Chapter 281: The Premiere Ratings of

Ding Xiaoyu and Chen Ru finished watching the first episode very quickly.

Chen Ru had not read her daughter's script, because Ding Xiaoyu's scripts were always filled with many Notes and annotations, and were stacked in the order she liked; Chen Ru would not disturb or flip through them, so as not to cause her daughter trouble.

Therefore, Ding Xiaoyu knew the subsequent Drama, so she was just watching the finished product's effect, looking at the special effects, looking at the editing, and feeling the overall flow, etc.

Chen Ru was not so obsessed that it was an exaggeration, but she was completely drawn in, and had the urge to watch the next episode immediately.

"Sword Fairy" planted many foreshadowings and many suspenseful elements in the first episode.

It even hinted at the Moon Worshipping Cult Leader's identity as a "scientist" in the xianxia world...

These suspenseful elements were quite appetizing, making people urgently want to know the answer to the mystery.

"Is that person who went to rescue the childhood Zhao Ling'er really Li Xiaoyao?"

"Zhao Ling'er recognized him at a glance, but he didn't remember Ling'er."

"My daughter's ancient costume look is actually so stunning this time, and her expressions and demeanor are also very vivid." Chen Ru's thoughts were Dancing more and more.

Intuition told her that just based on this ancient costume look, and this character setting of Zhao Ling'er, even if the subsequent Drama of this show were to be lackluster, relying on the character setting and her looks would be enough for Yu to gain a wave of fans!

"In other words... can 'Sword Fairy' actually become a bargaining chip for me to negotiate with other teams?" This thought, which made her feel a bit unbelievable, popped up in Chen Ru's heart.

Ding Xiaoyu was so youthful and cute, and Chen Ru was naturally at least a mature woman with some beauty.

At this moment, her heartbeat accelerated slightly, and her cheeks became a bit flushed.

She realized at this moment that the difficult problem she had felt was incomparably thorny recently might be solved easily.

"It's just that how big this bargaining chip is, is still unknown for now," she thought.

【Octopus TV】, one of the regional satellite TV stations in Blue Star Huaxia.

Because the station logo looked very much like an octopus's tentacles, netizens named it 【Octopus TV】.

Except for CCTV, the most popular TV stations in Huaxia were the well-known three major satellite TV stations, and 【Octopus TV】 belonged to the second tier of regional satellite TV stations.

The station head Xu Guan was a person with ambition and aspirations, single-mindedly thinking about making Octopus TV bigger and stronger, and ranking among the first tier.

But in reality, large production teams generally only talked to the three major satellite TV stations and would not really consider second-tier regional satellite TV stations like Octopus TV.

It couldn't be called a monopoly; it was just that those TV stations did better, certainly had a larger audience base, and shows were more likely to become hits.

As for comparing money, it was certainly they who had more money.

Some awesome satellite TV stations could not only make a Requirement for video platforms to broadcast simultaneously with them, forbidding video platforms from broadcasting faster than them, but could even directly influence the editing of a show!

On Earth, Mango Tai was often scolded by the audience for blindly editing some TV dramas that were not bad to begin with, either speeding up the progress or deliberately padding them.

Octopus TV could not reach that level.

Under normal circumstances, this kind of second-tier regional satellite TV station would bet on variety shows and galas.

Many satellite TV stations that suddenly turned things around did not rely on TV dramas, but on variety shows and galas.

As for film and television dramas, let's just try our luck and pick up the scraps!

Buying "Sword Fairy" was a decision made directly by station head Xu Guan.

Because the asking price from Luo Mo Studio and Xin Yu was indeed not low; it was being sold at the price of a top-tier major Drama.

The three major satellite TV stations withdrew as soon as they heard the price, not even having the interest to gamble.

They were not short of shows; there were plenty of people begging to sell to them, even at low-price dumpings.

Luo Mo directing and acting in it himself sounded unreliable, and what's more, he also made a Requirement to broadcast during prime time, which made it even more impossible.

Honestly, regarding the station head's intention to buy "Sword Fairy," the opinions within Octopus TV were divided.

Quite a few high-level executives strongly opposed it, feeling that if things went on like this, everyone might accidentally become a laughingstock in the industry.

This was being held hostage by traffic!

Buying this kind of show at this kind of price, others behind our backs... no, even openly, would directly laugh at us for being big idiots!

Gambling is fine.

But wouldn't the gamble be too big?

In the meeting, Xu Guan could be said to have overridden all objections.

"You should have seen it too; 'Sword Fairy' was a hit before it was even broadcast, and the early heat was very high."

"Honestly, like all of you, I am clear in my heart that this is a huge gamble, and if it goes wrong, we could lose everything."

One must know that TV stations also don't want the shows they acquire to flop to the ends of the earth; this is not just losing the money spent on buying the show, but will also affect subsequent advertising revenue and the like.

Reputation and audience stickiness will also decline because of this, requiring subsequent works to make up for it, which has a far-reaching impact.

TV stations in Huaxia are different from some foreign TV stations; many foreign practices involve cutting a show directly if the response is not good, or finishing the broadcast quickly.

Because they film while broadcasting, they can choose—to have a bad ending or be abandoned.

Internet writers shout: I'm familiar with this!

But Huaxia's TV stations don't go for this.

Xu Guan looked at everyone and said, "The reason I think we can buy 'Sword Fairy' is actually that I want the premiere heat."

"Regardless of how 'Sword Fairy' does later, when it premieres, there will definitely still be a large group of people watching."

"How long has it been since our TV station had a show with a premiere rating breaking 0.5?"

"Also, this person Luo Mo is worth investing in."

Xu Guan did not say too much.

His thoughts were actually the same as those of Penguin Video's Vice President Cheng Wen.

Others buy shows but not people; they buy people but not shows.

The more this show flops, the more Luo Mo owes our Octopus TV.

We don't even ask for how he compensates; just having him come to participate in some gala or participate in a self-produced variety show, isn't that nice?

Listening to Xu Guan's words, several high-level executives also fell into silence.

To be honest, it really is a bit hard to save Face.

But... sigh, whatever happens, happens!

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, the day of the premiere of *Celestial Sword 5* arrived.

Last year, for the entire year, Octopus TV's premiere viewership record was 0.47; it was a pity it failed to break 0.5.

On Earth, many regional satellite channels would buy viewership ratings and fake data to create false hits.

Blue Star has stricter controls in this regard than Earth, so there are fewer people who take such risks.

Everyone usually only adds flowers to the brocade—that is, making the data for hit dramas look better—but they won't go out of their way to artificially boost a flop.

To be honest, for a second-tier regional satellite channel, a viewership rating reaching 0.4-something is already considered quite high.

These days, if an Average Viewership Rating can break 1, that is a massive hit; it's a phenomenal success that can be bragged about endlessly.

Under normal circumstances, passing 0.3 makes it a hot drama, breaking 0.5 can be called a big hit, and having 0.7 is not an exaggeration to call a blockbuster.

In this point, it is somewhat similar to Earth.

That era where viewership ratings would easily break 5 or even 10 is long gone; that was something from many, many years ago.

Moreover, the internet is very transparent now, and fan circles love to bicker; everyone is staring at the data of rival shows. If you dare to fake it too outrageously, we will spray you to death, search for all kinds of clues to prove you are faking it, and then mock you crazily.

In any case, Xu Guan just wanted a first-day viewership rating that broke 0.5; as long as the first-day data was pretty, he would feel comfortable in his heart.

To be honest, he had even raised his psychological expectations a bit over these past few days.

Because he also didn't expect that as the various promotions for *Celestial Sword 5* followed up, the signs of it being popular before airing became more and more obvious, even having the posture of the whole population watching the spectacle.

Yes, it cannot be called universal anticipation, because many people felt that this drama was likely not good, so "watching the spectacle" is more appropriate.

"This first-day data, could it possibly break 0.6?" Xu Guan thought.

Octopus TV's audience base and stickiness were there; 0.6 was already the limit of his imagination.

Anything higher than that would be daydreaming.

At night, Xu Guan himself was also watching *Celestial Sword 5 Qixia Zhuan* at home, contributing a station-chief-level data point to the first-day viewership.

Good heavens, the result was that he watched it in one go very smoothly.

He was watching it with his wife, and as it turned out, his wife was also watching with great interest.

"Is it good?" he asked.

"It's good," his wife replied.

But she knew very well that her husband was the station chief, and he certainly didn't want the simple answer of an ordinary viewer.

Therefore, after thinking for a moment, she still said: "It's just... won't the pacing be too fast?"

"Look, this Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er are the male and female leads, and yet they get married in the second episode."

In other dramas, it could take a dozen episodes for the male and female leads to recognize each other and fall in love.

In the early stages, they might still mutually loathe each other, and then there would have to be all kinds of misunderstandings.

After falling in love, misunderstandings are also a must!

It's best to have more grievances and entanglements, and past history.

Whatever ex-girlfriend, ex-boyfriend, third party, fourth party... bring them all on!

Maybe there's even a family feud, and everyone is actually enemies.

Or the in-laws or parents don't like you, and so on.

Or how about adding some real-world pressure?

Getting married is the kind of thing that should happen at least halfway through the drama!

After getting married, once there is a pregnancy or a child is born, a new wave of grievances and misunderstandings can come again.

Xu Guan's wife was stunned by this kind of drama where they get married at the beginning of the second episode.

A Newcomer director is a Newcomer director; how are they going to handle what comes after!

Xu Guan nodded; he also felt the pacing was slightly fast.

The procurement department responsible for content review had watched the full film of *Celestial Sword 5*; Xu Guan hadn't watched it, and had even deliberately avoided watching it.

In the second episode, after Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er get married, the villains of the Moon Worshipping Cult attack.

Given the current tendency of major production crews to love padding, couldn't this content have been extended by at least two more episodes?

But to say this drama wasn't good, that really wasn't the case.

The suspense in the first episode was built very well, and the moment Jiu Jianxian appeared in the second episode, the level of anticipation was also directly maxed out.

Women felt this character was very charming, while men were incomparably fascinated.

"Then do you Want to Watch the third episode?" Xu Guan asked his wife.

His wife nodded directly, without any hesitation.

Xu Guan asked himself, he also wanted to watch.

At this thought, he looked up at the ceiling, half-slumped on the sofa, and realized something.

Suddenly, he smiled.

He now urgently wanted to know the first-day viewership data for *Celestial Sword 5*.

That night, Xu Guan suffered from insomnia.

………

………

The next day, Xu Guan got up early and then headed to the satellite building of Octopus TV.

He now urgently wanted to see yesterday's viewership report.

"Station Chief."

"Station Master."

Along the way, everyone greeted Xu Guan.

Then, everyone thought: "Why does the Station Master look so hurried today?"

After Xu Guan arrived at his office and looked at his empty desk, he remembered that according to the normal procedure, the data would only be placed on his desk in another half hour.

This half hour made Xu Guan feel exceptionally tormented.

"The viewership rating of the first episode is actually just a look at the heat of the pre-launch marketing."

"The key lies in the viewership rating of the second episode; this represents how many viewers stayed behind, continued to watch *Celestial Sword 5*, and were attracted by *Celestial Sword 5*," Xu Guan thought to himself.

"For the first episode, I feel like it might really hit 0.6!" he thought.

As for the second episode...

Perhaps, could it get a 0.5?

In fact, Xu Guan could have gone to Penguin Video to check the first-day view count of *Celestial Sword 5*, and then looked at the scores netizens gave *Celestial Sword 5*, as well as the reviews on the internet.

But he deliberately didn't look, forcing himself not to look.

He just wanted to see his own television station's data first; this was his persistence as a Station Master.

Time passed minute by minute, and as soon as the staff member responsible for delivering the data walked into the office, Xu Guan stood up and snatched the folder from his hand.

This made that person freeze for a moment.

Xu Guan quickly opened the folder and began to look page by page.

These data sheets were arranged in chronological order, from the programs broadcast during the day all the way to late at night.

Looking over them, the viewership ratings could be described as disastrous.

Finally, he flipped to the night of *Celestial Sword 5*.

On Blue Star, viewership ratings are calculated every ten minutes because viewership fluctuates, and then the average viewership rating for that time slot is displayed at the bottom of the report.

Xu Guan looked at the viewership rating for the first episode of *Celestial Sword 5 Qixia Zhuan*, and his breathing instantly became rapid, his eyes widened to the extreme, and his face was full of disbelief.

"The first-day viewership rating for the first episode of *Celestial Sword 5 Qixia Zhuan* is 0.87!"

"Breaking 0.8! It actually broke 0.8!"

Xu Guan was incomparably excited; this was the peak of first-day viewership in recent years!

One must know that viewership ratings are declining every year, and fewer and fewer people are watching television stations.

Being able to break the records of previous years was truly a miracle.

"Just for this first-day viewership rating, this money was worth spending!"

After several seconds, Xu Guan finally reacted: "If it can break 0.8 and approach 0.9 on our satellite channel, then if *Celestial Sword 5* were broadcast on the three major satellite channels, given their foundation... wouldn't it be very likely to break 1 on the first day!?"

Breaking 1 on the first day—even the Station Masters of the three major satellite channels would be thrilled to death!

"Looking at it this way, are we the ones holding Luo Mo back instead?" Xu Guan's mouth twitched slightly.

But this... this...

Who could have imagined it would be this fierce, and would actually create a phenomenon where the whole nation is watching the excitement!

Xu Guan urgently wanted to see the data for the most important second-episode time slot; he was about to flip the page forcefully like he did before, but once he thought about how this was a data sheet that broke 0.8, he immediately began to flip it gently.

As if this were a priceless treasure, he could not bear to leave a single crease on this piece of paper.

(PS: First update, 4000 words, asking for monthly tickets!)

(End of this chapter)