booktalesy Chapter 91 Scarcity Marketing
Chapter 91 Scarcity Marketing
After watching the first episode, I realized there was no second episode.
Li Mingcai realized what it meant to feel like he was sitting on pins and needles, like he had a thorn in his back, like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat.
Compared to "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", previous period martial arts dramas were just a mess.
Li Ming opened the Weibo comment section. Although there weren't many comments, most of them expressed the same feelings as him.
Apart from the first few comments, the rest were almost entirely positive.
"I was wrong, this show is really good! But why is there only one episode a day?!"
"The pace is so fast, the fight scenes are so exciting, and the plot doesn't drag at all."
"It felt like watching a movie during those forty minutes of the plot."
"It's still this theme song, it's so good, it's a duet by pop diva Liu Siqi and Lu Ran."
"Lu Ran is also the screenwriter of this drama, and his singing ability is this strong too?"
"Haven't you heard of 'Rice Fragrance'? I think Lu Ran is an all-rounder, an entertainment godfather."
As the popularity of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" grows, some veteran film critics in the industry have also begun to speak out:
"@Drama critic Lao Zhou: I just finished watching the first episode of 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes,' and to be honest, I was blown away. Director Chen Ke is still as sharp as ever, with grand and magnificent cinematography. Lu Ran's script is solid, and he establishes the character right from the start. The most surprising thing is the action scenes, which are a solid return to traditional martial arts and are very enjoyable to watch. If it can maintain this level of quality, it's destined to be the biggest dark horse of the summer season."
"@Film and Television Observer: Compared to 'The Sword and the Hero' and 'The Court's Turmoil,' 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' has a completely different style. It has no flashy special effects, no popular stars, but it has a rare sense of gravitas. This is the martial arts I envision."
However, despite its good reputation, it hasn't gained much popularity due to a lack of promotion.
Especially compared to "The Sword and the Edge" and "The Court of Imperial Affairs," which have been airing for a week and are releasing two episodes daily, the difference is not small.
The average viewership per episode of "The Sword and the Wanderer" has stabilized at around 40 million, while "The Court in Turmoil" has reached 35 million. However, the first episode of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" barely broke one million views in six hours.
This data would have been considered good in the past, but it seems somewhat inadequate in the competition of the summer movie season.
...
Starry Entertainment, Senior Conference Room.
The atmosphere was heavy.
"Everyone has seen the premiere data." Li Mo tapped the table. "The word-of-mouth is good, but the popularity isn't enough. Compared to 'Sword's Roar and 'Courtroom Storm,' the gap is obvious."
Bai Jing, the person in charge of the long-running drama series, spoke first: "President Li, I think the problem lies in the update strategy. Now the audience is used to two episodes a day, and we're only releasing one episode a day, which is too slow. I suggest that starting tomorrow, we also switch to two episodes a day to catch up with the audience's interest."
"I agree," Wang Wei, the head of the sixth department, immediately chimed in. "Now is not the time to put on airs. That's how the market works; a fast pace is what keeps viewers engaged. One episode a day—once the audience loses patience, even the best show is useless."
Zhang Dehai of the Seventh Department also nodded: "Indeed, we should adjust our strategy as soon as possible."
The heads of the other departments also expressed their support, with most agreeing to change to two episodes per day.
Then, everyone turned their attention to Lu Ran.
Whether or not to change it, and whether or not to change it, is a decision made by Lu Ran, the person in charge.
As the person in charge of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", his opinion was the most crucial.
Lu Ran leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the table, seemingly deep in thought.
The suggestions from other departments may increase the popularity of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" quite a bit, but it is still far from enough to compare with the other two companies.
After all, one million or two million is nothing compared to thirty or forty million.
What Lu Ran wants is to turn the situation around, or at least in the short term, to achieve the same level of popularity as the works of the other two companies.
A few seconds later, Lu Ran spoke.
"I've decided to change to releasing one episode every two days."
"I knew it! They wanted to change it to two episodes a day... wait? Minister Lu just said... one episode every two days?"
Lu Ran's words left the ministers momentarily speechless.
If it's one episode a day, it can't keep up with the popularity. If it's one episode every two days, it'll be doomed!
Everyone thought they had misheard.
"One episode every two days?" Wang Wei was the first to react, almost bursting out laughing. "Minister Lu, are you kidding me? One episode a day isn't enough to keep up with the hype, two episodes a day? Are you afraid our show won't cool down fast enough?"
Hearing Wang Wei's sarcastic tone, Lu Ran didn't answer his question. Instead, he asked in return, "Minister Wang, I remember you said before that your department's long drama had finished filming and should be released this month. You should be more concerned about your own data."
Wang Wei was speechless after Lu Ran's sudden remark.
He said that their department's work was nearing completion, and that's what he reported to Li Mo at the last meeting.
However, in reality, his drama made no progress at all because he was already planning to switch jobs, so he didn't focus on Xingyao at all.
He's just waiting for this Starlight project to take off so he can switch jobs and benefit from its success.
But after being rebuked by Lu Ran, Wang Wei was speechless for a moment.
He was afraid that if the argument continued, his secret would be exposed.
Wang Dehai, who was standing to the side, also wanted to say a few words, but when he thought of the inexplicable strangeness about Lu Ran, he decided to keep quiet and let Wang Wei bear it alone.
When Li Mo heard Lu Ran's words and saw the disbelieving and puzzled looks on everyone's faces, he also frowned.
"Lu Ran, tell me your reasons."
Lu Ran sat up straight, her tone calm: "First of all, our drama is of high quality. The word-of-mouth from the first episode has already proven that. Good works don't have to worry about not becoming popular; what they need is time to mature."
"Secondly, there are currently two dramas on the market, 'Sword's Cry' and 'Above the Court,' which release two episodes a day, meaning viewers have to watch four episodes a day. If we add two episodes a day to that list, it would mean viewers would have to watch six episodes a day."
"I ask everyone here, if you had to watch six episodes of a TV series every day, would you still be so excited? That goes against human nature. Viewers will get tired and experience aesthetic fatigue."
"At that time, the audience will blame this fatigue on our work, which was released last, and it might even have the opposite effect."
After hearing Lu Ran's words, everyone present thought about it for a moment and felt that there was some truth to them.
But Li Mo still asked, "Although updating two episodes a day may not be effective, won't updating one episode every two days also cause the show's popularity to drop?"
Lu Ran extended his index finger and shook it.
"No, quite the opposite, and that's the last point I want to make," Lu Ran paused and then smiled.
"Hunger marketing!"
...