America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 254, page 253: It must be some little bitch again!

"Hahaha. So the show previews were all true. I've only watched for half an hour and I can't stop laughing."

"No, no, no, the trailer only shows one-tenth of what 'The Voice' has to offer. Keep watching, bro, there's a surprise at the end."

"Fantastic! I must declare that The Voice is absolutely the best music variety show I've ever seen. It combines all sorts of fresh elements. Here you can find superstar celebrities, highly professional and surprising contestants, and this novel way of selecting contestants—this is the new era of variety shows!"

"Haha, I love how the four of them are joking and cracking jokes. On other shows, on those talk shows, you only see one person telling jokes at most, but here you see four people interacting and telling jokes, it's so funny!"

"Brothers, I have a feeling that The Voice of China will start a trend. Its team rules and the contestant selection rules are really groundbreaking, bringing joy that no other music variety show can provide."

"I think you can't just focus on the humor. Although I laughed a lot too, don't you think the contestants are very skilled?"

"Agreed! I heard that in order to compete with American Idol, The Voice has created a completely different selection format. Instead of open auditions, the show invites contestants from all over the country, so being selected already represents a certain level of ability."

"I like Parix. He's really handsome and sings well too."

"Bruno Mars is the best!"

"Bruno Mars is too short, but I admit his performance was brilliant, he's still too short!"

"Wait, am I the only one who likes the host? James Corden has really enhanced 'The Voice.' It turns out he's not only a good actor, but also a fantastic host!"

"Do you think the people at Fox and the American Idol production team also bought Lionheart.com memberships? Are they watching the show too?"

"Raise your hand! I work for American Idol, this show is fucking amazing, we're definitely going to lose!"

"Dude, are you serious? Did they actually cut Justin Black's scenes? Can you give me a hint? If that idiot is still in it, I'm not watching."

"Sorry, I can't reveal that. You'll find out when it airs tonight. Our show's motto is to fool as many people as we can. I can't take it anymore, I need to watch the next episode now."

"Next episode +1!"

"Next episode +2!"

"Next episode +3!"

Lionheart launched its video comment function as soon as it went live. This allows them to collect audience feedback, which is beneficial for website improvement.

Looking at the comments from viewers under "The Voice of China," Carole couldn't help but smile. Almost all of them were positive reviews, praising the show for being so well-made and saying that the membership fee was well spent.

"Boss, look at the audience's reaction. Even if it were just 'The Voice of China,' it would be enough for them to willingly spend their money, not to mention we have other attractions."

Eric nodded, quite satisfied with the result. However, he wasn't used to reading the comments. In his previous life, he was used to browsing Bilibili and reading the bullet comments. Unless there were resources in the comments section, he generally wouldn't read the video comments.

He had actually considered whether to implement the bullet comment function on YouTube and Lionheart, but after thinking it over, he gave up, not wanting his own little hobby to affect the overall situation.

English isn't written in Chinese characters, and sometimes a sentence is quite long, making it unsuitable for bullet comments.

Both websites will eventually go global, but the world isn't just about English, which is also a problem.

Moreover, the bullet screen culture is still a subculture, and it has not entered the mainstream culture circle even after more than ten years, let alone now.

Most importantly, many people believe that bullet comments affect the viewing experience, especially dense bullet comments that block out the screen. What am I supposed to watch?

Like YouTube before the time travel, the official version never provided a bullet comment function. If you wanted to use it, you could only use a third-party plugin. There must be a reason why the world's number one website has not adopted this function after so many years of development.

In 2004, the United States didn't even have movie subtitles, let alone the more elaborate bullet comments.

"Robert, compile some statistics. I need to know how many people chose to binge-watch new shows like 'The Voice' and 'House of Cards' on the first day of release. Also, compile the completion rate of the first episode and publish it."

"Okay, boss!"

Robert Mirren also watched Eric's interview a few days ago, in which he proposed the concept of binge-watching TV shows, saying that as long as the data is good enough, it will definitely be used to slap those guys in the face.

Eric and Carroll stayed until evening before leaving by car.

He has already obtained the data from Lionheart's website within 10 hours of its launch, and the results are encouraging. The market's acceptance and tolerance for new things is still very high.

In 10 hours, it attracted a total of 900 million members, almost 100 million new members per hour.

There are approximately 80 free users among them, but once they experience this novel convenience, most of them will definitely become paying users next month. Even if they just pay $6.99 to become a low-level member, it will still be a source of income.

Lower-level members account for about 200 million, a slight increase in percentage, but as long as it doesn't reach half, it's still within an acceptable range.

Standard members remain the main force, with 520 million people choosing to recharge $9.99.

Is it expensive? It's really only the price of two hamburgers and a Coke, but it can give you a month's worth of visual and mental enjoyment.

Eric and Robert both believe that some of these people will be converted to premium members next month to enjoy more privileges.

With 100 million premium members, there's not much to say; just keep them on their toes.

The number 900 million is absolutely terrifying, and you have to understand that Lionheart is not Facebook or YouTube; it's a paid platform.

Paying and offering free services are two completely different concepts, and each naturally presents a barrier to entry.

Carroll took out a pen and started writing and calculating in his notebook: "Boss, I've done the math. Lionheart.net earned us $8000 million in membership fees in just 10 hours."

Eric nodded: "Yeah, it's a bit low, but that's okay. We're unique in the market, with no competitors. My goal is to capture at least 60% of all households in the US."

"This will be a long process, and it will become more difficult as it goes on. It may take one or two years or even longer, but if it can be achieved, based on one member per family of four, it would be equivalent to at least 42 million members."

Carroll wrote down a calculation on a piece of paper: "Boss, if we use this data, we can generate about $3 million in membership fees every month."

"Based on the current market conditions, there is enough capital to support the simultaneous filming of twenty to thirty TV series with normal investment amounts."

"However, it is clearly not enough for a variety show like 'The Voice' with its high production costs, or a high-quality drama like 'The Walking Dead' with an investment of 30 to 40 million US dollars."

"For Google Ads, I think merchants will carefully consider the proportion of low-level users before advertising. If the proportion remains at around 20% as it is now, it will be greatly affected."

She tapped the tip of her pen forcefully, her voice tinged with distress: "We hope there are no low-level members, but low-level members bring in more GG revenue. These two figures are inherently contradictory."

Eric smiled and said, "It's alright, excellent variety shows can easily make up for it."

"Huh? Boss, you mean product placement? But I didn't see any product placement in 'The Voice of China'."

"Not now, but there will be some soon."

Eric naturally understood what Carroll was considering.

The production cost of "The Voice" exceeded $7000 million, which is still considered high standard even ten years later.

Michael Jackson even took a pay cut, and Janet Jackson also reduced her pay cut out of respect for her brother.

Even so, the first season spent more than $4000 million on the four of them, and that amount will definitely increase in the second season.

MGM and Fine Arts Records went all out to promote Lionheart.com; doing this for every variety show would be suicidal.

For Lionheart.com, producing two or three high-quality variety shows like this in the early stages would be the limit, and the same applies to high-quality dramas.

According to Lionheart.com's plan, most variety shows, such as the currently produced "Walking with Paris Hilton," will be very cheap.

The cost of the first phase is no more than $1.5 million, and it can usually be controlled between $1 million and $1.2 million. The first quarter consists of 10 phases, which cost a little over $10 million.

The main reason is the lack of big-name celebrities involved. Although Paris Hilton is a socialite, she doesn't earn high salaries in the film industry.

She hasn't even filmed the most popular movie, "House of Wax," so her salary is very low. If Eric is willing to sacrifice a little and have sex with her a few times, he can probably negotiate the price down further.

Other shows like "Sword Forging Competition," "Living Alone in the Wilderness," "Ninja Challenge," and "Take Me Out" don't need big-name celebrities; one host can handle it all. "Living Alone in the Wilderness" even doesn't need a host.

These variety shows don't require large investments, yet they can bring extremely high returns because variety shows have a feature that film and television dramas lack: GG sponsorship and product placement.

Standard and premium members do indeed get all free access to movies, but this free access refers to the pre-viewing, during-viewing, and post-viewing stages, excluding sponsorships and product placements.

As long as you don't make it too obvious, making everything from the food and clothing of the celebrities and contestants to the decorations on set seem like product placement, like the disgusting "Ace vs Ace" by Wu Tong, a well-known stitching master in the industry before the time travel, then the audience won't care too much about these minor details.

His phone screen suddenly lit up with a text message from Liu Yifei, asking if he was available at the moment.

I glanced down at the time; it was not yet 9 o'clock.

Eric couldn't help but wonder, "What does this call at this hour mean? Is he worried I'm under too much pressure lately, so he wants to offer himself to me to help me relax?"

Nighttime always allows evil thoughts to take root faster. He shook his head, dialed a number, and it was answered instantly.

"What's wrong, Crystal?"

"Eric, are you alright? I know you must have been very busy lately."

"Have you been following the news?"

"Of course we'll pay attention, and so will my mom and aunt; they both care about you a lot too."

Eric sneered. Liu Xiaoli's concern for him was simply because she was worried that her backer would fall and she wouldn't be able to establish herself in Hollywood. Zhou Wenqiong was probably worried that things at the theater would get messed up again.

"Please thank them for me. What can I do for you?"

"It's from China. Supernatural has started its promotional campaign and wants me to go back."

"Then go for it. This is MGM's first TV series in mainland China, and it definitely needs to gain recognition. That's your home turf; you're much more famous than the two male leads."

Liu Yifei chuckled a few times: "Okay, it just so happens that my scenes in 'The Hunger Games' have already wrapped up, so it's fine to take a break for a while."

At this point, Eric immediately understood that this young woman was testing him, trying to find out if he had any new roles, probably instigated by Liu Xiaoli.

Seeing that Eric didn't speak, Liu Yifei continued, "By the way, Eric, do you remember that movie I mentioned a while ago? A company in mainland China wants to cast me as the female lead."

"It's that TV series adapted from the game, right?"

"Yes, you have a good memory. Actually, I already declined, but they haven't given up. They said they could wait for my schedule, and now they've invited me again. What should I do? Should I accept? Will accepting affect my career development in Hollywood?"

"Chinese Paladin" is the childhood favorite of countless people and the drama that truly cemented Liu Yifei's status.

If she had only starred in "The Story of a Noble Family", "The Return of the Condor Heroes", and "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", her health bar would definitely not be ridiculously thick.

Her later career was disastrous; countless TV series and movies flopped, and her acting skills didn't improve much over the past decade, yet she still managed to have countless die-hard fans, all thanks to "Chinese Paladin".

In a few years, when the Chinese market explodes, MGM will definitely want a big slice of the pie, and Liu Yifei will be one of their trump cards.

The more popularity she accumulates, the better it will be for both the company and her personal development in the future. So, since Tangren is so sincere, taking on the role is a good choice.

"Crystal, what are your thoughts? I'd like to hear your opinion."

"My thoughts? I... I don't really have any thoughts. My mom always chose the roles I played. She told me to ask for your opinion."

"What terms did that company offer?"

"The conditions are pretty good, especially after I came to Hollywood to develop my career, Tangren improved my treatment even more."

"This drama was originally supposed to have two female leads, but they promised to give me more scenes. In short, I am definitely the female lead."

"What about the timeframe? How long is the filming expected to take?"

"My scenes will be filmed first, within a month and a half."

"Then accept it. It will help solidify your popularity in China and prepare you for the future."

"Okay, if you say you'll pick me up, I'll pick you up. I'll do as you say."

After hanging up the phone, Eric suddenly laughed out loud. Due to the butterfly effect, he wondered how much screen time Lin Yueru would have left. Perhaps, like Anu, she would be relegated to the second female lead role.

Carole peeked through the rearview mirror; she rarely saw Eric speak so gently.

"Hmph! It's definitely some little bitch again!"

Cursing under her breath, Carol couldn't help but look down at her large breasts. They were still so beautiful, but Eric had been staring at them less lately.

"Am I dressed too conservatively? Now that the weather is getting warmer, I have a reason to dress more loosely."

(End of this chapter)