I really don't want to make bad movies!

When Xia Ming woke up, the average number of views per episode of "The Swindler" had already risen to 30 million!

My QQ space and WeChat Moments have been bombarded with ads from Tencent Video. Every time I open them, I inevitably see the poster for "Mao Pian".

This is a true carpet-bombing viral propaganda campaign; every few posts on WeChat Moments, you'll see a "GG" banner appear in your view.

Furthermore, Tencent has also engaged in a confrontational marketing campaign, with many of their promotional phrases implying a disparagement of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4".

Tired of formulaic, repackaged idol dramas? Try this highly-rated urban crime series!

"The entire cast delivers high-IQ and excellent acting, with multiple plot twists that will leave you gasping in amazement!"

"A beauty that appears only once in five thousand years, all found in this book, 'The Swindler'..."

Xia Ming was stunned. Where did Tencent's publicity department find these amazing Pokémon?

Aren't you afraid of being sued for writing this kind of promotional slogan?

But it was precisely this shameless promotion that led to a terrifying surge in the traffic of "The Swindler"!

Xia Ming also asked He Junyan for some data and learned that the user growth rate of "Mao Pian" was not only over 400%, but the retention rate was as high as 80%!

The reason why the data is so explosive is thanks to iQiyi.

To pave the way for "Chinese Paladin 4", iQiyi spent heavily to clear out the year-end release schedule.

As a result, the reputation of "Chinese Paladin 4" plummeted, and with no other web series to choose from, viewers naturally turned to "The Swindler".

In order to determine who the leading platform is by the end of the year, Tencent Capital naturally did not miss this opportunity of traffic transfer and put a lot of effort into promotion and marketing.

Xia Ming also seized the opportunity to prepare to update the commentary on episodes three and four of "The Swindler" on Green Fruit Short Video.

However, as soon as he opened Green Fruit Short Video, he found that his video was no longer at the top of the featured recommendations.

He became the narrator of another web series.

Xia Ming was puzzled and clicked on his homepage to see the data from the "Mao Pian" commentary.

This work has been removed from the platform.

My work has been taken down?!

The "Mao Pian" commentary video used to attract traffic was actually taken down by the iQiyi website?

Not only that, a red exclamation mark appeared in the lower right corner of the Sun and Moon commentator's account!

This account is temporarily unavailable for following due to violations of community guidelines.

Is my account being throttled?

What's going on?

Before posting the video, Xia Ming specifically asked Xiao Cheng for permission before uploading it.

Now, not only have the videos been taken down, but the account has also been restricted in terms of traffic.

This is the fastest way for him to gain followers recently, and it's related to the system rewards!

Xia Ming immediately opened WeChat and contacted Xiao Cheng.

Why is my account being throttled?

Xiao Cheng sent a crying emoji.

……

Kiwi Fruit Jinghai Headquarters.

Xiao Cheng huddled in his workstation, trembling with fear.

Hearing hurried footsteps in the hallway, she adjusted her round-framed glasses and quietly looked up.

Huang Xuke walked out of the conference room, tugging at his tie, and slammed a stack of documents on her desk while cursing.

"Mr. Huang, should we... delete the Sun and Moon Commentary account...?"

"Don't delete it! I'd like to see who dares to delete it!" Huang Xuke unbuttoned his collar, clearly furious. "Get me a bottle of water."

"oh."

Xiao Cheng took out a bottle of AD calcium from the treasure box under his workstation.

Huang Xuke squinted: "You drink this stuff at work?"

Xiao Cheng looked at him pitifully: "There's also Want Want Milk, do you want some...?"

"Oh well, never mind."

Huang Xuke's anger subsided considerably, and he inserted a straw: "That idiot Yang Xianghua is going too far, he's even trying to intrude into our short video section."

Xiao Cheng, holding his phone, said, "Mr. Huang, Riyue Commentator is asking about the account. How should I reply to him...?"

"You're asking this?! Think about it yourself!" Huang Xuke said, biting his straw. "I'll definitely keep this account safe."

"All right."

"Compile the data on the accounts participating in the Star Chart Project and send it to me before 6 PM tonight."

Looking at the huge pile of documents Huang Xuke had left on the table, Xiao Cheng felt like crying.

She hasn't watched the latest episode of "The Swindler" yet!

This morning, Yang Xianghua, the president of the TV series section, discovered that the video of "Mao Pian" was posted next to "Chinese Paladin 4". He directly overstepped his authority and took down the video, and also temporarily banned the account of Riyue Commentary.

Yang Xianghua's reasoning was that Kiwi does not have the copyright to "Mao Pian" and cannot arbitrarily upload such detailed explanation videos to avoid copyright disputes.

Although no one thought the copyright holder of "The Swindlers" would be concerned about the copyright of the commentary videos, there was nothing they could do, since TV dramas were iQiyi's main business.

Yang Xianghua may appear to be a regional president, but his power is almost on par with that of an executive vice president.

Huang Xuke was furious when he arrived at the company and went straight to Yang Xianghua to argue.

The two argued all morning, leaving the workers in both districts trembling with fear; no one dared to slack off.

Xiao Cheng learned some inside information from her close friends' group chat. Apparently, Yang Xianghua felt that the video was affecting the traffic of "Chinese Paladin 4" and causing a drop in viewership, so he urgently took it down.

"Mr. Huang, I told you it was a bug in the backend and we're fixing it urgently, but Sun and Moon Commentary doesn't believe me." Xiao Cheng held up his phone.

"So hurry up and get the data organized! I need to hold a meeting to resolve this!"

"Waaah—"

This means "I don't know, you answer that yourself."

Xiao Cheng held his phone for a long time, thinking, but still didn't know how to answer.

Glancing at her boss frantically tapping on his phone beside her, Xiao Cheng peeked out and asked, "Mr. Huang, what are you doing?"

"What's it to you? Go work on your reports." Huang Xuke didn't even turn his head.

As the youngest president of Kiwi, Huang Xuke is very strict at work, but he has a fairly good relationship with his subordinates.

When there's a lot of work to do, we'll often work overtime together.

After a while, Huang Xuke replied, "I'm chatting with the director of Mao Pian."

"Huh?" Xiao Cheng's eyes lit up. "Mr. Huang, you know Xia Ming?"

"He's my junior."

"Wow--"

Xiao Cheng quickly removed the huge phone case and handed it to Huang Xuke: "Mr. Huang, could you get me Xia Ming's autograph? His photos of Mao Xuan are amazing!"

Huang Xuke stopped what he was doing, turned around and glared at her: "If I don't see the report by six o'clock, I'll tell Yang Xianghua that you were the one who promoted a segment for Riyue Commentary."

Xiao Cheng was so frightened that he quickly threw his phone into the treasure box and locked it, then began to go through the files and organize the data.

Six p.m.

An MPV was parked in front of the Kiwi Fruit headquarters.

Chief Content Officer Wang Hui hurriedly got out of the car and entered the iQiyi building surrounded by a group of senior executives.

As soon as I stepped out of the elevator, I saw Huang Xuke and Yang Xianghua standing on either side.

"You've become this rotten after just two days on a business trip!" Wang Hui roared.

A group of workers quietly peeked out from their workstations to watch their bosses argue.

Wang Hui took the folder handed to him by his subordinate and threw it directly at Yang Xianghua: "Yang Xianghua! What does it mean that the retention rate of 'Sword and Fairy 4' has fallen below 30%?"

Yang Xianghua hurriedly took the folder, knowing what data was inside without even opening it.

He knows the data for "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4" better than anyone else.

Originally, with its dominant position, even if the reputation of "Sword and Fairy 4" was terrible, it wouldn't lose money.

But with the emergence of "The Swindler," everything became precarious.

Faced with Wang Hui's questioning, Yang Xianghua stammered and couldn't give a coherent answer.

"Mr. Yang, weren't you talking so confidently this morning?" Seeing Wang Hui targeting Yang Xianghua, Huang Xuke immediately added fuel to the fire, "Didn't you say that the poor performance of 'Sword and Fairy 4' was all because of my short video section?"

Wang Hui sensed something was wrong and his gaze swept over the two of them: "What do you mean?"

Huang Xuke sneered, "I even suspect that President Yang is a spy sent by Tencent. He not only wants to ruin our flagship TV drama business, but also drag our emerging short video section down with him!"

Yang Xianghua raised his head and angrily said, "Don't make false accusations!"

Huang Xuke rolled his eyes, giving off a "who knows" look.

"Meeting!"

Wang Hui only uttered those two words before walking alone into the conference room.

Behind him, the executives of the two divisions exchanged glances and followed closely behind Wang Hui.

I thought that with the end of the year approaching, I could dominate the market with "Sword and Fairy 4" and make everyone have a good New Year, with bonuses and commissions galore.

Who would have thought that Tencent Video would suddenly launch a counterattack, overwhelming Kiwi with its "Mao Pian" video.

There are even rumors that the director of "The Swindler" initially wanted to collaborate with Kiwi, but Yang Xianghua flatly refused.

Over the next few days, there were countless meetings to be held. As the executives watched Yang Xianghua's retreating figure, they were seething with resentment.

Yang Xianghua, you deserve to die!