HuaYu: Starting with Photography to Navigate the Entertainment Industry

Hunan TV.

After returning from Chengdu, Wang Bingwen, Wang Peng, and others called a meeting with the Super Girl business department to analyze the show's popularity.

The data for the next planner is represented by large red upward arrows.

"Mr. Wang, this season of 'Super Girl' is at least ten times more popular than the same period last year."

"ten times?"

Upon hearing this number, Wang Bingwen, Wang Peng, and others, who were used to all sorts of ups and downs, couldn't help but feel overjoyed.

Judging from the data, if this trend continues, this year's "Super Girl" will undoubtedly become the only blockbuster in the country.

"According to our main 'Super Girl' website, daily active users have exceeded one million, and the daily active users of the 'Super Girl' section on Sina Entertainment, our official partner website, have also risen to 80."

Other platforms such as Sohu and Baidu Tieba's Super Girl sections have also seen their numbers rise to over 60.

As he spoke, the planner opened another page.

This page contains only one data point and a huge red arrow.

For five consecutive days, daily active users increased by more than 210%.

As of yesterday, the daily active users reached 48!

Everyone was shocked when they saw this number.

Looking at the figure of 48 alone, it is still somewhat lacking compared to Sohu, Tieba, and Sina Entertainment.

But that growth rate, 210%, is terrifying.

Even though the growth rate has slowed down as the total number of users increases, it's conceivable that within a few days, the website's daily active users will surpass those of Baidu Tieba, Sohu Entertainment, and even Sina Entertainment, which it officially partners with.

Wang Bingwen was quite surprised after seeing the numbers.

"Which website is this? Is it also one of our partner sites?"

Wang Peng glanced at it, his expression somewhat strange, and said:

"This is indeed our partner station. We know the person in charge quite well; it's Xu Lang."

"Oh, it's him?"

Upon hearing that it was Xu Lang, Wang Bingwen was no longer surprised.

Xu Lang, no matter what astonishing things he does, he thinks it's all reasonable!

However, while he was no longer surprised, he became even more interested.

"I remember we gave him a website with photos of behind-the-scenes moments from the competition. For something as simple as behind-the-scenes footage, they've created such a huge buzz. We need to take a closer look."

As Wang Bingwen spoke, he had someone open Xu Lang's website.

The first thing you see is the popularity ranking.

On the popularity chart, the top spots are occupied by Zhang Liangying, Li Yuchun, Zhou Bichang, He Jie, and Ye Yiqian.

In terms of popularity rankings, Zhang Liangying is far ahead of the others, leaving a significant gap in her lead.

Li Yuchun, on the other hand, was ahead of the others by a significant margin.

Upon seeing this ranking, Wang Peng frowned and asked the planner,

"Did Xu Lang rig the voting on this website?"

"no."

The planner stated with great certainty:

"Because it is our official partner website, we have also supervised it. The voting management on this website is the strictest. It is linked to ID card numbers, and each person can only vote once a day."

Even if you wanted to cheat, it wouldn't be possible.

"what?"

In 2005, it was already difficult to bind a registered account to a website. Even official websites could only bind accounts to phone numbers at most, and binding ID card numbers was extremely rare.

That is, government-related websites are a possibility.

After all, what everyone wants is to lower the barrier to entry and increase user activity.

Linking an account to an ID card like this is practically suicide.

but. . .

The facts before our eyes, however, slapped everyone in the face!

People became famous after linking their ID cards to their accounts.

Who can I reason with about this?

Wang Bingwen waved the mouse, pointed to a sentence on the list, and said:

"Did you see it? He wrote here that it emphasizes real rankings, one person, one vote, absolutely fair, and rejects vote rigging!"

After reading it, Wang Bingwen couldn't help but say:

"This Xu Lang really understands human nature. While everyone else was rigging votes, he did the opposite and gained their trust."

As expected of Xu Lang!

Upon hearing Wang Bingwen's praise, Wang Peng couldn't sit still any longer. His brows furrowed even more, and he pressed the planner for answers:

"If he's linked to his ID number and can't use it to place tickets, does that mean we can't use it either? And he can't use it himself?"

"Well..."

The planner seemed to understand Wang Peng's meaning, but still said helplessly:

That's the theoretical idea.

"Bang!"

Wang Peng slammed his hand on the table in anger and said dejectedly:

"I thought it was just a behind-the-scenes photo and not important, so I gave it to him. Who knew he would pull this stunt?"

If his website really takes off, there's a risk that the competition will get out of control!

Compared to Wang Peng's frustration, Wang Bingwen didn't react as strongly. After all, the artists all belonged to Wang Peng, which meant Tianyu Media.

Although he is affiliated with Hunan TV, Wang Bingwen, as the deputy director of Hunan TV, is not only concerned with the singers, but also with the overall popularity of the competition.

After all, only when the hype is high can the GG fees and sponsorships increase.

He showed the planner the other features of the website, clicking his tongue in amazement as he spoke:

"This Xu Lang really knows how to play the game. He declared that all the photos were unedited, which in itself is attractive to the audience."

"This 'Zhao Xing Evolution Theory' is quite interesting. What do you think he was thinking? He collected and compared the outfits of every contestant in each of the top 30 on the popularity chart for every match, and it has a very dynamic feel to it."

At this point, Wang Bingwen patted Wang Peng on the shoulder and laughed.

"Xu Lang's move has raised the bar for the competition. This means that a singer who only has a good look may be at a disadvantage."

That's true, but Wang Peng is quite accepting of it.

After all, this is very beneficial for improving the quality of the competition.

Wang Bingwen continued watching, praising.

"Daily PK? This idea is brilliant! It completely captivated the fans, forcing them to vote every day. No wonder the daily active users are growing so fast!"

Wang Bingwen greatly admired Xu Lang's tactics!

Just then, Wang Peng pointed to the fan club's location and said with a wry smile,

"I was saying that the president of Baidu has been looking for me a lot these past few days. I guess their Tieba (Baidu's online forum) has been overwhelmed by this fan community."

Indeed, this fan community is essentially a variant of Baidu Tieba, with the same functions.

It is inevitable that it will be in competition with Baidu Tieba.

After hearing Wang Peng's words, Wang Bingwen had an idea and instructed Wang Peng,

"We can't just ignore them on Baidu; isn't some competition better?"

"Yes, I know."

Then, Wang Bingwen saw the photo comment section, where some trending photos were covered with densely packed comments that were constantly scrolling.

Wang Bingwen clicked on one of the photos and saw a variety of comments, not limited to that particular picture at all:

"That look in his eyes—three parts indifference, four parts mockery, and three parts nonchalance—it's brilliant!"

"She was just standing there, and I wanted to kneel down and call her 'Mom'!"

"My heart has been hit, I need CPR!"

"Fire tongs to Liu Ming!"

. . . . . .

Wang Bingwen was astonished by the variety of comments.

Now he understands why a website that's just for tidbits of information has so many users.

Many people here aren't here to look at the photos, but rather to read the comments and bullet screen messages.

Just looking at these things is addictive.

"This Xu Lang is simply a genius!"

Upon seeing this, Wang Peng instructed his staff:

"The comments on this photo are really good. Our official website should start using it too."

"Well..."

The staff below were momentarily stunned.

Seeing this, the planner quickly explained:

"Mr. Wang, this is really impossible to follow up on; there's no technical solution to it!"

"technology?"

Wang Peng was furious. Pointing at the photos and comments on the screen, he asked:

"Then why is Xu Lang allowed to use him?"

"I asked them, and they said their website uses a special technology that allows the website to be dynamically interactive."

As he spoke, he pointed to the feature on the back of the screen that allowed unlocking photos via text message.

"Like this, the photo itself is not visible, but it can be unlocked by sending a text message to a designated number. This is a real-time interaction."

They all require the support of that technology.

Unfortunately, they're keeping it a secret, and we won't be able to get it in the short term.

Upon hearing this, Wang Bingwen was also shocked.

"Besides photography and songwriting, does this Xu Lang also know computers?"

This is outrageous!