Chapter 398: Taking Time Out to Unleash a Big Move

Cheng Wen was completely stunned.

"The number of new paid members yesterday was 230,000?" Cheng Wen asked.

He suspected he was hearing things.

The secretary swallowed, nodded with a slightly stiff neck, and repeated, "Yes, President Cheng, it was 231,800 in total."

As Cheng Wen's secretary, she had some understanding of many of Penguin Video's metrics.

She understood all too well the significance behind this number!

Generally, when an S-Class Project begins airing, even if the market response is very good, breaking 100,000 new members in a single day is already considered quite remarkable.

But what about Nirvana in Fire?

It had doubled that!

The most absurd part was that this show hadn't even enabled the 【Member Early Access】 feature yet!

They had only inserted a segment at the end of the fourth episode to inform the esteemed VIP users that, starting next week, they would be releasing additional episodes!

The feature hadn't even been opened, yet so many members had been added.

If 【Member Early Access】 had already been opened yesterday...

—It was simply unimaginable!

Cheng Wen stood up directly, snatched the report from the secretary's hand, and began pacing in the office.

As he paced, he muttered to himself.

This president, who was not tall and had a scholarly appearance, rarely acted so rudely, and rarely lost his composure like he did today.

Originally, Cheng Wen had estimated that 50,000 or 60,000 new members would be pretty good!

He walked to his desk, pressed the report onto the desktop, and said with a grave expression, "Call the data team."

"I want them to re-verify the data, and I want them to check it carefully and thoroughly!"

Upon hearing this, the secretary was stunned for a moment, then immediately said, "Oh, oh, okay, okay."

She immediately dialed the phone, praying in her heart for her colleagues on the data team: "If they made such a low-level mistake while processing the data and filled in the wrong number, President Cheng will probably be in a state of Anger!"

If the 230,000 figure was wrong, the mood would truly be like riding a roller coaster.

Who could stand that!

After talking for about half a minute, the secretary hung up the phone and looked at Cheng Wen, saying, "President Cheng, the data team said they were also shocked by this number when they were compiling the data, so they already checked it carefully again."

"The specific data charts, as well as the member growth charts for each time period, have already been sent to your email."

Cheng Wen did not pause for a second; he walked quickly to the computer, sat down, opened his email, and began to review it.

The secretary peeked from the side, watching as the president evolved from the listless state he was in when he first entered the office to his current flushed face and excited demeanor.

"The Qilin Talent Mei Zhangsu?" he thought to himself, "Luo Mo is our Penguin's true Qilin Talent!"

"The Qilin Talent, he who obtains him obtains the world!"

Cheng Wen thought of this line from Nirvana in Fire, and a sense of ambition rose in his heart.

"If this momentum can be maintained, perhaps... our Penguin Video will become the first of the four major video websites to have a total membership exceeding 50 million!"

"With Luo Mo's ability, is it a bit of a waste to only serve as a Music Director at Xinyu?" Cheng Wen thought to himself.

He was now urgently looking forward to seeing what kind of effect it would have once 【Member Early Access】 was enabled next week!

"Xiao Wen, go notify the various teams that we are having a meeting this afternoon," he said with a smile.

"Oh, right, it would be best to contact the liaison at Luo Mo Studio to see if they have time to have a video conference with us," Cheng Wen said.

He wanted to analyze why so many people were so impatient to sign up for membership before the feature was even enabled!

………

………

The afternoon passed in a flash.

The meeting lasted for a full two hours.

Through the meeting, the more detailed the discussion, the more everyone could feel the terrifying nature of the Drama Nirvana in Fire!

It turned out that starting from the middle of the third episode, many viewers had already begun signing up for membership.

For no other reason than that they were annoyed by the advertisements!

Video websites nowadays are truly annoying; they make you watch over a hundred seconds or even longer of ads at the beginning, and then make you watch ads in the middle.

Many times, the ads happen to cut in right at a critical point in the Drama!

You are in the middle of the excitement, and it asks you to pause—how uncomfortable is that?

At this point, quite a few non-member new viewers had already started signing up for membership just to avoid the ads.

As for the rest, many of them signed up directly after finishing the fourth episode, upon learning that the 【Member Early Access】 feature would be available next week!

Some were impulse purchases, while others actually wanted to watch behind-the-scenes footage and the like.

Yes, many behind-the-scenes videos and exciting content required membership to watch!

And some viewers simply couldn't hold back and wanted to watch the trailers.

Then, the problem arose.

The trailer is only so long, and before you watch the trailer, you have to watch ads, damn it!

It was simply a speechless event!

"Money, money, money, you damn Penguin, isn't it just money you want?"

"Take it! Take it!"

It can only be said that the plot of Nirvana in Fire is too captivating and too tantalizing.

If you go online to look at the comments now, a bunch of people are discussing the content within.

And you can discover that Luo Mo's fans never spend money on messy things; they won't manipulate data, they won't control the comments, they won't hire internet trolls, and they won't pool money to rent billboards in malls or subway stations for Luo Mo...

But they will all do content payment!

They won't skimp on a single cent that needs to be spent.

Cheng Wen feels very stimulated right now, and also feels very nervous.

Because the currently airing "Jade Pearl City" is broadcast on Qiqu Video, it's just not an exclusive platform.

As mentioned before, Qiqu Video's total number of members ranks first, having already broken 48 million, and that was last month's data; now another 10 days have passed.

Penguin Video hadn't even reached 46 million before, so it's quite a gap.

Wanting to overtake Qiqu Video and be the first to break through 50 million is very, very difficult.

But it is not without a chance!

It all depends on the subsequent momentum of "Jade Pearl City" and "Nirvana in Fire"!

As for the Pineapple TV of those two brothers, Wang Shisong and Wang Shibai... President Cheng no longer takes them seriously!

Surpassing them is the most basic thing.

It's just that Cheng Wen had never thought before that one day, the fate of the platform for the next few years would actually be tied to a young man.

Yet he is precisely the one who can stir up the winds and clouds.

"Luo Mo, oh Luo Mo, I really have to rely on you," Cheng Wen thought to himself.

At the same time, he would absolutely make an exception for "Nirvana in Fire" and launch resources for it that exceed S-level.

Principles, this sort of thing, are just broken time and time again like this.

You must know, in the past, there was no such thing as S-level at all; the highest level was only A-level.

It was just that people kept making exceptions, and gradually S-level appeared.

"The problem isn't big," Cheng Wen thought to himself.

And don't forget, what Luo Mo gave to Penguin Video is not just this one trump card, "Nirvana in Fire"!

Today is Sunday, and tonight there is still this variety show "King of Love Songs" to be broadcast!

Friday and Saturday rely on "Nirvana in Fire", Sunday relies on "King of Love Songs".

Using both methods simultaneously, filling you up completely, who could stand this?

"Must let the audience receive the greatest degree of satisfaction!" Cheng Wen thought to himself.

From Friday to Sunday, it is the world of my great Penguin!

………

………

Night falls, and the new episode of "King of Love Songs" is about to start airing.

This match is the points race before the Semi-finals.

This season of "King of Love Songs", before the Semi-finals, will compare two matches instead of one to decide the winner.

This is equivalent to giving everyone more opportunities.

It doesn't matter if you slip up once; as long as you perform well in the next match, it is still possible to get a spot in the Semi-finals.

The song Tong Shu is going to sing in this match is called "Red Face Old".

Yes, it is the insert song in the drama "Nirvana in Fire".

The original singer of this song on Earth is Liu Tao.

Many people might not know that Liu Tao has actually released over a hundred songs...

She does indeed have singing ability; in the variety show "Crossover Singer", she also had a fairly good performance.

As for on Blue Star, this song was definitely given to Xu Chujing to sing.

Choosing this song was Tong Shu's own proposal.

He just wanted to help Mo Ge's new drama advertise and do some promotion.

Since his own little brother is so thoughtful, Luo Mo couldn't bear to dampen his intentions.

In fact, Tong Shu's vocal range is indeed too suitable for singing songs in period dramas.

As soon as his voice appears, the atmosphere is pulled to the max!

As for Luo Mo himself, he actually also received invitations from Ning Dan and Ke Ming, asking him to come and participate in this episode of "King of Love Songs" to be a Special Invited Guest for once, and incidentally do more promotion for "Nirvana in Fire".

Celebrities, you know, it's not like it's over once the drama is filmed; there is still a lot of promotional work to do.

The early promotional cycle for "Nirvana in Fire" is not considered long; if it weren't for the heat and traffic of Luo Mo and Xu Chujing holding it up, it would actually be at a bit of a disadvantage.

Logically speaking, "King of Love Songs" is a pure song competition program and does not have this kind of promotional segment.

But Run Jie is, after all, called Run Jie.

Isn't it just opening a back door for Luo Mo?

The problem isn't big.

It's just that after thinking it over repeatedly, Luo Mo still refused.

If he went to the scene, even if he was just a guest and not singing, it would still destroy the fairness of this episode.

After all, Tong Shu and Fengge Group are singing songs he wrote.

If he arrived at the scene, whether it was the audience or the professional judging panel, the scores would be falsely high.

This is a points battle before the Semi-finals; it is better not to give people something to gossip about.

At the same time, the 【Contentment with Mo】 in this season is actually already a bit high; if he goes to the scene, it would also easily overshadow Tong Shu and Fengge Group.

He just happens to take two days off to go back to Beijing to see his parents and master, and then pick up Ding Xiaoyu to come home to have a meal together.

Of course, it would be best to invite Xu Chujing as well.

See if this diva with a full aura dares to come! Hehe!

After everyone finishes eating, sitting together to watch "King of Love Songs" is also quite good.

You must know, in this episode, Tong Shu came specifically to perform a cover of an insert song for *Nirvana in Fire*.

As for Fengge Group, Luo Mo certainly unleashed a big move!

(PS: First update, seeking monthly votes to climb the rankings!)

(End of this chapter)