drama ratings record, it was also the best result this year.

It's not just a question of whether it's good or not.

It is related to advertising and investment promotion, and its significance is great.

The reason why current investment promotion is progressing slowly is naturally because of the great competitive pressure.

Various TV stations are using various methods to continuously squeeze GMA's advantage.

GMA is no longer the dominant player it was a few years ago.

The overall ratings this year have dropped by about ten points compared to last year.

In terms of TV dramas, the best-performing drama currently has an average viewership rating of only 19.9%, just shy of breaking 20%.

The aviation cable TV across the street was lucky enough to introduce many dramas last year, such as China's "Return of the Condor Heroes", which greatly increased the popularity of the TV station.

Currently, their TV series can reach an average of about 15%, and the highest this year has reached 33%!

One has a maximum of 19.9%, and the other has an average of 15%.

If it weren't for the lingering influence of GMA, it would be difficult to achieve even 50% of the investment promotion progress, let alone 30%.

But things are different now.

"Is it Meteor Garden?" President Duo Wan continued to ask.

Recardo continued to respond rigorously, with a rare look of joy in his eyes: "Yes, it's this drama, the new drama by Chinese star Lu Jiang, the one that was introduced last month."

The chairman couldn't sit still any longer. "I know this play, but I think the voice acting was only done last week, right?"

"Yes, Chairman. The dubbing for the first episode was completed last Saturday. We had originally planned to air the first episode in prime time this Saturday, but due to some reasons, it had to be aired last night at 10pm."

Recardo said, looking at Rosa.

The chairman didn't notice because his eyes were now even wider.

It's a bit scary that a show like this can achieve such ratings during such an unpopular time slot.

The first thing he thought of was "Return of the Condor Heroes". When "Return of the Condor Heroes" was broadcast in the Philippines last year, the streets of the Philippines were deserted, the highest ratings were about 40% on average, and the audience share was about 25%.

But the problem is that "Return of the Condor Heroes" was already very famous before it was broadcast. It was reported in the Philippines for several months, and it only became a hit after it was broadcast.

The early popularity of "Meteor Garden" was far lower than that of "My Fair Princess".

How can they still achieve such great ratings like this?
In response to the chairman's doubts, Recardo continued, "From last night until now, we've received a total of 162 feedback calls, 73% of which requested replays. Young people account for over 9% of the callers."

When Ricardo said this, everyone was shocked again.

More than a hundred feedback calls in half a day.

This is a record, right?
And they are mostly young people?
Now everyone understands why the ratings are so high.

That basically means that "Meteor Garden" has accurately hit the hearts of young people.

How else to explain?

But now is not the time to dwell on this, the chairman quickly called out: "Let's go to the technical department!"

President Duo Wan immediately led the way, his steps moving with great vigor.

Rosa, who was behind, looked a little unnatural, but she also cheered up and followed.

With a 31% viewership, she already had a clear idea of ​​what the TV station would face next, and she didn't want to miss this opportunity.

Soon, after several confirmations, the entire leadership team breathed a sigh of relief.

The next step is to start a series of work around ratings, including investment promotion and publicity.

The most important one was changing the broadcast schedule from one episode a week to two episodes a week, and changing the time to Saturday night prime time. It could have been faster, but there was no other way, as dubbing was required.

Then, by the end of the second week of broadcasting, the entire leadership team was behind Recardo, waiting for the data.

Everyone looked relaxed because although the final data had not yet come out, the nearly 500 audience feedback calls from last night to now had shown that the effect was quite good.

Subsequently, the data came out, averaging 29%!

Although there has been a decline, this is the prime time of the weekend!

The competition far exceeds Thursday's upset slot.

Even so, it still managed to get 29%, which shows that this drama has really exploded!

Wow!
Everyone exclaimed again.

However, the chairman remained calm and quickly issued an order: "Release the data, and push for the audience share data as soon as possible. Regarding investment promotion, any investment below 80 million pesos ( RMB) will be rejected directly."

29% viewership, 15 million pesos for a -second ad, it's worth it.

The chairman assigned tasks, but it was all nonsense because the specific plan had been discussed in the meeting yesterday.

But it does not prevent him from being so powerful now.

Everyone agreed.

President Duo Wan then said, "There is a clause about subsequent performances in the contract. I suggest we connect now."

The reason is simple. There are currently two episodes a week, and it is expected to take several months to complete.

The ratings in the latter part may not be able to maintain.

At this time, while the ratings are high, letting the main creators do some publicity will be more conducive to attracting investment in the next quarter.

At the same time, Lujiang is also quite popular, and every visit here can bring in income!

But the chairman said: "We can release some information first, and then we can talk about the details after the investment promotion work is completed."

It now seems that spreading the word is enough to ensure the progress of investment promotion in the next quarter, and perhaps even exceed the target without spreading the word.

So is it necessary to be so urgent? Why not let them come after the progress is completed, then you can make money more flexibly.
Things were arranged quickly.

As the ratings of "Meteor Garden" continued to rise and various TV stations reported on it, the "meteor shower craze" in the Philippines officially began.

By the third week, after the fourth and fifth episodes of "Meteor Garden" were aired, the average viewership had reached 38%, and the audience share had reached 25%.

Ratings represent popularity, while audience share represents competitiveness in the same time period.

25% means that during prime time on television, one in four people in the country watched the show.

At that time, the number of "Return of the Condor Heroes 2" was about the same.

This is even more terrifying than the ratings. From then on, GMA also began to officially use audience share to demonstrate its performance.

By the fourth week, GMA had completely completed its fourth quarter investment promotion and achieved outstanding results with an over-progress rate of 160%.

At the same time, the ratings share of "Meteor Garden" in the fourth week reached 32%, surpassing "Return of the Condor Heroes 2".

The terrifying data shows that "Meteor Garden" has become a phenomenal work in the Philippines.

The most obvious thing is that there are many more "F4" elements in the local area.

Young people began to flock to barbershops, and the Tony class began to experience a catastrophe. Those who couldn't cut F4 hairstyles were directly eliminated.
For the TV station, the biggest problem at the moment is how to arrange for F4 to come to the Philippines.

Over the past four weeks, the TV station has received countless calls and letters.

The speed at which its fans have grown and their enthusiasm can only be described as "rapid", far exceeding that of "Return of the Condor Heroes".

The reason is also very simple.

"Return of the Condor Heroes" is suitable for all ages.

The audience is large, but the feedback they can provide is not as good as Meteor Garden.

Because "Meteor Garden" is mainly aimed at young people.

Young talents are the main consumers and are more willing to provide feedback.

So this also means that the visit of the main creators of "Meteor Garden" to the Philippines has great commercial potential!

But here's the thing.

Earlier, the chairman only released some information but did not actively promote the specific docking work.

Now comes the problem.

"What? We've already confirmed Singapore and Malaysia. And then there's Bangkok and this and this. We're going to air it first."

Vice President Rosa is now speechless.

"Meteor Garden" is not only popular in the Philippines.

Meteor showers have also occurred in other Southeast Asian countries.

The reason is simple, many of these countries do not broadcast two episodes a week.

Some do not need translation.

So even though it was broadcast late, now that four weeks have passed, the progress has already caught up.

The result was that the public was extremely enthusiastic and asked the TV station to invite Lu Jiang and the main creators.

Advertisers are also pressing forward. Good things like this must happen quickly!
At this point, GMA could have been the first to get the upper hand.

But one step slow leads to all the slow steps.

So much so that the other party’s schedule is now scheduled for next month!
But what can we do? The decision was made by the chairman.

President Duowan is now in high spirits.

As a "loser", I can only help them clean up their mess.

Good or bad.

In the end, Rosa finally reached a good result with Warner.

Come back next month.

But the "Meteor Garden" album can be released first, although it won't be the first release in the Philippines.

Moreover, a lot of various profits were also given up.

But at least I can get the job done.

"That's all right, Rosa. You have to handle this matter properly. If anything goes wrong, I can't protect you!"

The chairman spoke earnestly, and Rosa withdrew.
The Philippines has confirmed that Lu Jiang and the main creators of "Meteor Garden" will arrive in early November.

At that time, a series of business activities such as concerts, autograph sessions, fan meetings, variety shows, etc. will be fully scheduled.

The TV station even broadcast an advance greeting video recorded by Lu Jiang and the main creators.

This made Lu Jiang's fans and F4 fans in the Philippines very happy.

Then the "Meteor Shower" album was released in mid-to-late October and set a sales record in a short period of time.

Not much, only 12 genuine albums were sold in a week, but in this era of rampant piracy, this is already quite terrifying.

In addition to F4's albums, the number of on-demand views of Lu Jiang's MVs on the local Chanal Music TV station has surged. Iconic MVs such as "Fairy Tale" have swept the country, and Lu Jiang's past albums have also seen a surge in popularity.

At the same time, the personal stories of Lu Jiang and the main creators began to spread widely.

What, Lu Jiang also won the Golden Lion Award?

What, "Meteor Garden" is just his practice show?

What, Fan Binbin has this past with Qiong Yao?

What, the other three F4 members are all top students?
What? Ximen Yubo was a bodyguard at BJ's Zhongnanhai? Huaze Lei and Qiao Zhenyu are good dancers and have performed in Europe? Misaku was an athlete as a child and later became an actor?
What.
One is a talented man, one is a beautiful, strong and miserable one, and there are several top students.

Each one is so handsome and beautiful.

What they eat, drink, use and live in are all so "elite".

That love triangle.

That friendship and love.

That passion to resist injustice.

The interesting stories behind the TV series.
With the popularity of "Meteor Garden" in the Philippines, the topic is about to explode.

Especially among young people, it far surpassed "Return of the Condor Heroes" at that time.

The ones who are most happy are the local pirates.

In addition to albums, F4's portraits have been used on pots, pans, clothes, stationery, etc., and they have no worries about selling them.

Meteor shower, moderate rain turns to heavy rain in the Philippines.

By late October, the 10th week of "Meteor Garden"'s audience share officially reached a record high of 8%.

That is to say, during the prime time on Saturday, nearly half of all Filipinos watching TV were watching "Meteor Garden".

This made the GMA leadership team lament that it was a pity that the contract was signed too early!

The advertisers were overjoyed and began calling Warner and Lujiang to seek further cooperation.

At this point, the meteor shower in the Philippines has turned from heavy rain to torrential rain.

But Lu Jiang knew that this data still did not reach the "historical high point".

The original version was broadcast in the Philippines in 02. At that time, the highest audience share exceeded 50%, and the average was stable at more than 40%.

The key point is that there were more Philippine channels at that time than there are now, so when converted, there is still a lot of room for growth.

But no matter what, this shows that "Meteor Garden" has exploded in Southeast Asia.

The enthusiasm of the Philippines cannot be compared with that of Bangkok.

At this time in Bangkok, the meteor shower here has become a natural disaster level.

10 month 27 day.

Lu Jiang, Deng Chao and other main creators set off from Vietnam to Bangkok.

Ever since "Meteor Garden" took over on the 10th, it has become a complete hit in Southeast Asia.

A few days later, the team started their trip to Southeast Asia.

The first stop was Singapore, where the situation was relatively stable.

Lu Jiang has some basic popularity there, but "Meteor Garden" had only just started airing there not long ago.

The original plan was to start broadcasting at the end of August, but many things are unpredictable and cannot be kept up with the changes in plans. It was not until the end of September, after Singapore completely lost hope of winning medals in the Sydney Olympics, that the popularity returned to normal. Then in early October, "Meteor Garden" also began broadcasting.

However, there are five episodes a week here, so the speed at which the popularity explodes is not much slower than elsewhere.

By around the 12th, "Meteor Garden" was halfway through its broadcast, and the "meteor shower" had reached the level of heavy rain.

What followed was the huge sales of the album "Meteor Shower".

It’s an excellent start.

When Lu Jiang and the main creators arrived here on the 14th, they were greeted by a group of about 2000 people.

It may not look like much, but this is Singapore, and there are only a few people in Singapore.

After Singapore is Malaysia, which, like Singapore, will start broadcasting in early October.

In about two weeks, the "meteor shower" will be fully formed.

Lu Jiang also has basic popularity here.

The last time I came here was during the release of "Lu Jiang·Chinese Style".

This time, "Beautiful Rivers and Mountains" was also released here, and the results were good, but it did not surpass the previous album.

Theoretically speaking, this visit can only consolidate popularity.

But it’s different now. The popularity of "Meteor Garden" has become obvious.

It was much more ferocious than it was two days ago in Singapore.

The number of people picking up the passengers at the airport reached over 6000, which really scared Deng Chao and the others, because most of them came for F4.

Five days after Malaysia, it will be followed by Indonesia and Vietnam.

These two places are exactly the opposite of Singapore and Malaysia.

The contract states that it will premiere in October.

But in fact, just like in the Philippines, it started airing in September.

However, it is also broadcast weekly, and because of the dubbing, the episodes are played at a slower rate.

But the two places responded faster than the Philippines.

The performance was proposed in mid-October, so we were able to reap the benefits in advance before the Philippines.

The number of people picking up the plane was slightly less than in Malaysia because the broadcast progress was a little slower and the economic level was much lower, but it was enough to show that "Meteor Garden" had completely become a phenomenal trend in Southeast Asia.

Waited until the 27th, Bangkok, Thailand.

Now even though the previous areas have already adapted.

After leaving the airport, Deng Chao and others were still shocked.

It was estimated that there were more than 10,000 fans waiting to pick them up at the airport, the place was packed and the screams filled the sky.

Television stations came out in droves, dozens and hundreds of cameras and cameras.
Coincidentally, Xie Tingfeng will also arrive at Bangkok Airport today.

At this time, Xie Tingfeng was still taking advantage of the opportunity to be in the "strategic encirclement".

Starting from August, he and Lu Jiang's schedules were intentionally staggered.

When Lu Jiang held a concert south of the Yangtze River, he went to the north to take care of the announcements.

Lu Jiang was in the east, so he went to the central part.

Since Lu Jiang couldn't go to Taiwan, he developed Taiwan in depth.

During the Sydney Olympics in September, Lu Jiang began to rest, but he continued to perform 9 consecutive shows in Hong Kong to surpass his achievements at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

After the Sydney Olympics, they will cooperate with other singers to reap the popularity.

By early October, his overall popularity level in mainland China was as expected. Although he was still a bit behind Lu Jiang, at least the gap was not too big.

In Taiwan, his popularity has already surpassed others.

He even participated in individual programs in Japan and South Korea, achieving a breakthrough from zero.

At the same time, the movies he starred in also achieved good results. "Upstream and Downstream" won the "Future Digital Film Award" after its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival. Although it has nothing to do with him personally, he also has a "Venice Film Festival" record in his resume.

Overall, the progress is very good.

By mid-October, Nicholas Tse was finally ready to enter Southeast Asia.

As a result, the popularity of F4 in Southeast Asia exploded instantly at this time.

A week ago, many local media outlets had no idea what F4 was.

A week later, the meteor shower began to fall.

Then in a very short time, light rain turned into moderate rain, followed by heavy rain and finally thunderstorms.

Like a stable bomb, at first glance, it seems peaceful and tranquil.

Those who don’t know would mistake it for an ordinary sack, and most would probably not even look at it.

As a result, the "burlap bag" exploded in an instant, and its power caught everyone off guard.

The local media were a little confused, and many did not understand the situation, not to mention the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea thousands of kilometers away.

So after coming from the north and getting used to Lujiang's popularity.

Once you arrive in Southeast Asia, you’ll realize it’s another level of popularity.

It's easy to make people feel as if they are in another world.

Just like Xie Tingfeng now.

A few days ago, when I held a fan meeting in Japan, I was still trying to find out more about Lu Jiang.

When he learned that there was still no itinerary for Southeast Asia, he was very happy and felt that this Southeast Asian detour would definitely achieve complete victory.

But a few days later I heard that F4 was very popular in Southeast Asia?

F4?

Which singer is this?
Is it a combination or something?
Then he found out before boarding the plane to Bangkok today.

F4 is Lu Jiang, Lu Jiang is F4!

And today they landed at the same time.

The key point is that Lu Jiang’s trip to Bangkok this time was chartered by the Thai side!
Damn, is this such a big deal?
However, the moment he stepped out of the plane, Xie Tingfeng still had a certain sense of luck.

He felt that no matter what, he was also crushed head-on by the "god-level disaster" "Return of the Condor Heroes 2". At that time, he was at most a "tiger-level".

No matter how powerful Lu Jiang is, "Meteor Garden", even with Lu Jiang's blessing, can only be a "Dragon Level" at best.

Moreover, this is Bangkok, the culture is different, he is not familiar with the place, and it is not his home ground, so I am afraid that this dragon-level disaster will have to be discounted!

Now I have grown to at least "Tiger level", and I am also a Hong Kong native, so I have a natural advantage here. If I round it up, it won't be a problem to be considered "Dragon level".

Therefore, if we try hard this time, we can still achieve a close match.

But what about the results.

When he got out of the airport, he saw the huge crowd in the pick-up area. Even though he was born in Hong Kong and had seen many celebrities being picked up at the airport, the scale of today's event was something he had never seen before.

Xie Tingfeng's first reaction was actually a little joy in his heart.

Look, brother, this popularity
However, the next second, the crowd began to rush towards another passage.

Then, flash lights clicked like lightning, illuminating the entire airport ceiling. Then, it seemed that the real person finally appeared at the entrance.

Then all kinds of screams exploded instantly.

Accompanied by continuous flashes, it was very similar to the oppressive lightning and thunder during a thunderstorm. However, this side was empty, with garbage scattered all over the ground, which was quite miserable.

Xie Tingfeng suddenly had a strong premonition that from today on, he would no longer have the possibility of competing with Lu Jiang.
Xie Tingfeng: What's the most memorable thing since debuting? (Laughs) Let me think about it (begins to become serious, then a hint of pain in his eyes, followed by an even deeper pain).
Bass: Is it a little hard to open your mouth?
Xie Tingfeng (forced smile): There are too many to mention. I can’t think of which one to talk about right now. Let’s change the subject.

Bass: Okay, then how about you tell me about your injury? I heard you were injured while filming in Thailand in 00.
Xie Tingfeng stood up with a cold face: Stop, I won’t record anymore!
—Excerpt from an unfinished episode of “A Date with Lu Yu” in 2006]

(End of this chapter)