Chapter 192: Interests Move the Hearts of Men (Please Subscribe)

The results of the training have yet to emerge, but Asia Television's grand gesture has shocked all the viewers.

Yes, all the viewers, including super-rich second-generation heirs like Lin Ershao.

The training location for the Beauty Pageant contestants, for the first phase, is the Fengrui Residential Complex in Sai Kung.

This place is precisely the true lair that Wu Feng spent a great deal of money to build.

The novel and beautiful architecture, along with the spacious and comfortable interior environment, immediately caught the eyes of the audience in front of their television sets, regardless of whether they were rich or poor.

The architectural style of a small county town in 2020 is, in fact, the architectural style of a first-tier metropolis after 2010.

Compared to the current architectural style in Hong Kong, it is far superior in every aspect.

Fortunately, land prices in Sai Kung are cheap, and the construction costs for the residential complex were relatively low.

The first phase, consisting of six twelve-story residential buildings, cost a total of nearly two hundred million.

If it were placed in the bustling area of Central, that would only be enough to buy one floor of a high-end office building.

If placed in the bustling region of Kowloon, it would barely be enough to buy two or three residential buildings of about a dozen stories each.

In any case, the contestants were more than satisfied with the environment of the training venue.

Even many viewers watching from their television sets were quite curious about the environment of the Fengrui Residential Complex.

Those with plenty of free time even drove over to take a look.

Asia Television really put in the effort regarding the contestants' training.

Not only do they cultivate the contestants' basic talents, but other skills in various areas can also be chosen.

For example, Fang Ting, the newcomer whom Jing Kun values most, is training in performance skills.

It is unknown if it was fate, but Fang Ting originally wanted to join Fengrui Film and Television, yet ended up joining Qiankun Film and Television through a twist of fate.

Whether in terms of looks or figure, Fang Ting has no small amount of potential.

When registering her for the Beauty Pageant, he specifically gave Wu Feng a heads-up.

In front of Wu Feng, this guy spoke quite clearly: "Feng Zai, I am very optimistic about this pretty girl's star potential. While she is participating in the Beauty Pageant, you must take good care of her!"

"Oh, are you grooming this pretty girl as a professional actress?"

Wu Feng asked very directly: "I need to clarify this first so that I can be more targeted when arranging the training later!"

"That goes without saying!"

Jing Kun subconsciously clutched his waist and affirmed: "Qiankun Film and Television is exactly lacking this type of actress!"

Wu Feng's eyelids twitched, but he did not say anything more and nodded in agreement.

When the audience saw the Beauty Pageant contestants, divided into several batches, receiving basic talent training from professional teachers in spacious and bright rooms, they felt both extremely curious and deeply shocked.

When Asia Television released the announcement earlier, the audience thought it was just a gimmick.

Even if there were training, it would at most be for show on Asia Television's programs.

Who knew that Asia Television was actually serious!

Even a super-rich second-generation heir like Lin Ershao was shocked by Asia Television's grand gesture, let alone the ordinary audience, who were simply dumbfounded and trembling in their hearts.

No matter where you are, learning skills costs money.

Hong Kong is naturally no exception, and basic talent training is definitely not cheap.

Even the most basic singing and dancing training is something ordinary families cannot afford to provide.

But now, for the sake of the program's effect, Asia Television is actually taking the initiative to help train the contestants; this is such a grand gesture, and one could say the contestants have hit the jackpot.

Immediately, many ordinary viewers regretted it so much their guts turned green.

Had they known, they would definitely have let their own daughters actively participate in the Beauty Pageant.

They originally thought the Beauty Pageant put on by Asia Television this time was just an enhanced version of Miss Asia.

Who knew it would actually come up with something new and provide the contestants with a huge space for improvement!

The basic talent training provided by Asia Television is also a very precious resource for girls from ordinary families.

Haven't you seen that in the television footage, contestants who were originally clueless about singing and dancing—or at best at a karaoke level—gradually developed a bit of a singer's flair under the teachers' meticulous training? It made many viewers so envious their eyes almost turned red.

Although the clumsiness the contestants occasionally displayed added quite a bit of fun to the program, it still could not stop the intense envy of many viewers.

The outstanding contestants among them already had considerable fame at this point.

Asia Television did not deliberately market the contestants' tragic backgrounds; as long as their original situations were made known, they could naturally gain the sympathy of most ordinary viewers.

As long as they performed well during the training, it was easy to convert that goodwill into tangible support.

At this time, Asia Television had already opened up support channels for the audience to vote for the contestants.

Voting by phone, and also voting by BP Pager!

These two were special services launched by Asia Television in cooperation with Hong Kong Telecom.

One phone call counts as one vote, and one page also counts as one vote, with the price being one Hong Kong Dollar for each!

Originally, Wu Feng's intention was to implement some restrictive measures.

That is, to limit how many votes a single phone number could cast, fearing that some middle school students might get hot-headed and cast too many votes at once, eventually leading to complaints from dissatisfied parents.

As it turned out, the telecom company did not agree and did not care at all about the potential impact.

It gave Wu Feng the feeling of being very capitalistic!

With this, the daily voting hotlines almost never stopped.

At this moment, the entire Hong Kong had its eyes drawn to the novel and interesting Beauty Pageant, and the popularity was shockingly high.

According to the data sent over by the telecom company, there were millions of votes every day.

As time passed, the daily vote count was still growing rapidly!

These are benefits that the television station, the telecom company, and the contestants can all share!

Added to the revenue from product endorsements, even though the contestants in the official competition were still in closed-door training, their income was not low at all.

Everyone at Asia Television was incredibly excited at this moment!

This Beauty Pageant is bound to be a hit program once again.

Even while still in the contestant training period, the television station's revenue is already quite considerable.

As the Program Director, Li Zhuanglie is deeply moved; he never expected a program could be played this way.

The television station takes a direct fifty percent cut of those audience votes, which is no small sum.

Every day there is an intake of hundreds of thousands to millions, easily covering the expenses spent on the program.

In fact, Wu Feng still has a major move he hasn't unleashed; that one is aimed at the wealthy second generation and the rich.

Once it truly reaches that point, if they can't rake in tens of millions at a time, then the television station's work is not up to par.

In short, as the heat of the Beauty Pageant continues to rise, it has already become a phenomenal program.

Whenever there is a related program broadcast, the ratings go straight off the charts.

Wireless's programs in the same time slot, no matter what they are, are suppressed to the point of being unable to breathe.

"Wu Feng still has some ability!"

Over here, Shao Liushu faces such a situation without any major emotional fluctuations.

He has seen all kinds of great storms and waves; it is just being suppressed in the ratings for a certain time period, not a total collapse of the situation.

"Should we help him publicize the original purpose of this beauty program?"

Fang Yihua is quite displeased and suggests: "If the audience knew that the original purpose of the Beauty Pageant was just to select Nightclub Courtesans for the Yau Tsim Mong area, I'm afraid it would cause a huge uproar!"

"No need for that!"

Shao Liushu shakes his head in refusal and says calmly: "Some things cannot be done!"

In fact, if he could, he naturally would not let go of the opportunity to strike a heavy blow against Asia Television.

Unfortunately, at this time, the Beauty Pageant held by Asia Television has already gained momentum; releasing unfavorable news to the outside world now would only make outsiders think Wireless cannot afford to lose.

The most critical point is that the new boss of Asia Television, Wu Feng, has coerced quite a few first-class newspapers into participating in the promotion.

For example, the Oriental Daily News specializes in promoting a certain association or a certain type of contestant.

The Sky Daily News supports other contestants, and for the sake of the performance of their respective supported contestants, they engage in a war of words in the newspapers, attracting too much reader attention.

For a time, the first-class newspapers that participated saw their sales skyrocket in a short period.

Like the Oriental Daily News, recent newspaper sales have increased by nearly ten thousand!

This is not a small number, and the meaning it represents is not just as simple as ten thousand.

The influence and discourse power of the newspaper, as well as the role and effect of advertising, in short, the Oriental Daily News has definitely won big.

Having seen the tangible benefits, numerous first-class newspapers will definitely revolve around this Beauty Pageant to harvest a wave of profits, and they will absolutely not allow outside forces to interfere.

Even if Shao Liushu takes action, it won't work!

In the face of tangible, enormous benefits, there is no human sentiment to speak of.

Having also seen these clues, Shao Liushu naturally will not take the initiative to stir up trouble.

Otherwise, with his personality, how could he possibly let it go so lightly?

"But, Asia Television's Beauty Pageant this time will at least drag on for three months!"

Fang Yihua says unhappily: "During this period, who knows how many of Wireless's program ratings will be affected; it's impossible to follow along and adjust every time, that would be too cowardly!"

"You are too impatient!"

A sharp glint flashes in Shao Liushu's eyes, and he says calmly: "Since Asia Television has made such a good start, we can also follow along and imitate it!"

"For example, after Asia Television's Beauty Pageant ends, we can hold a similar beauty pageant; the target group can be placed on white-collar workers or students; in short, the effect will definitely not be bad!"

That is what is said, but to have him learn from Asia Television and give contestants such a long period of training, that is an impossible thing.

"That is exactly what should be done!"

A shrewd look flashes in Fang Yihua's eyes, and she chuckles: "We indeed only need to imitate!"

"I heard that just the phone and pager voting alone have made Asia Television earn a fortune!"

"Sigh, that is because they have the ability, their brains are indeed flexible!"

Speaking of this, Shao Liushu also has to sigh aloud.

It is true that his net worth is in the billions, but he cannot ignore such astonishing revenue.

"These things, Wireless will have to learn well when the time comes!"

Wu Feng does not know that Wireless is already preparing to copy the Beauty Pageant created by Asia Television.

Even if he knew, he wouldn't care too much; could it be that he could get a patent for such a program?

(End of this chapter)