Chapter 360: Too Popular

Deng Siyuan is the head of the Beijing Channel's promotional department.

Previously, because of problems with the promotion of *Friends*, he was under great pressure. This time, with *Seventeen Layers*, he led his department to charge with all their might, just wanting to turn the tide, but the ratings had problems.

He said at the first opportunity: "This isn't a problem with our department. We raised the peak rating of the first episode to 1%, which shows that our promotional work was absolutely done in place. It kept falling because the show itself isn't attractive and can't retain the audience."

Kicking the ball between each other is not uncommon.

It's just that after Deng Siyuan said this, it undoubtedly pushed all the blame for *Seventeen Layers*' poor performance onto the production department.

However, who could have imagined that in just one day, *Seventeen Layers* would kill all sides on Arctic Light Video, using record-breaking online playback data to prove to everyone that its content itself had no problems and it could attract the audience.

Jiang Lan saying this at this time—even if it was just circulating, just rumored—was already expressing a certain attitude.

Which film and television dramas are about to go live, go to dock, go to actively talk about cooperation.

He accepted Li Bi's short video interview—Li Bi specifically set up a column for his short videos called "Eight Questions, Eight Answers."

"*Seventeen Layers* playing well on Arctic Light is understandable, but I didn't give any discounts on the promotion of *Seventeen Layers*. Leaders, you can see it; I really tried my best to push this show. It's our king of dramas; I didn't slack off at all."

Jiang Lan said: "The day before yesterday, the ratings of the first episode kept falling. Minister Deng said it was because the quality of our episodes wasn't attractive enough. Yesterday, the ratings of the second episode, hmm, weren't very high, but they didn't fail the mission to refute Minister Deng's words, stabilizing at 0.7. The overall average rating was even higher than the first episode, and it didn't continue to fall."

Who is willing?

"Then do I need to stand up and apologize?"

"But I want to be seen by the audience, to be liked by everyone. I don't want to retire." Chen Bige insisted on choosing *Seventeen Layers*.

Deng Siyuan: "Many professors now deliberately say some alarmist things just to make themselves famous."

When Li Bi asked this question at the time, Lu Yan He was stunned.

Among them was Chen Bige.

Chen Bige has a very high status, but it is true that she hasn't launched a big hit work for a long time.

Deng Siyuan's forehead was dripping with sweat under the pressure of Jiang Lan's questioning.

Only Lu Yan He, going nowhere, this son must be executed!

Li Bi's eight-question, eight-answer column updated to the eighth day, and his eighth question happened to be "Why do you always deliberately reduce your exposure? You are clearly a very hardworking person who cares very much about this career."

However, the "dull-haired genius" played by Lu Yan He still caused a lot of discussion, mainly among those girls who love this style.

No one had ever combined these two things into one question to ask him.

He has been doing short videos for less than a year. Although he stands on the connections and resources of Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi, the progress is fast, but speaking of it, he hasn't really made a climate yet.

Chen Bige's masterful acting played this character as cold and stubborn, yet with a kind of fragility that makes people can't help but feel pity.

What is this stuff?

Lu Yan He said: "From the difficulty of the actor's performance, everyone's acting in this play is very good. How to make me have my own brilliance is one of the difficulties. And from the perspective of character shaping, the biggest difficulty is how to play such a genius who is just not good at expressing emotions and moods without looking like a fool."

This return to the small screen, choosing a TV series like *Seventeen Layers*, is a big challenge for her.

He went to the station leaders to report at the first opportunity.

The station also immediately held a high-level meeting.

Once this answer came out, it suddenly set off a tidal wave of discussion online.

The camera was aimed at him.

After all, the status is already as high as it can be, and there is no further promotion.

When making this decision at the time, many people advised her not to choose such a risky genre and to play a safe hand first.

With her status, as long as there is no major Waterloo, this status can be maintained until she retires.

"Ah?" Deng Siyuan was stunned.

Therefore, he went to ask for Lu Yan He's time first. A car ride, about forty minutes, and it was recorded.

During this initial period, absolutely don't think about doing any innovative topics; just rub, rub whichever traffic is big.

"No one said you were slacking off, and no one said you were passive." Jiang Lan sneered softly, "It's just that your large-scale, wide-net promotional method has made wedding clothes for others. Look at the data of Arctic Light and you will know. *Seventeen Layers* playing so well on Arctic Light has your credit."

This time, Chen Bige's performance in *Seventeen Layers* also exploded without any surprise.

Over the past few years, she has been focusing on movies. It can't be said that the movie box office flopped, but in a market that is often billions or tens of billions, the box office of the movies she starred in mostly only had a few hundred million. Money was earned, but for an actor of her level, it didn't help much, and it didn't help her win any heavyweight awards. In recent years, it can only be said that she maintained her status.

Her team members said: "Who among them doesn't want to get your status?"

Listen, is this still human talk?!

"Usually, which artist isn't eager to be a little more popular? You? You're good, you even publicly complain that you are too popular." Chen Ziyan couldn't help but laugh and scold, "You are stabbing others."

—I think I am too popular.

"Many young viewers have only heard my name but don't know me anymore." Chen Bige said, "I'm not old enough to retire directly, right? I'm only in my thirties. Many actors of the same age as me are still big stars, big and popular. Why should I start retiring?"

This time *Seventeen Layers* aired, Li Bi also knew that this was an opportunity that absolutely could not be missed.

There are many people who refuse, but there are always those who accept.

Chen Ziyan: "Anyway, regardless of whether it's your intention or not, you have definitely become the target of everyone's voodoo dolls now."

After discovering this, the drama fans told each other, wishing they could announce it to the whole world.

You black fans who have been singing the blues for *Seventeen Layers* these two days, look clearly!

The public opinion trend, which is like a recovery from the bottom, has allowed almost everyone in *Seventeen Layers* to catch their breath.

Li Bi interviewed Lu Yan He in the car.

Basically, there is only one public schedule a week, including recording programs.

Many times there is really no money, so I can only go to Chen Siqi.

"Why, when our ratings were falling, there was a chorus of singing the blues, but Arctic Light instead added promotional funds to do such an activity?" Jiang Lan's eyes stared at Deng Siyuan, "Because they can see from the inverse situation of falling ratings and explosive word-of-mouth in the same period that a large number of potential viewers haven't watched the show, so they want to grab the audience. And we, because of the 1% peak, determined that we had already grabbed all the viewers we should have grabbed, and it was a problem of not being able to retain them. Of course, viewers in their forties and fifties can't be retained, but viewers in their twenties and thirties, did you really grab them from the beginning?"

As the traffic slowly picked up, his short video program finally had brands willing to implant.

It is also fortunate that *Seventeen Layers* is a weekly drama, lengthening the front line, and the popularity is maintained for a longer time. The various partners don't have to fight for someone's schedule, and can even negotiate the schedule in a friendly way, going to your place today and mine tomorrow.

And everyone discovered with depression again that this guy Lu Yan He is still the same as before. No matter how you talk, he won't take too many jobs and let himself run continuously.

Lu Yan He said: "This is a technical difficulty, but what I lack most is technology. So, at that time, I was actually anxious for a long time. Later, I thought of a solution, which is to watch a lot of movies and dramas and imitate. If you can't build it yourself, imitate first. Without the psychological burden of having to create a dull-haired genius that belongs to me, Lu Yan He, I relaxed instead and had ideas." Li Bi's short videos are usually two to three minutes each.

Lu Yan He couldn't help but lower his head and laugh.

Jiang Lan: "And I heard another piece of news. A month ago, Chen Siqi actually contacted your department, wanting to cooperate on a customized promotional plan for *Seventeen Layers*, but you refused because they made you lose a big one on the *Friends* show. They turned the tide and saved the ratings of *Friends*, but let your face be stepped on the ground."

Therefore, Li Bi usually prepares one hundred questions each time, and then finds the editors of *Jump Up* self-media to help screen the eight most representative questions.

"This counts as me borrowing from you, I will return it later." Li Bi said.

This workload is very large, even a physical job.

But Chen Bige ultimately hopes to have new breakthroughs.

Many people think he is lazy, think he is aloof, or think he is suddenly popular and lucky, so he doesn't care about this popularity.

"I know, otherwise why would I say you are making wedding clothes for others." Jiang Lan smiled slightly, but her eyes were a bit cold in the smile, "I got a piece of news late last night. The night before last, after the first episode aired, the people at Arctic Light contacted Chen Siqi at the first opportunity—the girl who co-hosted the magazine with Lu Yan He—deciding to buy the reservation activity they tailored for *Seventeen Layers* to promote this show. The whole day yesterday, the hot search list was full of the guests and information of their activities, and it also effectively converted viewing. The number of viewers broke ten million in the first hour of the premiere. Even if we don't do online video, we should understand the gold content of this data, right? For an S-level big drama, the average playback volume per episode is only fifty or sixty million."

Just from the change in this data, it can be seen that the market's recognition of *Seventeen Layers*' market performance is extremely high.

Everyone's eyes fell on Deng Siyuan's face.

One of the questions is: What is the biggest difficulty in starring in *Seventeen Layers*?

Which singers have released new songs and have concerts, they are also the first to actively apply for cooperation.

The key to this column lies in how the eight questions are asked.

In comparison, other characters, because the plot has not fully unfolded, the discussion is not as good as Chen Bige.

At this moment, Deng Siyuan felt the feeling of being on his back for a long time.

On Sunday night, the second episode of *Seventeen Layers* went live on Arctic Light, and the popularity remained the same. What's more exaggerated is that in just one day, with eight pre-roll ads in the first episode, four more were added in one breath.

Lu Yan He: "This is really not my intention, Ziyan-jie."

Only Li Bi saw clearly that he was deliberately reducing exposure.

"He is a professor at Zhenhua University, Minister Deng." Jiang Lan reminded, "Don't compare him with those so-called garbage experts."

The market is like this, whoever is popular will chase whoever.

Deng Siyuan's face showed a smirk.

If you ask well, you can get good answers.

Then this forces everyone to face a situation where there are more monks and less porridge.

Fortunately, *Seventeen Layers* has many starring actors, which allows everyone to grab one or two actors' schedules more or less.

Deng Siyuan took a deep breath.

Deng Siyuan was annoyed.

The orphan Li Meng she played, who has been struggling at the bottom since childhood, is full of vigilance against people, has the cleverness raised by the city, and shows extraordinary ability and reaction in such a cruel environment, which makes the audience sympathize while also producing a sense of appreciation.

One question, one short video.

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After Li Bi finished interviewing Lu Yan He, the second one went to make an appointment with Chen Bige.

"It's not that I'm bragging, maybe it's really because of everyone's preference, plus some accidental luck, I seem to be on the hot search from time to time because of some things, and I am seen by everyone. Then I hope to be a good actor, so I must maintain a certain sense of mystery. It's not that I say I want to live in the deep mountains and forests so that everyone can't see me, but I don't want everyone to see me every three or five days. A person who always appears in front of the audience will be tired of being seen." Lu Yan He said.

Therefore, the route Li Bi designed for himself is "hitching a ride."

Lu Yan He couldn't laugh or cry.

Every artist who comes to his short video column, he will apply for a fund, combined with a point in his short video, to help the artist market a topic.

But Li Bi persisted.

"In fact, most of the time when I don't meet with everyone, I am also doing my own things. I am reading, writing scripts, reading scripts, and meeting with producers, directors, and other actors." Lu Yan He said, "This is what I am doing."

"Can I tell the truth?" Lu Yan He pursed his lips and pondered for a second before saying: "Because I think I am too popular."

A capable person, as long as he is really willing to spend his mind, then the investor only needs to do the investment well.

And Li Bi is not a person who sticks to the rules.

Jiang Lan: "Do you know? A professor at the School of Communication of Zhenhua University posted on his social media today, pointing directly at our Beijing Channel's promotion of *Seventeen Layers*, saying it is a kind of promotion that consumes a lot of manpower, financial resources, and material resources but has the lowest cost-effectiveness."

If you ask badly, you may only get stereotyped things in the end.

As an actor, there is a breakthrough in acting, and as a career, there is a breakthrough in career height.

When Chen Siqi heard Li Bi say this, she knew that Li Bi really treated this column as his career.

This type of character is not uncommon, and it has a very large audience. Lu Yan He spent a lot of effort to fill in the details when playing such a character.

Sure enough, after doing this, a month ago, Li Bi finally achieved profitability in a single video, and the traffic advertising revenue and embedded sponsorship revenue covered his operating costs and marketing expenses.

The explosion of *Seventeen Layers* has caused the starring actors to start working non-stop.

"Jiang Tai, I only did the analysis based on the data before."

"What are you going to apologize for? Apologize for saying you shouldn't say you are too popular?" Chen Ziyan sighed, "You'd better forget it, just honestly wait for the storm to pass."

Actually, it's mainly because of Lu Yan He's words, right? Although it's crazy, it's also a fact. No one can say anything about him because of this.

There are also many netizens who think it is very interesting for Lu Yan He to say such things, and it is true temperament. ===== CHAPTER 361 =====