Chapter 83: Seeing Yan Li Says Nothing, Only Silently Counts His Money (Requesting First Clicks)

《Surpassing "The Legend of the Condor Heroes," Burning Up Jin Ling—Just Who Is This "Conquest"? 》

《Premiere Ratings Near 10%, "Conquest" Is Unstoppable in Jin Ling》

《A Brief Analysis of the Gap Between "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "Conquest" in Terms of Ratings, Reception, Actor Performance, and Return on Investment》

《Invested 30 Million, Star-Studded "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" Loses to the Obscure "Conquest"—Producer Zhang Dahuizi Falls from Grace》

《... 》

Bang!

Zhang Dahuizi couldn't help slamming his mouse and turning to his assistant: "Which company produced this 'Conquest'? Their tactics are too shameless."

They just lost a small battle in Jin Ling, yet these little reports make it sound like "Conquest" is beating "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" nationwide.

Despite its poor reputation, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" still has solid ratings.

In multiple regions and cities—Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Chongqing—the drama has claimed the number-one spot in ratings.

TV stations are making a fortune off ads; reportedly, one Yunnan station spent 600,000 to 700,000 to buy "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" but earned nearly 8 million from ads.

Thus, although "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" has polarized public opinion, every TV station in the industry is scrambling to buy it, and Zhang Dahuizi takes pride in it.

Then some opportunistic production team shows up, seizing every chance to drag and mock it—how could he not be furious?

"Should we sue them?"

The assistant came up with an idea; Zhang Dahuizi glared at him like he was an idiot.

"How do you prove these reports were orchestrated by that production team?"

"More importantly, this guy is clearly trying to ride on our coattails. If you sue him, you're just handing him free front-page news. Hmph—he probably hopes I'll sue him."

Zhang Dahuizi is a bona fide PR master—he knows all these tricks inside out.

In this situation, the best move is to ignore them. The more you respond, the more they escalate, letting them gain the upper hand. Ignore them completely, and eventually they'll quiet down on their own.

But even so, this kind of thing is like a toad crawling onto your foot—it doesn't hurt, but it's deeply annoying.

Zhang Dahuizi looked at the news on his screen, slammed his mouse again, cursed under his breath, then gave his assistant orders.

"Find out who's in charge of this 'Conquest.' I'll settle accounts with him sooner or later."

————

On the other side, Seeing Yan Li watched the click count and followers of "Conquest" skyrocket, feeling both delighted and regretful.

He's a seasoned veteran—he can hold back and not take the bait.

Otherwise, if he got into a fight with Zhang Dahuizi, "Conquest" would instantly hit the headlines, and maybe the next day, satellite channels would be calling to ask for prices.

Still, the momentum of "Conquest" is very strong.

It's ranked number one in Jin Ling; after its premiere in Xi'an, it held steady in the top three for several days; in Tianjin, it's already begun its second rerun, with excellent ratings.

According to news from the company, several local TV stations have already inquired.

One sub-channel of Jingcheng TV, which Seeing Yan Li had previously dealt with, contacted him directly.

After learning through the intelligence system, Seeing Yan Li found their willingness to buy was strong, and their expected price was still quite ideal.

Additionally, two DVD audiovisual companies also wanted to secure the related rights for "Conquest."

Seeing Yan Li originally planned to handle the DVD rights himself, since his monthly intelligence reports indicated "Conquest" would sell well in the DVD market.

But after gaining some understanding, Seeing Yan Li decisively abandoned the idea.

The DVD market and TV distribution are entirely different industries; to enter this field, you need your own distribution and promotional channels, and you must outwit pirates.

Rather than exerting himself so much, Seeing Yan Li preferred to visit more TV stations.

So he decided to sell the rights outright—or sign a revenue-sharing contract, outsource the business, and collect royalties based on sales.

In March, Seeing Yan Li returned from Xi'an to Jingcheng and began negotiations with various TV stations and partners.

After airing "Conquest," Jin Ling TV rebroadcast it in the same time slot—and ratings rose instead of falling, averaging over 15%.

As the Jin Ling TV acquisition director put it, the last time this happened was with "Huanzhu Gege."

Suddenly, everyone in Jin Ling seemed to know a ruthless man named Liu Huaqiang.

Sun Honglei, filming in Jingcheng, was stunned when local Jin Ling reporters showed up at his set; only after learning the details did he understand.

"Conquest" has gone viral!

And he's gone viral too?!

Gao Qunshu felt this even more deeply than Sun Honglei; during early promotion, Seeing Yan Li had repeatedly asked him to cooperate, shaping him as a pioneer director of crime dramas.

Later, when "Conquest" became popular in Tianjin, reporters started approaching him for interviews.

When Seeing Yan Li was trying to ride Zhang Dahuizi's coattails, TV stations even came to him, urging him to criticize "The Legend of the Condor Heroes."

But old Gao wasn't stupid—he gave interviews, but never offended anyone.

His answer was always: I don't know, I'm not familiar, I don't pay attention—it's probably just netizens or reporters speaking from emotion, nothing to do with him.

"Conquest"'s popularity benefited Sun Honglei, the absolute lead, and Gao Qunshu, the director, the most.

Supporting actors Jiang Shan, Liu Weiwei, Li Yixiang, and others also gained varying degrees of benefit.

In contrast, Seeing Yan Li, with his minor role and unfamiliar face, left little impression on viewers.

Seeing Yan Li checked thoroughly—no media spontaneously mentioned him when discussing characters or actors; the few online discussions about "Conquest" focused almost entirely on Liu Huaqiang and the plot; when he went out in public, no one recognized him.

Of course, this might also be because "Conquest" hasn't aired on satellite yet, so its influence is still limited to a few broadcast regions and hasn't fully fermented.

As a newcomer actor, Seeing Yan Li could only comfort himself this way, wipe away his tears, and silently count his money.

"Conquest"'s hot runs in Jin Ling, Tianjin, Xi'an, and other places have yielded outstanding results—prices naturally can't be compared to what they were before broadcast.

For ordinary municipal TV stations, the original price was a few thousand per episode; now, anything under 10,000 is out of the question.

For major-city stations like Jin Ling and Xi'an, purchase prices were mostly kept under 50,000 per episode; previously, except for the special case of Shenzhen, Jin Ling and Xi'an both paid 20,000 per episode.

Now, prices are generally above 30,000 per episode, and often go even higher.

Currently, the highest bid is from the sub-channel of Jingcheng TV—at 62,000 per episode, it became "Conquest"'s first million-yuan contract.

Seeing Yan Li had been back in Jingcheng less than a week when he had already negotiated contracts worth over two million.

And the contract negotiated before Spring Festival was roughly 2.5 million; add to that the 500,000 deposit paid to Gao Qunshu at the very beginning, and the five-million contract Seeing Yan Li had agreed on with Old Gao was basically wrapped up.

The remaining profit was all Seeing Yan Li's to keep………

(End of Chapter)