Chapter 359: Eating the Bread of Idleness (7,000-character update!)

That *Seventeen Layers* would meet with a cold reception in terms of ratings on the Beijing Channel was not something they hadn't anticipated, but none of them expected it to be this cold.

"If a show like this starts low because its genre can't attract viewers over forty, that's one thing. But if the quality is good enough, the ratings should at least be trending upward, right? Doesn't this 'high start, low finish' pattern just prove the show isn't popular?"

At an internal meeting for *Seventeen Layers*, someone opened fire right from the start.

"Indeed, the opening of *Seventeen Layers* could be said to be at the top level, but unfortunately, it couldn't retain the audience. The battle royale genre is still too niche for our domestic audience."

"Are we still going to allocate so many promotional resources to *Seventeen Layers*? With ratings like these, unless it's a miracle, they're just going to keep dropping."

Everyone chimed in.

Lu Yanhe knew how the plot would develop, but under the lens of Lian Bei, he still felt a thrill that gripped his throat.

On the phone, Wang Xiao said to Lu Yanhe, as if joking, "If you had told me earlier, the ratings for *Seventeen Layers* last night definitely wouldn't have continued to slide."

Someone asked: "Since both are aimed at young people as the primary audience, why could *Friends* break such records?"

As it turned out, after chatting with Chen Ziyan, he realized that this kind of thing wasn't a potential gold mine at all; someone had already caught the scent of gold long ago.

Chen Siqi: "Hmm, I hold the same view as you. I feel the same way. Many of my classmates who didn't go home are complaining that they don't have TVs at school and can't watch it. They have to wait twenty-four hours to see it. Many have even gone looking for pirated versions. Fortunately, piracy has been cracked down on heavily these past two years, so it's relatively well-controlled."

"Hasn't the licensing fee paid by Arctic Light for exclusive online streaming already made this show profitable?" someone proposed. "Not to mention anything else, our TV series isn't doing badly in terms of commercial performance, especially with overseas sales. Because of the genre, we've already sold broadcast rights to four or five countries in Asia."

One sentence from Wang Xiao hit Lu Yanhe like a blow to the head.

"However, Mr. Shi, please rest assured. For your future new books, I will personally lead the team to help you with promotion and publicity. As long as you don't mind me, it won't just be domestic; overseas will be the same. Wherever our *Jump Up* can reach, the name of your new book will definitely be promoted."

Many media outlets were just using the declining ratings to perform various analyses, but for those in the industry, the thing to analyze wasn't just "why did the ratings start high and end low."

This "someone else" was naturally the video platform Arctic Light.

In the evening, while the second episode of *Seventeen Layers* began airing on the Beijing Channel, the first episode also went live on Arctic Light Video.

Arctic Light Video described *Seventeen Layers* as: An all-star cast led by top actors, a work that rides the wind of new genres and new types.

And a giant question mark.

Lu Qingzhen sat before Qin Zhi and smiled at this potential client.

"Oh my, Mr. Shi, you know that we at *Jump Up* never do low-quality promotions. I've already sent you the audience approval ratings for *Seventeen Layers*, and you've seen them. I'm definitely not trying to fool you. Please help me stand on stage; I just organized this activity myself to expand the business of *Jump Up* as a self-media outlet. It's not just you; there are dozens, nearly a hundred people. I wouldn't ruin my own reputation for such a small activity. I'm still hoping to get a new long-form novel from you to serialize on *Jump Up*."

"Yes." Qin Zhi nodded. "Chen Siqi also called me. There will be a part where I appear in the upcoming scheduled activities."

Some recounted Chen Bige's past achievements, while others said that since Lu Yanhe became an actor, he hadn't had a single Waterloo.

"Please, don't." Lu Yanhe had black lines on his forehead. "I haven't done anything; how could I be an honorary vice president?"

"Thank you, Mr. Shi!" Chen Siqi hung up the phone happily and turned to look at her classmate and assistant, "Lang'er, things are settled with Mr. Shi Xia."

"Yes, isn't it too early to say *Seventeen Layers* has already failed?" another person immediately stood up to help. "When we made this show, we knew it would have significant genre risks, but now we at least know that this show is very well-made. For the audience who finished it, this is a very good show, isn't it?"

It wasn't just the Beijing Channel that hadn't expected this; even he himself hadn't thought in this direction.

"Let's properly adjust our promotional strategy. With a base rating like this, even if it keeps dropping, it will end up at 0.7%. It can definitely be saved."

"Because it's short, only twenty minutes, with one commercial break, people can sit through it. But *Seventeen Layers* is an hour per episode, and with commercials, it's longer. Not many young people can sit through that now."

Under these circumstances, many people were waiting to see if *Seventeen Layers* would become their rare Waterloo project.

The number of people sending messages to Lu Yanhe had decreased.

The trend of the first episode yesterday was truly terrifying, making people feel it would drop directly to 0.5 today.

The people at the Beijing Channel saw it in their eyes; it was impossible not to feel sour.

When Qin Zhi heard Lu Qingzhen finish, his first reaction was to turn and look at his agent.

"Hello everyone, I'm Yuqian. *Seventeen Layers*, starring my idol Bige-jie and my dear little brother Lu Yanhe, will be live on Arctic Light Video tonight. Do you already know what kind of story this is? A group of people are tricked onto a deserted island and must pass through one life-and-death crisis after another to earn the right to escape. Doesn't that sound exciting? Come and reserve it on Arctic Light Video! If you reserve now, maybe you'll be the one eating with me. I will draw three people from the reservations to invite for lunch. Hurry up and reserve!"

"Judging success or failure based on the first episode's results is indeed too early. The second episode is airing tonight."

However, it was true that the discussion surrounding *Seventeen Layers* had an unprecedented heat.

Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.

Of course, at that time, they didn't treat this as a specific way to make a living.

Damn it, a show they paid for, produced, and assembled into such an all-star lineup, only to have it perform averagely on the Beijing Channel but explode on Arctic Light Video—who wouldn't feel sour?

Of course, the copyright holders of *Seventeen Layers* were them. If it exploded, their other copyrights could also sell better, and they would benefit just the same.

"Is that so? Then what gift are you providing?"

Some also asked where everyone was watching *Seventeen Layers* and why it couldn't be searched for online.

Different TV series have different scheduling methods now, and fans will naturally pay attention to many details. But for real casual viewers, who would really pay attention to whether a show is daily, weekly, or whatever? If there's something to watch, they watch it; if not, they forget it.

Promote good film and television projects that can be promoted.

"Some personal opinions; I take no responsibility if I'm wrong." Wang Xiao laughed. "Next semester, the current president will be a senior. I will take over as president. Do you want to come and be an honorary vice president?"

After finishing the call with Wang Xiao, the more Lu Yanhe thought about it, the more he felt what he said made a lot of sense.

He himself didn't like to talk much and rarely hyped himself up because he wasn't short of money and his ambition wasn't that strong. Simply put, he just wanted to sing well.

After the data analysis team did a large amount of analysis, they concluded that it wasn't that *Seventeen Layers* wasn't popular, but that the show was completely at odds with the Beijing Channel's primary audience.

Chen Siqi: "So you mean you're actually very optimistic about its effect after airing on Arctic Light Video?"

Young people won't stay glued to the TV set to watch television.

Qin Zhi said to her seriously: "Thank you."

For example, the tag Arctic Light gave Chen Bige was: The Queen Returns, Still at the Summit.

Under these circumstances, Arctic Light Video suddenly launched such a "reservation activity" with great fanfare. Everyone understood that this was releasing a signal: they were still very optimistic about *Seventeen Layers*.

"Which platform hasn't done a reservation activity? But to do it with such fanfare and mobilization like Arctic Light, this is the first one."

"If the ratings are average, why not give it? Every bit earned is a bit earned." Li Zhibai said.

This was due to his own personality.

This was the result of behavioral patterns.

Lu Yanhe: "Whether it's a mule or a horse, we'll know tonight."

Arctic Light Video platform.

However, just under these circumstances, Arctic Light Video suddenly hung up a new page:

*Seventeen Layers* reservation count: 3,271,287 people.

The most frequent discussions were about Chen Bige and Lu Yanhe.

The next moment, Bai Yu's voice also rang out, "Li Bi has already reached the street; he will begin the live interviews with passersby in ten minutes."

Looking at their descriptions of him, only one thought crossed Lu Yanhe's mind: they were praising him to the high heavens.

Polar Light Video had gloriously ushered in their hit with *Seventeen Layers*.

For many people, this was yet another "Lu Yanhe Moment."

Lu Yanhe was still sitting in the house, watching the second episode with Li Zhibai.

However, compared to the ratings, the number of viewers for the first episode on Polar Light Video had actually surpassed ten million within an hour of its release, directly breaking Polar Light Video's record for the year and causing them to issue three consecutive reports of success within that hour; as the "King of Dramas," the prestige of *Seventeen Layers* had finally begun to shine.

Lu Yanhe was taken aback.

Lu Yanhe said, "Maybe if this show is very popular, someone will make one?"

"Hmm... an album I'm about to release," Qin Zhi said. "It's a digital album; only a thousand physical copies were recorded, and this is one of them."

Lu Yanhe: "I really hadn't realized that."

Wang Xiao said, "To be honest, everyone is saying that traditional television is on the decline, and that is indeed a fact. But if it were truly completely irreversible, why was *Friends* successful? I'm not bragging, but how did we do it back then? Our main concept was 'Watch the premiere together, support Lu Yanhe,' emphasizing the premiere. *Seventeen Layers* is good, of course it's good, but it's not like you can't watch it if you miss the premiere. Since you only broadcast it during that time slot, wouldn't it be missed if they missed it?"

"You and Yan He are good friends, right?"

This trend in ratings allowed the Beijing Station to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Lu Yanhe: "Will the Beijing Station give it?"

"Nowadays, drama promotion follows an old template, focusing on the content to attract everyone's attention, which is understandable. But your drama isn't lacking in attention; shouldn't the focus be on how to attract everyone to watch the premiere?" Wang Xiao complained. "Your girlfriend and Polar Light Video both know to do reservation activities, so why didn't the Beijing Station think to organize a premiere-watching event to reinforce the concept of the premiere time and the television station?"

Of course, with such flamboyant labels mixed in among the equally flamboyant labels of other actors, it wasn't particularly abrupt.

What on earth is this?

"Then this is very precious," Lu Qingzhen said immediately. "You brought such a precious physical album to give to everyone; it seems your relationship with Yan He is truly very good."

And Polar Light, which would have many collaborations with Lu Yanhe, also took this opportunity to secretly tag Lu Yanhe: Every film and television work he participates in as an actor becomes a massive hit, with not a single failure.

Not even counting the subsequent profit-sharing, the Beijing Station alone received an eight-figure sum just in licensing fees.

The hashtag #Jiang Yuqian invites you to eat together# was launched, and the view count climbed steadily.

"Regarding Sister Yuqian, this prize was her own initiative," Chen Siqi said while on the phone with Lu Yanhe. "She is very supportive. Originally, I just wanted to ask her to provide a set of signed photos, but she said there are too many of those and they lack appeal."

Hearing this, Lu Yanhe was moved and said, "Sister Yuqian has always taken good care of me. She must have seen that the ratings last night weren't very good and wanted to help me add some fuel to the fire."

Drama promotion was, in itself, a direction Chen Siqi wanted to pursue when she started her self-media work.

"Forget it, forget it, Senior, I'll just honestly be an ordinary member."

Li Zhibai thought of something. "How about we develop one ourselves? Let's pool some money together and make a *Seventeen Layers* themed escape room?"

"It's not that good; we don't keep in touch much," Qin Zhi said candidly. "But we get along very well when we talk."

Polar Light Video's "reservation activity" updated the prizes that the registrants could eventually draw at a rate of one guest every ten minutes.

Video platforms are different.

He is a singer and writes his own songs; he can't be called unpopular, as he has a group of die-hard fans, but he hasn't broken out of his niche.

And the labels they gave Li Yuefeng were not subtle either: Massive topic hit, blessed with good fortune, not the lead, yet possesses the protagonist's halo!

Here, she has the best author resources and rich offline promotion resources. Whether it is the traditional physical stores represented by partner bookstores accumulated through event after event, or the reader circles represented by book clubs and university clubs, they are all categories that are significantly different from the current promotion team.

Lu Yanhe told Chen Siqi about this.

Lu Yanhe: Did you talk to Jiang Lan?

"This is actually fine; I probably guessed it myself," Lu Yanhe said. "Originally, premiering this subject matter on a traditional television station was quite risky. *Friends*, to put it bluntly, is about stories in the lives of modern people, so the barrier to entry is low. *Seventeen Layers* is like an urban legend, which is indeed very difficult for the older generation to accept."

Lu Qingzhen nodded without surprise and said, "Of course it can be done. It's like this: since our plan is customized, it must be based on meeting your needs. I've listened to Zhi Bai's songs, and I like them very much."

"Aren't there many voices singing the blues for *Seventeen Layers* right now?"

Lu Qingzhen looked at the boy before her, who, although he had debuted for a few years, clearly remained well-protected and untainted, and smiled gently.

Can the power behind Lu Yanhe bring another promotional miracle like *Friends* to *Seventeen Layers*?

"Why didn't you tell us?"

All media outlets of *Jump Up* published and pushed this video at the first opportunity.

"I'm very optimistic," Lu Yanhe said. "This subject matter isn't innovative, but there are very few domestic dramas like it, leaving a huge blank space. Even if it were filmed just okay, many people would definitely want to watch it, not to mention that the word-of-mouth is so good now. You can tell by the trending searches and popularity on the internet right now. Just the people who watched TV yesterday spontaneously created so many topics, discussing and debating. Among the current trending searches, at least half weren't created by the Beijing Station or our artist team; they were all generated naturally."

Bottom right corner—

Lu Yanhe said, "How can I trouble you every time, Senior? Last time was a special situation. This time, the Beijing Station poured so many promotional resources into it, yet the ratings continue to decline; this isn't just a matter of inadequate promotion."

Chen Siqi: "Let's formally invite Sister Yuqian to a meal later. Although I know you still have many other collaborations with her later, and she only came to do this activity with us because of you, regardless, she was willing to be the first guest to provide rewards for the registrants, and our *Jump Up* benefited greatly. I should show some appreciation."

Li Zhibai sighed: "Truly awesome. I want to act in a play like this; is there such a real-life escape room? I also want to play this kind of level-clearing escape room."

On this Saturday, starting from when many media outlets and marketing accounts were shocked by the high-opening and low-closing ratings trend of *Seventeen Layers* and began posting their reflections, the voices discussing the drama *Seventeen Layers* never disappeared.

It can be said that on this Saturday, the industry did not truly pass a death sentence on *Seventeen Layers*, but was waiting for the second episode broadcast on Saturday night and the first episode broadcast on Polar Light Video.

The confidant received the signal and immediately said, "But the reviews for this drama online are very high right now. Apart from the trending searches we arranged ourselves, the naturally generated trending topics on various platforms have already exceeded twenty."

In several very thrilling and tense moments in the middle, they all held their breath, their hearts in their throats.

Ten minutes after launch, Polar Light Video released a report of success: viewership exceeded eight million!

At the same time, the real-time ratings for the second episode of *Seventeen Layers* on the Beijing Station started at 0.72%, and within ten minutes, it rose slightly to 0.75%, without continuing to fall.

Besides the Polar Light Video logo, there was also a *Jump Up* logo.

Previously, Chen Siqi handled everything herself, with single-line contact. This time, with *Seventeen Layers* about to air, Chen Siqi took the collaboration plan she had prepared early on to meet the Beijing Station, but the Beijing Station looked down on their small team, feeling that they had never done drama promotion and were just fooling around. Polar Light Video had also been researching for ten days or half a month, and it wasn't until the Beijing Station ratings came out last night that they suddenly contacted Chen Siqi to ask if she could still do it.

Lu Yanhe took a deep breath.

"I want to trouble you to record a short clip for us. You don't know how to record? It's fine, I've already arranged for a photographer to be on the way to your house; they will arrive within an hour. I know you definitely won't have the heart to refuse me. Say whatever you want; I've come to you in such a rush to ask for your help, how could I possibly dictate what you say! If it weren't because this is a drama starring Yan He, which clearly has great word-of-mouth but hasn't been seen by many viewers, I wouldn't go to all this trouble!"

Chen Siqi said: The Beijing Station deserves it. When I talked to them about cooperation before, they complained that we were inexperienced and small-time, unable to accomplish big things. Then, they wanted to rely on the fact that I am your lover to make us work for free. I was so angry I was speechless. Since they look down on us, why covet our meager strength and try to get a free ride?

Chen Siqi: The promotion the Beijing Station is doing for *Seventeen Layers* now is all thunder and no rain; it didn't land in any of the right pits, and it benefited others instead.

His agent smiled at Lu Qingzhen and said, "Qingzhen, we aren't actually thinking about how famous Zhi Bai is or how many fans he has, but rather wanting the songs he writes and sings to be heard by more people. Regarding this aspect, can you do it?"

Chen Siqi asked: "How are you?"

Welcome to pre-register for *Seventeen Layers* and draw surprise grand prizes.

Now Chen Siqi has begun to develop it as a very important business sector.

After the first ten-minute countdown ended, a video appeared where the question mark had originally been.

Wang Xiao: "Anyway, that's just me. I thought about watching it yesterday, but when I searched, I found out it was exclusively broadcast on the television station first and could only be released on the video platform today, so I could only miss it."

Of course, for the platform, the most critical thing is actually not the appeal of these prizes to everyone, but the invisible dissemination power brought to *Seventeen Layers* by these celebrities one after another.

"If we continue to invest such large promotional resources without stopping the losses in time, how much will we lose on this project? Can we afford it?"

Click to open, and Jiang Yuqian's face appeared.

"OK," Chen Siqi took a deep breath and said, "This is the first big order our self-media has signed with Polar Light Video. The ratings on the Beijing Station sliding all the way down yesterday is not a bad thing for us. They actually wanted to get a free ride from us before, making us do free promotion for them. Everyone, today we will let everyone know that we, *Jump Up*, have our own most unique channels and capabilities in terms of promotion."

She gave her confidant a look.

His most famous work is actually the variety show *Young Days*, but even in that show, his presence wasn't particularly high.

Lu Yanhe felt that Li Zhibai's sense of smell was quite sharp.

Some people are analyzing on a technical level how well the first episode of *Seventeen Layers* was filmed and how fast the pacing was; others are analyzing the characteristics of different characters from the perspective of acting.

"You helped us invite so many big names to the event, and basically, whenever you are free, you come to participate in our activities. How much support have you given us? Is this all fake? And you haven't even done anything yet," Wang Xiao said. "I really hope you can accept this position of honorary vice president."

Yu Lang—this girl with a boyish name—immediately made an OK gesture. "I'll follow up on this side."

As soon as the second episode finished airing, the ratings were revealed. The peak value never broke 1, but it didn't fall below 0.7 either. The average rating was slightly higher than yesterday's first episode, reaching 0.79%.

Even students returning home don't have this habit.

And what Chen Siqi attached as a classic case was actually the promotion that *Jump Up* stepped forward to take over a day or two before *Friends* aired, after the Beijing Station completely withdrew the drama's promotion.

"But Polar Light signed the contract with us too late; many things were too late to prepare. Crazy, crazy," one person shook their head and sighed. "I really only found out today that our self-media team derived from the magazine actually has so many people."

"Ah?"

Those who noticed it at the first opportunity were taken aback.

Jiangguang, a hotel suite, a dozen people each holding their own equipment, finding places to sit down, occupying the territory. Chen Siqi sat behind the desk, holding her phone with a beaming smile.

"Nonsense, this is just inadequate promotion," Wang Xiao said. "Since it's exclusively broadcast on the television station and the video platform is only released after 24 hours, then in a situation where *Seventeen Layers* is already so popular and highly anticipated, shouldn't the focus be on promoting the television broadcast time? But you have been focusing on promoting the drama itself, not the viewing time, which led to many people thinking about searching online for where to watch it, and then they missed the premiere time. So, weren't the people watching the premiere yesterday mainly the Beijing Station's audience and some people who knew the broadcast time?"

Helping *Seventeen Layers* is one thing; another thing is that she wants to use the *Seventeen Layers* project to announce her entry.

This collaboration had been kept under wraps and not released; they had come to talk to the Beijing Station about cooperation back when *Seventeen Layers* was waiting to be aired.

Chen Siqi of course said she could do it.

"*Jump Up* is using its own resources to try a new path for drama promotion, increasing the audience's sense of participation and letting the audience become the promoters of this drama," Lu Qingzhen said. "This is a customized drama promotion plan tailored by Jump Up's self-media for *Seventeen Layers*. Our company actually does this too, providing customized service plans for our VIP clients." Qin Zhi is a rich second generation.

Just these labels alone made it onto the trending searches once and were discussed by many people.

Chen Siqi: No, it's that they have a department specifically responsible for this kind of promotion that will cooperate with some third-party organizations. I went to talk about this business, including the drama promotion for *Seventeen Layers*, which is actually also being coordinated with them.

A domestic large-scale amusement park brand has already negotiated a cooperation with the Beijing Station and will carry out relevant development.

Because their own platform data shows that people interested in this drama, people searching for this drama on the site, and the playback volume of trailers and behind-the-scenes clips are all showing very positive exponential growth.

Chen Siqi smiled brightly.

Indeed, a whole room, a dozen people, are now all contracted staff of the self-media team.

"Hmm, okay, I've noted it down, I'll arrange it later," Lu Yanhe nodded.

On the large carousel image on the homepage of Polar Light Video, there was also a window on the right side occupying about one-third of the size, showing a ten-minute countdown.

"Senior, your words have been an eye-opener for me."

"What do you mean how am I?"

Jiang Lan pressed her tongue against a mouth ulcer that had popped up in her lower jaw due to anxiety, feeling terrible.

Why did they decide to cooperate with Chen Siqi after the ratings came out last night?

But the core is still the ratings.

Just like the performance of *Friends* when it aired back then.

The advertisers suddenly became as excited as if they had been injected with adrenaline, wanting to invest in advertisements; how long had it been since such a grand occasion occurred for a traditional television station?

Just at this moment, a statement from Jiang Lan suddenly circulated within the Beijing Station: Compared to the promotional strategy formulated by Jump Up for Polar Light Video, our own promotion department is simply occupying a position without doing any work!