Chapter 319: Standing out

Chapter 319: Standing out

Chapter 319: Standing out

The first few companies that approached Fan Wumian to be their spokesperson, including Sanma, Red Star Erke, etc., all made a lot of money because of him, and their brand influence and revenue skyrocketed.

It is equivalent to buying a top superstar at a very low price.

It’s the kind of thing where it’s in the news 365 days a year, and it becomes a viral sensation all the time, so the publicity effect is really good.

The contract signed at that time had not expired yet, but these two brands plus Benelli could not wait to renew the contract, and the annual endorsement fee increased to about RMB 750 million, which still attracted many big brands to contact them actively.

The effect of helping others to sell goods is so good, and selling goods for yourself is equally good.

As soon as "The Useless Man" was released, it quickly spread across major forums and BBSes with its weird and vulgar funny style.

There are also well-known screenwriters who flattered the show under their real names, writing in the forum: "Isn't this much more interesting than many old TV dramas?"

Fermentation takes just two days.

Tudou.com has added more than 210 million registered users, and three old TV series, "Storm Warriors 1", "Young Huang Feihong" and "The Secret History of Kangxi", have become popular again on the Internet.

Some netizens lamented that when they watched "Storm Warriors 1" before, it was always intermittent and they missed a lot of plots. Now they can finally watch it again, but it pauses and loads frequently, which is more uncomfortable than watching commercials on TV.

Many journalists and colleagues in the film and television industry are eager to express their views on Tudou's long-form video business.

The reviews are mixed.

Some media outlets have stated that the film and television industry has finally been affected by the Internet and may be facing a major reshuffle. Television stations and audio-visual product companies are the first to be hit and are beginning to face a major crisis. The days of making money by monopolizing the market seem to be gone forever.

Some media also said that Tudou.com, like a catfish in a barrel, could disrupt the status quo, stimulate major TV stations and film and television companies to upgrade and transform, and launch more outstanding works.

The trend of the rise of video websites is obvious, but these articles all mentioned the shortcomings of Tudou.com, such as serious lag, high requirements for Internet speed, and the need for users to pay.

Many experts realized the situation too late and started to act like hindsight experts.

To be frank, Fan Wumian is spending a lot of money to hoard online copyrights of film and television dramas, targeting video websites, and starting a big game.

A certain official mainstream media wrote an article with the title "2006 will be a watershed year in the development of online videos."

Some media also used the title "Tudou.com faces three major obstacles, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment may be lost" to attract attention.

Video websites were a new thing and caused a lot of buzz for a while, which further helped Tudou.com attract traffic and the number of registered users continued to soar.

Fan Wumian is still filming "The Useless Man" and took some time out to visit Tudou.com.

At this moment.

In the office of General Manager Wang Wei, several senior executives of the company came.

Wang Wei sat on the sofa, smiling and said:

"The average number of views for the first 10 episodes of the first season of Kangxi's Secret Visits has exceeded 85, while the first episode of The Useless Man has exceeded 1 million views."

"Many people directly recharge their memberships, cache and download the entire series at night, and then watch them slowly when they have time. Because there are no alternative products, users are more tolerant, and most of them think that the experience of watching dramas online is more novel and interesting."

“We are still facing some problems for now, but as long as the Internet speed is improved, the prospects are still very bright.”

Fan Wumian knew the advantages of video websites, and in front of several company executives, he said with emotion:
"I was keeping an eye on the news and underestimated how seriously the whole thing was being taken."

"Some people have already started to mess with us, saying that in a few years, TV stations may all go bankrupt, that I have stolen the online copyrights at a bargain price, and that I have bypassed the regulatory channels to take advantage of them."

"These need to be clarified publicly to tell the outside world that the company only wants to cooperate with each other, which is beneficial to all parties, rather than trying to make them go bankrupt and close down."

Done.

Fan Wumian took a deep breath and added helplessly:

"I have offended a lot of people this time. I will also accept interviews to clarify the misunderstanding. Brother Wang, you should quickly prepare and take the initiative to contact the relevant departments and propose to formulate an online video management system as soon as possible."

Wang Wei nodded immediately and said:
"Okay, we've already had people research this. Things like copyright protection, content review, and getting a legal license as soon as possible are all top priorities."

As the first to stand out, you will inevitably face tremendous pressure.

This is also one of the reasons why Fan Wumian has been suppressing the long video business, feeling that the timing is not ripe.

Entering the video website industry early can easily offend TV stations and lead to many troubles.

Fortunately, unlike many countries, television stations in mainland China are official institutions, and executives are only responsible for management work, which does not involve serious conflicts of interest.

Let’s look at Silicon Valley in the United States.

In fact, the threshold for video websites is not too high, but Silicon Valley is full of entrepreneurial teams, but no similar company has been able to develop. Fan Wumian once suggested to Chen Shijun that YouTube should also develop into a long video platform. Chen Shijun told him that if the startup fails, it will only lead to bankruptcy, but if it offends the media group, it may directly go to see God, and no one dares to take food from them.

And run a video website in the mainland.

As long as the relevant departments give their approval and abide by the rules and regulations, the overall environment is actually quite relaxed.

Before visiting Tudou.com's headquarters today, Fan Wumian had already informed Ji Qiao.

Let her write an article about "domestic Internet has finally defeated Silicon Valley, taking the lead in launching a comprehensive video website and leading the world's new generation of Internet TV platform", and find ways to build momentum for Tudou.com and strive to gain more support as soon as possible.

The direction of my business is too novel, and I am still considered half a "black household" now.

With neither supporting policy support nor a license to legally operate a video website, Tudou.com will inevitably be affected by the advertising sponsors' confidence in its development prospects.

If you want to increase revenue and reduce expenditure in the early stage, in addition to membership business, the most important monetization channel is to make money by placing advertisements.

The sooner we can get rid of the black account status due to "regulatory loopholes", the sooner we can get back on track. Businesses such as self-produced online dramas, the release of popular new dramas, and the release of newly released movies are much more sensitive than releasing old dramas.

If we don’t get the legal licenses, we won’t be able to launch these businesses, and the “open source” plan will be shelved. A few more months of delay may result in tens of millions of RMB lost in profits.

Fan Wumian wanted to resolve the legality of the video website before "The Lonely and Great God" was broadcast.

At that time, the first round broadcasting rights of "The Lonely and Great God" will continue to be sold to major satellite TV stations at high prices, but when it comes to the second round of broadcasting, Tudou.com and TV stations will broadcast it simultaneously to avoid missing out on a wave of low-cost development opportunities.

The shares of Tudou.com are currently in the hands of Fan Wumian. The lower the cost of acquiring active users, the less money he needs to invest.

Using popular dramas to attract traffic to Tudou.com is the most cost-effective marketing method.

Shanzeiwang Media has already started to form a team and plans to create a new variety show "Running Man" which will be broadcast once a week. It is expected to start filming in the second quarter of this year.

With the launch of the "Tudou Video" project, Shanzeiwang Media has managed to open up the entire industrial chain from upstream production to downstream user terminals, which is more advanced than its peers in the industry.

Wang Wei looked at Fan Wumian and asked:

"There have been a lot of negative news these days. I feel like it's directed at you, boss. Director Chen of The Promise said in an interview that some people think about running right after they learn to walk, which seems to be a hint at you."

".No need to say "as if", I was referring to me. The Promise is often compared to Crazy Stone. After I messed it up, the box office performance was tens of millions lower than expected. They just satisfies me with some sneering comments."

After Fan Wumian finished speaking, he added with a smile:
"After losing such a huge amount of money at the box office, I was considered law-abiding and polite for not hiring someone to put a sack on me and beat me up."

With the popularization of the Internet, countless industries are being impacted.

Video websites have the potential to replace television stations, so it is inevitable that outsiders will fan the flames and take the opportunity to hype them up to attract attention.

In fact, the major TV stations themselves did not express any opinions on this. They abide by the rules. How could Fan Wumian not understand? Letting Wang Wei, on behalf of Tudou.com, take the initiative to contact the relevant departments was also a gesture of goodwill.

We will continue to spend money in the future to purchase the online broadcasting rights from major TV stations at relatively high prices, either as a buyout or for short-term authorization.

Across the sofa, a middle-aged female executive who had jumped from Guangdong TV said to Fan Wumian:
"I think that right now, the outside controversy is not the point. As long as we try not to offend the major TV stations, we can save face. Fan Corporation can continue to cooperate with them in the TV series it invests in."

"As a new channel for TV stations, we help them broadcast old dramas and variety shows, and we pay advertising revenue and copyright fees. I don't think we will be harassed."

"If the company's headquarters is in Shenzhen, we can ask the local authorities to help coordinate. When the time comes, we will create new jobs and pay taxes according to the rules. It should be no problem to support them."

Fan Wumian nodded and said:

"Including 'The Loser', there are only four dramas in total. However, bypassing the TV stations and broadcasting directly on the Internet, they must have been notified in advance to avoid being shut down by censors."

"I don't care about the media. If they want to make a living from the news, they will always exaggerate the impact of some small things. Let's get the preparations done first, and the rest will come naturally."

"Keep a low profile for now. No one should brag about anything and no one should release user data. For videos shared by users on their own initiative, self-check them a little more strictly to avoid being caught."

When he mentioned this topic, Wang Wei told him:

"Yesterday, there was a psychopath who uploaded a video of dismembering a cat. The outsourcing company immediately blocked his account. There was also a woman who liked to take nude selfies. She wrote in the title that since it couldn't pass the review, she would show it to the backend reviewers, and then took a screenshot and posted it on the forum."

Fan Wumian smacked his lips:

"There are so many people in the country, and with a large population base, there will always be some crazy people. Recently, more people are asked to check themselves. When the novelty wears off, many people will gradually accept video websites."

Everyone discussed the many details of Tudou.com's subsequent development.

For example, advertising.

Some companies have already contacted Tudou.com, but the pricing and placement of ads still need to be finalized by Fan Wumian himself.
(End of this chapter)