Chapter 142 – The Craze for New Memberships

Chapter 142 - The Craze for New Memberships

"Si Cuichuan," a drama jointly produced by Sentimental Exclusive Wedding Photography and Nine O'Clock Entertainment, officially sold its online streaming rights on the seventh day of the new year.

The copyright holder was Sentimental Exclusive Wedding Photography. Time Culture spent eight million yuan to acquire the online streaming rights of "Si Cuichuan" for itself.

Since the beginning of the new year, major video platforms had been relentlessly bombarding Zhou Weichuan with New Year's greetings.

Many invitations were extended, but unfortunately, Young Master Zhou rarely returned home and declined them all, leaving the video platforms hanging.

This resulted in the people running these platforms cursing while still trying to get in touch with Zhou Weichuan.

When rumors emerged that Time Culture might sell "Si Cuichuan" to a particular video platform...

According to whispers within the industry, the content departments of the three major video platforms, Great Goose, Great Peach, and Great Pants, dispatched their strongest teams to besiege Zhou Weichuan's office for two consecutive days.

After several rounds of bidding and negotiations, with tug-of-wars over issues like Tang Fei's future collaboration priorities, Nine O'Clock Entertainment eventually allowed Tang Fei's collaboration priority to remain intact. The luxurious Great Goose Video secured the exclusive streaming rights for twenty years at a price of five million yuan per episode.

"President Zhou, you're quite the player. You owe me for the brain cells I've lost over 'Si Cuichuan'," someone from Great Goose said with a laugh after reaching an agreement with Zhou Weichuan, finally shaking his hand.

"I trust that Si Cui's story will make up for it," Zhou Weichuan signed the contract.

"Haha, that just proves my good judgment."

...

With 14 episodes, "Si Cui's Story" sold for 70 million, and before its first episode aired, the asking price per episode was only 700 thousand. After the first episode, the price skyrocketed by over seven times.

The cunningly cheerful Zhou Weichuan must have made a fortune. Rumor had it that the remastered staff of "Si Cui's Story" were given a seven-day vacation to Sansha City in South Sea Province, with all expenses including transportation and accommodation covered by the company. The director and main actors of the production also received generous red envelopes.

Time Culture, as a newly established subsidiary, had already contributed significantly to Nine O'Clock's revenue. Young Master Zhou's vision and tactics were truly impressive.

The notion that Old Zhou had a fine son filled Zhou Xianfeng with pride. In response to his old colleagues' compliments, he beamed from ear to ear but tried to modestly downplay their praise: "It's nothing, you're exaggerating. He just follows procedures diligently."

If Tang Fei could maintain high viewership ratings for consecutive dramas, with Zhou Weichuan, who didn't let any profit slip through his fingers, at the helm, her future prices for online streaming rights and satellite TV broadcast rights would make others look up in awe.

Even by 2020, "Si Cui's Story" ranked within the top twenty in terms of single-episode price.

With the broadcasting rights secured, Goose Video launched an aggressive promotional campaign.

"Come to Goose Video for the exclusive online broadcast of Si Cuichuan!"

"Exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of Si Cuichuan – a huge bonus for Goose Video VIPs only!"

"Join Tang Fei in watching this exclusive recording – available only on Goose!"

"Original vs. Analyzed: A dedicated channel for comparison! For all Si Cuichuan enthusiasts!"

"Si Cuichuan's new trailer blitz – exclusively for Goose Video VIPs!"

Despite a twelve-day gap between Chapter 7 and the first episode, many industry insiders believed interest would wane. Why would Goose Video spend five million on a series that had already aired its first episode?

Surely, they could have negotiated a lower price since the show had already been viewed once.

The reason, unbeknownst to the public, was that Goose Video possessed internal data revealing Si Cuichuan's immense staying power!

Search volumes continued to rise daily since its debut, with analytical essays delving deeper into details. A full thirty percent of VIP users had even replaced their profile pictures with screenshots of Tang Fei and Si Cui.

To suppress the price of "Si Cuichuan," video streaming platforms had tacitly refrained from disclosing such internal data. Surprisingly, Zhou Weichuan still managed to strike a hard bargain.

But judging by the Big Goose's analysis of statistics, investing in "Si Cuichuan" would definitely prove profitable.

The moment it was acquired, advertisers for online streaming began knocking on their door. On the same day, they recouped over forty million yuan, with several prominent ad slots yet to be assigned, expected to fetch no less than twenty million more in a fierce bidding war.

Upon the Big Goose's promotional efforts, attaching its logo to "Si Cuichuan's" large posters and disseminating them across the internet, the membership registrations soared by three hundred thousand within an hour. Though it started declining in the second hour, it still maintained a steady pace of around seventy to eighty thousand new users per hour.

The content department was collectively grinning from ear to ear.

With "Si Cuichuan," half of this year's targets could be achieved.

The Big Goose aimed to make a fortune discreetly. However, someone, after analyzing the VIP previews and bullet screen comments of "Si Cuichuan," deduced that the number of new users attracted was staggering.

On Zhi Le Forum, a specialist in data analysis posted a thread that startled everyone!

Title: Heaven-defying Series! Four hours after the exclusive launch of "Si Cuichuan," the user acquisition rate is terrifying!

"The Big Goose is a seasoned online platform, and its growth in new users has reached a plateau. Based on the four-hour viewing statistics of 'Si Cuichuan's' VIP preview, overall user comments, and bullet screen messages, as well as the ratio of new user comments from previous videos disclosed by the Big Goose, I've constructed a predictive model.

Within four hours, the VIP exclusive preview garnered 80 million views, with 190 thousand new users leaving comments and bullet screens. Based on my model calculations, "Si Cuichuan" likely attracted between 500 to 800 thousand new VIP subscribers within that same timeframe.

Attention, everyone! This is not the final figure! These are merely the statistics from 8 am to noon, spanning four hours! The evening rush hour has yet to arrive!

Merely the thought of the potential influx of new viewers after the broadcast of "Si Cuichuan" leaves me breathless, assuming it maintains its integrity!

Not an adaptation of an intellectual property, no A-list actors, not a renowned director – at one point, I doubted if I had miscalculated the numbers. But after rigorous verification, I had to concede that Si Cuichuan defied the odds! It's an anomaly! In all my years of data mining, I've never been startled by my findings like this before!"

"Forum Master, your conclusion is rather startling. Despite the interruption of over ten days, the 'Si Cuichuan' data remains so robust. I'd even say it's more intense than on its first day of broadcast. We'll truly witness a miracle tomorrow with the second episode!"

"The first episode reached 200 million views within four hours, excluding repeat viewers. How many of those were new viewers catching up? The 80 million trailer views indicate that at least 80 million people are eagerly waiting for the second episode!

Those who missed the first episode and then caught up will most likely tune in early to watch the second one on TV. We'll see a rise in TV viewership tomorrow, as Si Cuichan draws back those who don't usually watch television!"

"I admit that Si Cui's story is captivating, but it's not like it's otherworldly. Why are the numbers skyrocketing like this?"

"From my analysis, apart from the engaging storyline, the cast of Si Cuichan boasts top-tier looks in the entertainment industry. Tang Fei, in particular, is at the pinnacle of beauty. In the past, good-looking faces often lacked acting skills, but now, with voice dubbing and skillful editing at 9 PM, their performances have been salvaged. Viewers can enjoy both aesthetics and plot, without the actors breaking character. The show has captivated audiences of all ages, from three to eighty."

"In my household, those who usually watch animations, romance dramas, war dramas, and even family dramas have all found a common ground in appreciating this series."

"Episode One packs a punch with its high-energy narrative and well-crafted suspense. The opening and closing credits are melodramatic in a captivating way, inspiring many fans to imagine grand storylines based on the teasers alone. It's truly enticing."

"I'm eagerly waiting for the viewership ratings of Episode Two. Judging from the data provided by the OP, I predict a major storm of popularity is on the horizon!"

"Will the football and tennis dramas fall behind Si Cuichuan's second episode in terms of ratings? That would be quite a turnaround."

"I feel like digging up old posts! How much do you think those who bet against Si Cuichuan's first episode before the year-end will win this time? Enough for a villa and a luxury car, perhaps?"