Chapter 355

The drama《Qianfu》was taken seriously within Yi'an.

The reason was simple: Seeing Yan Li valued it, and from the finished product, its quality was indeed high.

But no one expected this drama could become this popular.

The premiere of《Qianfu》aired on four satellite channels: Jingcheng, Modu, Yushi, and Heisheng; during simultaneous broadcast, its peak viewership once exceeded 10%, with an average market share of 22% or higher.

What does this mean?!

It was already 2009; viewership data was nowhere near as exaggerated as in past years—breaking 2% or 3% was considered a huge hit, yet《Qianfu》's performance could almost contend for the annual championship.

However, the most astonishing thing wasn't the viewership; high viewership merely meant many people watched it, but that didn't necessarily equate to cultural fire in the public sense.

Otherwise, every year's breakout hits and top stars would all be CCTV's mainstream drama actors.

What made《Qianfu》truly terrifying was its immense influence online, offline, and in the media—it genuinely shattered social circles.

It not only attracted traditional spy drama fans but also large numbers of young people, women, intellectuals, and housewives who had never watched such genres; offices, schools, cafeterias, and buses were all discussing the plot.

Countless people passionately analyzed not just the plot, but also deeper themes: Yu Zecheng's workplace wisdom, Cui Ping's growth story, and the power of faith.

Many lines became catchphrases; online, countless derivative creations based on《Qianfu》's dialogues emerged and spread widely.

On Weibo, from the premiere to the finale, at least two to three related trending topics appeared daily, and even after the finale, momentum remained strong, with related topic reads exceeding 100 million.

This was the first television drama since Weibo's launch and introduction of trending topics to reach this level of popularity.

Several main actors of《Qianfu》also saw massive follower growth and exposure on Weibo.

The biggest increase was Jiang Xin, who, through her portrayal of Cui Ping—direct, fiery, plain, strong, and cheerful—gained a massive fanbase; during the peak of《Qianfu》, she acquired over a million followers in less than ten days.

Originally, Jiang Xin had over one million Weibo followers, which was already quite decent, placing her solidly in the upper-middle tier of second-tier stars.

Now, after《Qianfu》ended, her follower count had surpassed three million, and with continued fermentation and reruns, her growth rate remained rapid.

According to Weibo's backend estimates, the five-million mark was absolutely unstoppable—she was already heading toward top-tier status, even among top-tier stars, considered exceptionally outstanding.

During this period, whenever Jiang Xin posted anything related to《Qianfu》, it almost always made the trending list, easily entering the top ten, and she even reached number one twice.

Sun Honglei wasn't as extreme as Jiang Xin, mainly because his baseline was already stronger, and his acting range and appearance leaned more toward a powerhouse actor; his audience base was larger than his fanbase.

But even so, Sun Honglei's popularity surged dramatically, with Weibo follower growth measured in millions.

This was the fame and popularity a super-hit drama brought to its core beneficiary actors.

Previously, everyone knew that starring in a good drama would make you famous, but no one had a clear sense of just how famous.

Now, Weibo's follower growth speed and scale, though not comprehensive, provided some indirect data support.

The Jingcheng Daily called《Qianfu》a cultural phenomenon; Weibo Entertainment labeled it "Everyone Talks About《Qianfu》" and the number-one breakout drama of the first half of 2009.

Yi'an was overjoyed!

Although Yi'an didn't earn much from the initial broadcast rights of《Qianfu》，it had already recouped its costs; now that《Qianfu》had exploded, all subsequent licensing deals would surely rise in price—and not only would prices rise, but there would be many eager buyers.

The earning potential of a drama at this level was unimaginable for most ordinary film and television projects.

Everyone wanted to ride the wave; whoever rode it had to pay; a mature distribution team could turn licensing into art, with profits potentially exceeding the film and television rights themselves.

Of course, since《Qianfu》was a main-theme drama, many aspects still required caution.

If an idol drama, especially one suited for commercialization, became as popular as《Qianfu》，it would be a gold mine.

But《Qianfu》was also a gold mine—just a smaller one.

Direct project earnings were only one aspect; potential earnings were greater.

When Yi'an was preparing for its IPO, 《Qianfu》was a dazzling golden card—no matter how it was played, it could provide comprehensive boosts to Yi'an.

In addition, Sun Honglei also participated in《The Wind Speaks》; with his current popularity, he would certainly bring tremendous benefits to《The Wind Speaks》.

Jiang Xin was even more so; besides《Qianfu》，she already had one drama in development with Yi'an; after《Qianfu》exploded, Yi'an immediately announced a new drama collaboration with Jiang Xin.

Moreover, rumors spread that Yi'an intended to sign Jiang Xin and Sun Honglei; Jiang Xin herself confirmed this on Weibo.

However, this "signing" differed somewhat from traditional artist contracts.

Sun was the top star of Xinbaoyuan; boss Zhao Baogang valued him greatly, and Zhao was his benefactor—he couldn't easily leave Xinbaoyuan.

Jiang Xin had previously signed with Hai Run; now that《Qianfu》had exploded, she could rival Sun Li for the top female star position, and she already had channels to access Yi'an's resources, so she had no need to come to Yi'an for internal competition and endure Fan Xiaopang's face.

Thus, the signing Yi'an negotiated with them was not a full contract, but rather a film and commercial contract.

With the rise of the entertainment market, artist management had become more professional and specialized, emphasizing resource coordination and mutual benefit.

For example, Sun Honglei and Jiang Xin's companies, Xinbaoyuan and Hai Run, were both film and television studios strong in dramas but with extremely limited film resources and poor commercial capabilities.

As their fame and commercial value rose, they inevitably wanted to enter the film industry and secure better commercial benefits.

But Xinbaoyuan and Hai Run couldn't achieve this, and they weren't necessarily willing to let these two cash cows leave.

Under these circumstances, either the artist would turn hostile, sue, and forcibly terminate the contract, or they'd stall, wasting the artist's golden development period.

This was bad for both the artist and the company, creating a lose-lose or even double-lose situation.

Therefore, Yi'an proactively contacted Sun, Jiang, and both companies to negotiate cooperation.

They split Sun and Jiang's management contracts into two parts: television dramas remained with their original companies, while film and commercial affairs would be handled by Yi'an.

This way, both companies retained ownership of the two artists and could still share in some film and commercial revenue.

The artists gained better development opportunities without burning bridges with their original companies—they had two employers and two pillars of support.

Yi'an didn't work for free; it could reap the benefits of two top-tier artists in film and commercial ventures, and establish a degree of binding, expanding Yi'an's star strategy.

A genuine three-way win!

And for Yi'an, it wasn't just an ordinary win,

As previously mentioned, Yi'an's star strategy was inferior to Huayi's; it didn't have many top-tier stars.

No way—Huayi's approach was like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

They gathered a bunch of popular stars purely for a survival-of-the-fittest game, exhausting future potential; Seeing Yan Li didn't want to destroy Yi'an's internal atmosphere and artist pipeline, so he preferred Yi'an's dimmer glow and restrained himself.

But this time, Seeing Yan Li, through a yearly intelligence report combined with current market changes, discussed with the artist management department and devised the 【Split Contract】 strategy.

Yi'an still had ample film and television resources, and its commercial resources were number one in the industry.

With this, Yi'an could completely take these excess resources and collaborate with popular stars who lack them.

At that time, Yi'an would gain several popular stars as partners, its star power would surge, and its weaknesses would be compensated.

Most people don't understand what split contracts or full contracts are—they just see so many stars, see the money being made, and conclude that Yi'an is awesome.

Meanwhile, these split-contract artists each have their own limitations; although some competition remains, it doesn't threaten the core of Yi'an's artists, and internal competition isn't that brutal.

Sun and Jiang were the first artists to cooperate under Yi'an's split-contract system, and the results were even better than Yi'an expected.

Without comparison, you wouldn't know—aside from Yi'an, Huayi, and a few other companies, most companies simply have no such film resources.

Many don't understand: why don't some popular TV actors go into films? Actually, it's not that they don't want to—they're simply not invited by the film industry.

Compared to the film industry's isolation, film and television companies at least still have ways to make connections.

Business operations truly expose the unprofessionalism of many film and entertainment companies—no connections, no channels, and no idea how to even begin.

If someone comes to them, they cooperate; if no one comes, they do nothing. Some popular stars only know how to act—they have pitifully low business resources.

Yeah, it's a complete amateur operation.

Looking at these companies' situations, Seeing Yan Li sometimes felt he had been too harsh when he previously criticized Yi'an's departments and teams for being unprofessional.

In mainland China, Yi'an is absolutely a top-tier presence in many areas.

Sun and Jiang were the first step; Yi'an plans to sign a few more artists, but the thresholds are very high.

After all, Yi'an's main goal is still to enhance its star strategy—if you're not famous enough, you're of no help to Yi'an, so there's no point signing you.

Besides fame, Yi'an also prefers artists who have a good relationship with it, as cooperation becomes closer and coordination higher.

Li Bingbing is unlikely—her fame speaks for itself, and Huayi isn't just any company; it won't easily let her be tied to Yi'an.

But Sun Li of Hai Run, Hu Ge of Tang Ren, Tong Dawei of Chengtian, and Nie Yuan of Ciwen—all are sufficiently famous, close to Yi'an, have previously collaborated, and their companies lack strength, so their chances of partnering with Yi'an are still quite high.

Of course, this split-contract model isn't exclusive to Yi'an—Huayi and others can imitate it too.

But considering Yi'an's scale, resources, professionalism, industry status, and strategic tie-in with Weibo, even if other companies imitate it, they'll struggle to match Yi'an's advantages and scale.

…

Where there are those who are happy, there are those who suffer.

While Yi'an was busy reaping the benefits of "The Hidden," Tudou. com also fell into chaos.

At a senior management meeting, a senior executive raised the many advantages of "The Hidden" landing on Youku.

"Because of its strong suspense, 'The Hidden' has extremely high viewer retention, and as the exclusive legal broadcaster, it brought Youku a large influx of new users and significantly boosted activity among existing users."

"According to Youku's published data, 'The Hidden's' reputation and social buzz have broken multiple platform records—including per-episode views and total views—and can be called Youku's flagship asset for external promotion and attracting advertisers this year."

"Our statistics show that Youku's advertising data related to 'The Hidden' has clearly increased, and combined with traffic fees, Youku's revenue from this may well exceed the licensing fee paid."

"More crucially, beyond these short-term, quantifiable gains, 'The Hidden's' ecological activation effect, immense influence, traffic attraction, and long-term traffic value are incalculable strategic assets."

"And this landmark content asset, beneficial to the entire platform, is one we handed over to Youku."

The executive finished coldly, then sat down. Others either directly or indirectly turned their eyes toward Wang Wei at the head of the table, whose expression was grim.

Just as he was about to speak, another senior executive stood up to report.

The previous executive had spoken of Youku's major gains; this one now elaborated on Youku's booming success and Tudou. com's stagnation and losses.

The market is limited; a phenomenon-level work like "The Hidden" often produces a whale-sucking or even total-dominance effect.

Not to mention that in today's video website market, none of the companies have yet cultivated stable user bases or built strong content moats, and since VIP subscription services aren't yet widespread, user mobility remains high.

In other words, the more bustling Youku is, the quieter Tudou becomes.

Especially during the daily new-episode release times of "The Hidden," Tudou. com's traffic plummeted to unbearable levels.

Tudou. com and Youku have competed for years, with wins and losses on both sides—but this time, it was the worst defeat yet.

As previously mentioned, Tudou. com had been spoiled by Yi'an; most of the time, it had sailed smoothly.

Because of this, when faced with this "humiliating moment," internal reactions were strong—even senior executives directly confronted Wang Wei in the meeting room, nearly pointing fingers at his nose and cursing him.

As founder and largest shareholder, Wang Wei holds a prominent position at Tudou. com.

To be targeted so sharply reveals that internal dissent has grown very serious.

Lower-level employees and upper-level shareholders are both dissatisfied—otherwise, no one would have backed these two executives in openly challenging Wang Wei.

Wang Wei has lost control over Tudou. com!

This realization made some sharp-minded executives thoughtful: Seeing Yan Li's targeting of Tudou. com was indeed fierce, but along with the damage, there might be deeper intentions and confrontations at play.

Wang Wei was furious—this was a premeditated challenge and strike against his authority, leaving him besieged from within and without.

This is absolutely tied to Seeing Yan Li!

Wang Wei looked at the two executives with a dangerous gaze; both remained calm, and one even spoke up.

"Manager Wang, don't look at me like that. When the company has problems, I point them out for the company's sake—not to target you."

Don't treat me like an idiot—I can't see the stirrings inside the company? Some people want to earn their 'loyal servant' merit too obviously.

Wang Wei exhaled, forcing himself to calm down—he couldn't back down now; if he did, he'd never regain his dignity—he had to grit his teeth and hold on.

He spoke again, first accepting responsibility for the "The Hidden" incident without shifting blame, earning the executives' goodwill.

Then he downplayed the impact on Tudou. com—though Tudou had suffered losses, it was only a temporary low point, not a life-or-death crisis.

Simultaneously, he steered the narrative toward Seeing Yan Li, arguing that Yi'an's collaboration with Youku was the key cause of Tudou's losses, and seized the chance to rally morale, declaring Tudou must remain independent and free from outside control, and so on.

Regardless of whether the reasoning was sound, the goal was to first create opposition and unite against a common enemy.

Even some neutral executives couldn't listen anymore: "Manager Wang, you just said you wanted to negotiate—now you're saying this? Are you planning to go to war?"

No one knows how many executives have secretly aligned with Seeing Yan Li—if Wang Wei's words reach Seeing Yan Li, it'll truly be war.

Previously, Wang Wei wanted to negotiate, so everyone held back; now, if he wants to fight, the impact on Tudou. com will be enormous.

Wang Wei's face darkened, and he said coldly: "It's not me who wants war—it's Seeing Yan Li who has gone too far."

The executive who had asked earlier closed his eyes. Done. This time, the face is truly torn.

The executive who had just asked closed his eyes—done, this time they'd truly torn the mask off.

Three senior executives stood up and left the meeting room; the remaining executives either muttered among themselves, fell silent, or clustered around Wang Wei, anxiously questioning and urging him.

"Enough."

Wang Wei slammed the table and roared: "What's there to fear? When soldiers come, send generals; when water arrives, pile up earth."

Saying this, he pushed through the crowd and returned directly to his office.

Several of Wang Wei's staunch supporters hurried after him, presumably to strategize; the other executives exchanged uneasy glances.

One executive, scowling, muttered: "He's gone mad. If Tudou. com goes to war with Seeing Yan Li, forget Youku—by then, KuKu6 might even be crawling over our heads."

Another executive sneered: "After I'm dead, let the floods rise. He's afraid of being pushed out of the company, of losing control—whether the company lives or dies means nothing to him."

Someone complained: "He's the founder and CEO, sacrificing the company's interests for his own selfish gain, ignoring us and all these employees—he's utterly irresponsible."