Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 323 The Era of Internet Film Promotion Ushered in by Douyin

"...Based on Shein's development needs, they raised $2.5 million in Series C funding this year to accelerate their international expansion."

Chen Xiu recounted her business trip findings to Zhang Yiming and Su Xiao, both of whom had identical investigation reports in their hands.

Looking at the contents of the report and considering the financing scale mentioned by Chen Xiu, Zhang Yiming seemed somewhat hesitant.

"$25 million, a 10% share, that's $2.5 billion after the funding round. Can Shein's size support this valuation?"

“I visited their factory and confirmed last year’s order volume and the operational status of their early overseas expansion.”

Chen Xiu adjusted the content of the PPT on the projector, and Zhang Yiming and Su Xiao quickly turned to the corresponding page of the report.

"Shein's core concept is 'small orders, fast response,' which means small order volume and fast reorder speed. It can complete the process from design to sample garment in 3 days. It is to apply the efficiency of domestic fast-moving consumer goods to the overseas market, and the prospects are very good."

"Regarding overseas operations, Shein had already completed the site layout in the European region in 13-14, entered the Camel region market in 15, and plans to enter the American market this year."

In 16, Shein's global sales reached 16.2 billion RMB, and its total GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) exceeded 100 billion RMB last year, with an average annual growth rate of 510%.

The initial hesitation stemmed from a lack of understanding, but upon seeing these strings of numbers, Zhang Yiming's eyes began to gleam – this was all money!

Su Xiao was the first to notice Shein, and she was aware of what Chen Xiu had said.

How will the collaboration between TikTok and Shein unfold?

Chen Xiu glanced at Su Xiao and turned the PPT to the last page: "Currently, Shein's promotion method is still based on spending money to buy traffic. 40% of their traffic comes from Google search and 30% comes from app store ads."

"Xu Yangtian tried sending free samples to small influencers he collaborates with on Facebook and YouTube for evaluation, but this method was not very targeted and the market expansion was too slow."

“It was in September of last year that he noticed the existence of TikTok. Considering the speed of Douyin’s development in China, he felt that we could try to cooperate. After I went to Guangzhou, the negotiations went very smoothly. Most of the week was actually spent learning about Shein.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yiming couldn't help but nod in approval.

Su Xiao placed the report on the table and said, "TikTok was the main investor in Shein's Series C funding round. Does the company currently have enough cash flow to cover it?"

"not enough!"

Chen Xiu's answer was straightforward.

Before Su Xiao and Zhang Yiming could ask any questions, he said, "This is the second topic I want to discuss. TikTok needs to prepare for its next round of financing. The purpose of the financing is both for its own development and to improve its e-commerce functions."

Su Xiao and Zhang Yiming had no objections.

TikTok's development is different from Douyin's. Its advertising revenue and streamer tipping revenue are incomparable to those in China, and the Dou+ feature is nowhere to be seen.

The company is currently in the stage of burning money to acquire traffic, and financing is a necessary means.

After discussing the size of TikTok's next round of financing and potential investors, the three returned to Douyin, focusing mainly on the market feedback of Dou+.

"Dou+ sales reached 260 million yuan in the two natural weeks of January, an increase of 120% compared to the total sales of the entire month of December last year."

At this point, Su Xiao, who was giving the report, suddenly stopped and glanced at Chen Xiu.

"In January, 30% of the sales revenue came from the promotion of film and television business, of which the Dou+ promotion fee for 'The Ex-File 3' alone reached 30 million yuan."

After realizing what was happening, Zhang Yiming turned to look at Chen Xiu and said, "You guys who make movies, you're really rich!"

"Okay!"

Chen Xiuman said nonchalantly, "Currently, the publicity costs for blockbusters are basically equal to the production costs, and in the future, publicity costs may even exceed the production costs."

"The Dou+ function has not yet been accepted by ordinary users. Let's advertise for the film and television industry first and collect some advertising fees. After Douyin reached a cooperation with Maoyan Movies, its publicity and distribution efficiency is much better than the traditional model."

Zhang Yiming doesn't understand movies, but he knows that the industry has a lot of cash flow.

In terms of Dou+'s function, it does indeed meet the needs of movie promotion, and the two parties can be considered to have a win-win cooperation relationship.

However, he was also quite curious about something else: "Xiu, didn't you have a big falling out with those two brothers from Huayi? Why did you take the initiative to have the company's marketing department go to Huayi to discuss cooperation this time?"

"Business is business, and private matters are private matters. Isn't the 3000 million Dou+ that Huayi bought worth money?"

Chen Xiu said it as a matter of course.

Zhang Yiming nodded silently, also feeling that Chen Xiu was not the kind of person who would let personal matters interfere with public duty.

After finishing their casual conversation, the three continued their meeting.

However, the other party involved, who was in the Huayi office, still didn't quite understand.

"Brother, what's going on with Chen Xiu?"

Wang Zhonglei looked at his older brother Wang Zhongjun with a puzzled expression, while he held the latest box office data for "The Ex-Files 3" in his hand.

After three weeks in theaters, the film has grossed over 16 billion yuan.

This achievement can be seen as a shot in the arm for Huayi's lackluster performance throughout last year.

Upon hearing his younger brother's question, Wang Zhongjun also looked thoughtful.

After a moment, his eyes changed from doubt to certainty.

"Perhaps we underestimated Chen Xiu. He never intended to use Douyin promotion to block Huayi. Even if the two sides have different ideas, it will not affect business dealings."

"Tsk, if that's the case, I should have promoted 'Youth' on Douyin back then, and the box office could have been another 200 million..." "What's the point of saying all this? It would be great if 'Youth' could gross over 1 billion, but the high box office of 'The Ex-File 3' was mostly due to the promotion on Douyin."

"That's not necessarily true. Maybe the box office of 'The Ex-File 3' was just that high. How can it be attributed to Douyin?"

To Wang Zhongjun, Wang Zhonglei's denial was tantamount to a child throwing a tantrum.

He's not blind. In the past two weeks, short videos, hashtags, and iconic scenes from "The Ex-Files 3" have been trending on Douyin almost every day, generating a lot of buzz and discussion.

This is also why they are willing to spend up to 3000 million to buy Dou+, because online promotion is cheaper and more cost-effective than offline promotion.

Thinking of this, Wang Zhongjun's expression suddenly changed, and he said, "No, if things continue to develop like this, won't Douyin become the only platform to dominate online movie promotion?"

"So from now on we'll have to live at Chen Xiu's mercy?"

Wang Zhonglei's face was extremely ugly. He thought to himself: After all this time, I'll still have to beg for food on my knees in the future.

Just as the two brothers were feeling down, the cell phone on the table suddenly rang.

Seeing that it was his phone ringing, Wang Zhongjun subconsciously reached out to pick it up.

After seeing the caller ID on the screen, he paused for a moment, then quickly answered, "Hello, Mr. Ma?"

"Loyal Lord! May I ask you something?"

"Of course, I will answer all your questions to the best of my ability."

"Hehe, don't be so serious! It's just a small thing. Um~, you guys recently released a movie called 'The Ex-Files 3,' and I'd like to know how much you spent on Douyin?"

A fleeting look of surprise crossed Wang Zhongjun's face, but he still answered truthfully.

"We spent a total of 3000 million yuan to purchase Dou+ on Douyin."

"Oh, what's the conversion rate like? How many people bought tickets through the Douyin link?"

"The exact number has not been counted, but according to the back-end data, the transaction volume of movie tickets in two weeks is about 3 million."

"understood."

Only Ma Yun's thoughtful voice remained on the other end of the phone, making Wang Zhongjun want to ask but afraid of disturbing him.

After a long while, I finally heard a voice from the other end of the phone.

"Chen Xiu's idea is actually quite good. Ali Pictures already has a complete upstream and downstream industry chain, but it has never known how to use it smoothly."

"His idea of ​​using the internet for promotion and then adding a Maoyan movie link to complete the transaction is definitely a very successful innovative promotional strategy."

"I just had a sudden idea and I'm going to take inspiration from Chen Xiu's approach and add the 'Ticket Pay' function to Alipay and Taobao, these two traffic portals, to see if it can improve Alipay's lifestyle and community features."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhongjun's eyes lit up instantly.

He was just worried that Douyin would monopolize online promotion, but now that Ma Yun has come in and disrupted things, things are much easier.

As long as there is competition, they can make choices and still act like royalty even with money.

Wang Zhongjun showered Ma Yun with praise, hoping that he could bring the "pay with Alipay" model to save the online promotion and distribution of films.

"Haha! You're exaggerating. I was inspired by Chen Xiu to do this. Let me think about it some more. You go ahead and do your thing."

After saying that, Ma Yun hung up the phone.

Wang Zhongjun gripped his phone, his face alternating between pale and flushed. As he came to his senses, his thoughts began to extend further.

In fact, whether it's Ma Yun or Chen Xiu, as long as the internet industry controls online promotion, people in the film and television industry will all have to beg for food on their knees in the future, it's just that the people they're begging to are different.

Thinking of this, Wang Zhongjun sighed inwardly: The landscape of the film and television industry has changed...

Meanwhile, the discussion in the Douyin conference room was also coming to an end.

"By the way, Mr. Chen, there's something I need to tell you."

"Huh? You say."

Chen Xiu looked at Su Xiao hesitantly, wondering why she had suddenly called her name.

Zhang Yiming also looked back and forth between the two with curiosity, probably already speculating in his mind whether the two had quarreled.

Su Xiao, who was used to addressing people by their job titles, didn't find anything wrong with it. She called out to Chen Xiu because it was indeed for work-related matters.

"The company's business department contacted CCTV, hoping to obtain the online broadcasting rights for this year's Spring Festival Gala and increase user numbers."

"and then?"

"The negotiation process went smoothly, except that CCTV made a request at the end. They wanted to talk to you about the production of 'The Xuanwu Gate Incident'."

"understood."

Chen Xiu pondered and nodded, thinking: "The highest rating for 'Qin King's Battle Song' on local TV was 15%, and considering its domestic success, it's not surprising that it caught the attention of CCTV. Besides, everyone knows about my relationship with Douyin..."

"OK, I'll communicate with them."

(End of this chapter)