Chapter 393: Want Money, Not Heart

Even if this matter truly escalated to court between Tencent and Riot, Swan Castle has countermeasures.

We could also sue them for plagiarism—those heroes like Bounty Hunter and Blind Monk, the ones Fang Hong designed after his rebirth, have similar counterparts in League of Legends.

Either way, sue back—but not now. Let this wave of hype pass, deprive them of momentum.

Hero Glory is a massive hit; on October 18, the second episode of Dad Where Are We Going rose from a viewership rating of 1.423% in its first episode.

It surged to 2.588%, an increase of over one full percentage point.

Domestically, the popularity of this variety show rivals Hero Glory, though the two circles are entirely different.

One is the gaming circle, the other is the entertainment circle; gaming targets male audiences, entertainment targets female audiences.

The explosive success of Dad Where Are We Going turned the child stars on the show into "new top flows" even hotter than internet celebrities.

The various tear-jerking and laugh-inducing moments created by the kids generated massive trending topics for the show.

These trending topics were marketed and spread via new media platforms like Toutiao and Bilibili in fragmented formats.

Through constant mentions, shares, comments, and audience interaction, even passersby became curious enough to watch the show.

The advantage of new media lies in its precision and interactivity, enabling audience feedback and achieving dissemination effects.

It can be said that the show's success, beyond its innovative production, stems from its timing with internet new media.

Without internet interactivity, it would be nearly impossible to generate a sensation.

Of course, the explosive popularity also brought endless controversy: is it appropriate for the show to exploit children? Could early fame harm children's studies and mental health?

And whether it's excessive to use children for public entertainment—there are many such disputes.

The children's own parents don't see anything wrong; some people just worry too much. Even if there is harm, it's their parents' business to bear.

They earned so much money; enduring corresponding pressure is normal. Don't take the money if you can't handle it.

Yutu didn't care about the controversy; if people want to scold, they'll scold Mango TV—it airs on Mango TV, not Yutu.

Fang Hong's goal was to exhaust as much residual value from this variety show as possible, because he knew that under endless controversy, it would inevitably be canceled.

So if it could be consumed, consume it all.

Fang Hong summoned Chen Zhixi and told her to turn Dad Where Are We Going into a movie.

"What?!"

Chen Zhixi widened her eyes, disbelieving: "Turn a variety show into a movie?"

"Yes. After filming, release it in the New Year Slot." Fang Hong had already decided the release date.

The New Year Slot timing coincides perfectly with when Dad Where Are We Going is about to end its run, when its hype is at its peak.

"Am I hearing this right? It's a variety show, and we only have one or two months until the New Year Slot." Chen Zhixi was stunned.

No one's ever done something like this—turn a variety show into a movie in such a short time? How bad would it be? How outrageously terrible?

No one has ever done this before.

"Enough. We don't need any plot. Shoot it in a week. Use the rest of the time for editing and propaganda. If we lack footage, just cut clips from the variety show to fill the runtime." Fang Hong said.

"Holy shit."

Chen Zhixi couldn't help blurting it out: "Aren't you afraid the audience will scold you to death?"

"We make the money; getting scolded is normal. I can take it. I believe you can too." Fang Hong said.

"I can't take it. This will nail us to the shame pillar." Chen Zhixi felt numb all over.

This is too disrespectful to the audience—they're treated like garbage viewers.

The mainstream arts community will also denounce us: how vile, to put such trash on screen, sacrificing conscience for money.

Public perception will plummet. Want money, not heart.

"Even if we don't do it, Mango TV's nature means they'll do it anyway. Better we do it ourselves—we hold the rights." Fang Hong urged.

In his past life, Mango TV did exactly this—only they hadn't realized it yet, because the film was completed in a week.

"Then let someone else do it. We just take a share."

Chen Zhixi didn't want to do it: "Even if we make a bad movie, it's still a movie. This is just a variety show slapped onto the big screen—it'll ruin our brand. Audiences will lose trust in us. Our reputation will suffer. The aftereffects will be severe."

These words made Fang Hong fall silent.

Indeed, doing this severely damages a company's reputation and drains its value, just like celebrities who overexpose themselves through too many variety shows and lose market competitiveness.

Why did Feng Kuzi's later films flop? Besides repeating himself, his reputation was completely exhausted.

There are many such examples in entertainment: Huang Bo, Deng Chao, and companies like Tianyu, LeEco, Tencent, Alibaba—all made bad films nobody accepted.

To this day, no one considers these companies film studios, yet they've genuinely produced countless terrible films.

Alibaba tried using algorithms to calculate the most popular scripts, actors, directors, and release windows—results were obvious: box office was disastrous, reviews were inhuman.

To fix this, they acquired an Irish company—a Big Data firm specializing in cinema analytics and services.

But their films remained shockingly bad. Liu Tianxian's Three Lives Three Worlds was calculated by Big Data.

Mojing Wang's The Ferryman was so bad, everyone wanted to remake it. Alibaba refused, insisting it was an awesome film.

The outcome was predictable: from then on, Mojing Wang never touched film again—no capital would hire him.

So Alibaba later shifted entirely to investment, barely preserving its dignity.

"You have a point," Fang Hong said.

"Let's just invest. We can put our name on it, take a cut, but don't lead it. Stay behind the scenes. That way, it's harmless." Chen Zhixi suggested.

"Then hand it to Tuyupiao. We'll just be a co-producer. Let Tuyupiao and Tianyu take the lead." Fang Hong said.

"That works." Chen Zhixi agreed. That way, Yutu's involvement is minimal—audiences will first see Tuyupiao and Tianyu.

It won't significantly impact Yutu.

Have Chen Zhixi go to Tuyupiao and negotiate with Chief Executive Officer Zheng Zhihao.

Tuyupiao had already intended to invest in film!

On October 25, the third episode of Dad Where Are We Going aired, breaking its own record with a viewership rating of 3.116% and a market share of 14.43%.

It crushed the same-period variety shows like The Voice of China, Super Boy, Day Day Up, and Happy Camp.

Not only did it dominate in ratings, it also dominated in interactive reputation across all the major portal sites.

Dad Where Are We Going topped the list with an 89.26% reputation rating, with The Voice of China second at 85.98%.

It became the hottest variety show of the moment.

In just half a month, Chang'e Video's Dad Where Are We Going broke 170 million clicks — these are real numbers.

If you multiply by ten, or even by five, following Fang Hong's theory, that would really be too exaggerated.

That's roughly twenty million clicks of growth per day, most of it new, because many people had already seen it — they could only watch one episode a week.

It's an exclusive, you can't see it anywhere else, only on Bilibili.

Of course, advertising fees have also skyrocketed — Yinlu alone paid 66 million yuan for advertising, taking the exclusive online naming rights.

If they launch a membership, they'll definitely make money, no way to take a loss.

This variety show is really too hot, no wonder Fang Hong wants to turn it into a movie to cash in — if this didn't make money, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night, he'd feel he was losing out big time.

It not only pushed Chang'e Video's daily active traffic past twenty million, vaulting it into the ranks of mainstream video platforms, but also boosted Bilibili's traffic.

Bilibili can cut clips, or air exclusive content like behind-the-scenes celebrity banter, and so can Jinri Toutiao.

For a video platform nowadays, breaking ten million daily active users is already pretty impressive — Youku and Tudou combined only have fifty million.

Of course it can't compare with the first tier like Youku-Tudou, iQiyi, Sohu, Funshion — they have lots of content, and have acquired content from other platforms too.

For example, iQiyi acquired PPS.

On top of that, they've also partnered with internet TV — that is, TV boxes — though their name recognition can't compare, having been founded too recently.

But this is already pretty good — at least it's stronger than Tencent Video, and that's enough.

Not as good as the best, but better than the worst.

It was on this day that Long Danni called Fang Hong, wanting to discuss sharing the online rights.

The online side was earning far more than their TV station, and she felt it wasn't fair.

And so many video platforms were coming to them to buy the rights — silver was right before her eyes, yet she couldn't earn it, couldn't sleep.

"When we first agreed, the TV rights were yours and the online rights were ours — that's what we said, right?" Fang Hong said on the phone.

"Yes, we just didn't expect this variety show to be this hot — we need to renegotiate," Long Danni said.

"You didn't expect it, so now you want to void the agreement we already signed?" Fang Hong laughed in spite of his anger.

These people really are shameless in their pursuit of profit.

"We gave you a share on the TV side too — shouldn't you share a little of the online side with us?" Long Danni felt she was in the right.

"Sorry, the agreement is what it is — it can't be changed," Fang Hong refused outright.

"Hoarding everything for yourself like this won't do you any good," Long Danni said.

"I'm not hoarding anything — I gave you the share for the movie side, so why shouldn't I get to enjoy the share for the online side?" Fang Hong countered.

"What?" Long Danni was confused.

"We're planning to make Dad Where Are We Going into a movie, and we've decided to share that share with you and Taopiaopiao — and now you come to me to talk about online rights, I don't even feel like giving you any," Fang Hong said, annoyed.

Probably Chen Zhixi hadn't gone to discuss this with them yet.

"You plan to turn a variety show into a movie for theatrical release?" Long Danni was dumbfounded — you could actually do that?

Why hadn't they thought of this before? How huge were Super Girl and Super Boy!

"Right, it's already in the works, no preparation needed — you can start shooting right away and release it in the New Year Slot," Fang Hong said.

In other words, this movie would be handed to Tian Yu to produce.

Hearing this, Long Danni fell silent — this leek-cutting was just too ruthless, though she hadn't realized that Fang Hong was sharing it with them for the sake of his reputation.

Otherwise he wouldn't have wanted to share a single cent.

"Fine, I understand," Long Danni stopped obsessing over the online rights.

If the movie is released and pulls in a few hundred million at the box office, that's pure profit — because it barely costs anything, a few million is enough.

And that's all just the cast's pay.

Fang Hong hung up the phone — these people really were insatiably greedy, though this kind of thing was very common.

The Voice of China originally bought the rights from the Netherlands, but by the second season they stopped buying and produced it themselves — the Dutch came after them, and they just changed the format.

He figured there'd be plenty more conflicts in the future — in his past life, during the second season, iQiyi had originally bought the exclusive, but Mango TV then partnered with 360 Films & TV.

Making 360 Films & TV the premiere online video platform for Dad 2, and providing it with resources like celebrity interactions and behind-the-scenes banter.

This caused iQiyi and Mango TV to completely fall out.

But Fang Hong had no choice — he had to partner with a TV station, otherwise there'd be no platform; there were only so few satellite TV stations with good ratings.

And among these TV stations, hardly any were decent — they all wanted money, not conscience.

(End of chapter)