Chapter 27: You All Underestimated Him (Begging for double monthly votes!)

The first episode of *Creating Idols* was a hit.

The show's popularity completely crushed all other programs of the same type, and its buzz was ridiculously high.

The Godmother of Talent Shows, Ning Dan, proved herself once again: "When I come out to produce a talent show, all you other programs better kneel before me!"

Honestly, being able to trounce other shows that were already halfway through their runs with just the first episode—this record was truly formidable.

After the show aired, *Creating Idols* occupied 12 of the top 50 spots on the Weibo Hot Search list!

This level of promotion could be considered unprecedented.

The next day, General Director Ning Dan left the recording site and arrived at a conference room for a meeting.

Today was a three-party meeting; besides the production team she represented, there were also senior executives from the two major platforms, Penguin Pictures and Pineapple TV.

This show was broadcast on these two platforms.

Currently, only the first half of the first episode of *Creating Idols* had aired, but a lot of the data was already out.

The three parties had to meet once to discuss subsequent matters.

It could be said that Ning Dan had once again delivered a satisfactory report card; although the show had a huge investment—just hiring the five celebrity mentors cost a lot of money—the return on investment was also very high!

This left the representatives of all three parties beaming with joy and in excellent spirits.

After Ning Dan sat down, she took the data reports from Penguin Pictures and Pineapple TV.

Looking at the view counts, she nodded slightly; it had met her internal expectations.

The person from Pineapple TV looked at the Penguin Pictures representative and said with a smile, "Yesterday, quite a few people must have signed up for your Penguin Pictures membership just to cast a few more votes for the contestants, right?"

"Oh, not at all, not that many, hahahaha," the Penguin representative replied.

This data would not be made public for the time being.

This time, although it was a collaboration between two major platforms, the profits had already been divided up.

The voting channel to support the contestants was managed by Penguin, and voting was not possible on the Pineapple TV side.

In other words, people wouldn't specifically sign up for a Pineapple TV membership just to vote more for the trainees; at most, they would do it because they were annoyed by ads.

For non-member accounts, the free weekly vote count was 3, while for member accounts, the free votes were as high as 11; the gap was quite significant.

As for Pineapple TV, they would sign contracts with the 9 trainees who ultimately debuted and formed the group.

This meant that the boy band ultimately selected by *Creating Idols* would be signed to Pineapple TV and belong to the Pineapple label.

It should be added that this type of talent show boy band is generally a limited-time group; there is a time limit, and they will disband after 3 years.

This point was exactly the same as on Earth.

Logically speaking, a model like this with two platforms shouldn't exist. It was Ning Dan who acted as the go-between, and it was only after several negotiations that it was finalized.

This way, when promoting to the public, it could also reflect the fairness and impartiality of the voting, avoiding the phenomenon of platforms engaging in fraud.

Well, striving for a certain degree of fairness and impartiality.

After the three of them finished discussing some of the official business, the representative from Penguin remarked, "Director Ning's move this time has once again opened my eyes."

"Oh? What are you referring to?" Ning Dan asked.

"Of course, it's about that working stiff, Luo Mo!" A look of being unable to laugh or cry appeared on the Penguin representative's face.

The representative from Pineapple TV also chimed in, "Exactly, exactly. I've been following this too. Director Ning really has a grasp on the audience's psychology."

Ning Dan nodded, her full, red lips curving slightly upward; the momentary charm made both executives lose their focus for a second.

This woman had a good status and position, and she was someone you couldn't have even if you wanted to, which was very effective at stimulating a man's desire for conquest; many big shots had privately expressed that they were very interested in her.

Ning Dan looked at them and said, "To be honest, the development of the situation actually exceeded my expectations."

"The traffic brought by this Hot Search is three times what I expected!" Ning Dan said very candidly.

Originally, the rhythm was entirely in her hands, until the netizens started wanting to control Luo Mo's life and force him to work overtime!

The netizens' ability to create memes should not be underestimated, and they could always come up with some wild operations.

Once the tide formed, she, the initial helmsman, could only follow along down a winding path.

The most fatal thing was that with the Shouting from the "Evil Organization" known as 【Mo Sheng Ren】, the situation seemed to be intensifying!

The return on this one Hot Search might eventually be as high as ten or twenty times!

The executives from Penguin and Pineapple looked at Ning Dan and said, "Director Ning, why not share some insights with us?"

They were truly asking for advice with an open mind this time.

Traffic and the audience were the foundation of their existence.

Ning Dan pondered for a moment, not holding anything back. To be precise, she had been thinking about this question all last night and this morning: why was the effect even more explosive than she had imagined?

She parted her sexy, full lips and said, "At first, I wanted the audience to have a sense of immersion."

"Working stiffs, 996, 007, being forced to work overtime, and things like that can stir up the emotions of a large portion of people."

"But what surprised me was the netizens' contrarian psychology, or perhaps their bizarre train of thought."

"After everyone found it fun, they started creating memes one after another. Today, I even saw three sets of Luo Mo meme stickers in the production team's work group."

These meme stickers uniformly used expressions of Luo Mo slacking off at work.

The captions were mostly things like 【Destroy it, I'm tired】, 【I really want to poop on the clock】, 【Overtime, overtime, over your damn head】, and so on.

The two representatives nodded repeatedly, indicating they understood.

Ning Dan continued, "Another point is that idol talent shows actually touch upon fan circle culture."

"But in reality, not all viewers are involved in fan circles; everyone is just watching the variety show for fun."

"Among them, many viewers are actually annoyed by the actions of certain people in fan circle culture."

"For example, controlling the comment section with the same format, forcing other fans to spend money together, or starting fights whenever someone insults their idol..."

She didn't mind saying these things in front of the two representatives, because the so-called spending money to vote was actually buying products from the show's title sponsors; you buy a product, and you get more votes. This money didn't end up in the pockets of the three parties.

Ning Dan took a sip of lemon tea and continued, "And the appearance of Luo Mo is the exact opposite of these things."

"They advocate not spending a single cent, they don't control the comments, and they even take the initiative to self-deprecate. They don't get pressure from it, but instead, they reap happiness."

"From the current perspective, on the surface, it looks more like a grand farce."

"But in reality, there are still many things that can be delved into."

"For example, the 'royals' in talent shows." Ning Dan brought this point up, causing the expressions of the representatives from Pineapple and Penguin to change slightly.

The so-called royals are the well-connected contestants in talent shows. They get more screen time, are heavily favored, have resources tilted toward them in every aspect, and even have their data faked.

"Behind many contestants, there is actually the power of capital."

"But Luo Mo is different; right now, everyone thinks he is a... uh, a slacker contestant." Ning Dan paused for a moment.

"He has no backing, no one supporting him; he is just cannon fodder, a runner-up, a background prop."

"In that case, we, the national producers, are the true national producers. We let him stay, and every vote we cast represents the truth! There is no intrusion of capital in this! It is not that so-called voting, so-called talent shows, are nothing more than a game of capital."

"This is the true people's Idol!"

Having said this, Ning Dan continued to drink tea to moisten her throat.

The two representatives looked at each other, coughed, and said, "Isn't that thinking a bit too deeply? Perhaps the netizens are just doing it for fun."

"It is a bit deep, and perhaps it really hasn't reached that point yet." Ning Dan smiled casually, not arguing.

Instead, the representative from Pineapple TV narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Actually, doesn't this mean we can seize upon this point, promote it extensively, continue to build up Luo Mo's popularity, and make the show even hotter!"

This is the intrusion of capital.

At the beginning, it might be the spontaneous will of netizens and viewers, the will of the people.

But once capital sees the potential and traffic within it, it will actually begin to dominate everything.

Whether it is public opinion or promotion, it is all like this.

You think it is the will of the people expanding, but in reality, it is very likely capital fanning the flames from the shadows.

"Continue to push this 'working stiff' persona, continue to exploit the psychology of netizens, and even hire professionals to continue creating memes and producing ridiculous content!" The representative from Pineapple TV became more fluent as he spoke, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

This Luo Mo can be fully utilized! Controlled!

Hearing this, Ning Dan shook her head very decisively.

"I'm afraid that won't work," she said.

"Why!?" The Pineapple representative's excitement had already surged.

"Because the audience will soon discover that they have a misunderstanding about Luo Mo. He is not a slacker, not a background prop, and not a runner-up contestant," Ning Dan said.

She looked at the two representatives and spoke words that left them looking shocked and utterly stunned.

"He is the Shou A trainee of 'Creating Idols'!"

"What!!??"

(PS: It's a new month, and it's double monthly votes, asking for the guaranteed monthly votes!)

(End of this chapter)