Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 575 Anti-Piracy Alliance

Jingle bell bell~
Jingle bell bell~
In the quiet room, the cell phone ringing sounded unusually jarring.

Zhang Chen turned on the light and glanced at the wall clock. It was two in the morning. What kind of son of a bitch chose to make a phone call at this time?

Looking annoyed, he pulled out his phone; the caller ID showed David's name.

Well, Zhang Chen secretly vowed that if it weren't for something extremely serious, he would definitely fly over there and kill the other party.

The call connected, "David~"

On the other end of the phone, David's tone was very cheerful: "Zhang, I have great news for you, we've been shortlisted for the Saturn Award!"

"What?" Zhang Chen thought he had misheard.

"I told them our film '2012' was nominated for a Saturn Award!"

"Just because of this, you called me in the middle of the night?"

There was a visibly pause on the other end of the phone, followed by David's voice: "Sorry, Zhang, I was so excited I forgot about the time difference..."

"Damn it~"

Zhang Chen was speechless at his antics and ultimately decided to spare his life.

"It's just the Saturn Awards, not the Oscars, why are you so excited?"

"That Oscar bastard, '2012' was so good, and the Oscars didn't even give it a nomination..."

Speaking of David, I'm filled with anger. And it's not just David; the entire Warner Bros. is.

2012, a phenomenal sci-fi film, commercially unmatched, yet it didn't receive a single Oscar nomination.

That is precisely why the generosity of the Saturn Prize moved him so deeply.

"Okay, which awards have been nominated?"

Zhang Chen is not interested in awards at all.

Whether he gets an Oscar nomination or not is irrelevant to him.

But the Saturn Prize is an exception.

Zhang Chen's first award in this life was the Saturn Award. "The Descent" won the Best Horror Film award that year, which greatly boosted his career.

"A total of five nominations: Best Sci-Fi Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects..."

"The Saturn Awards are quite generous!"

Generally speaking, with five nominations, you're likely to win at least two; otherwise, it would be a joke.

When will the awards ceremony be held?

May 1st.

The Saturn Awards are quite unusual; most awards are held in a specific month of the year.

The Saturn Award description states that the award ceremony takes place between February and October each year, but it could be any month, depending entirely on the organizing committee's whim.

This year's awards ceremony has been scheduled for May 1st.

"You... will participate, right?"

Hearing no response from Zhang Chen, David asked uncertainly.

"of course."

Zhang Chen's main task now is to complete the filming of "Planet 2" before "White House Has Fallen" in June, but this is not difficult.

90% of the shots in "Pacific Rim 2" required special effects, so the actual filming work wasn't heavy; the real bulk of the work was in post-production.

David was relieved to hear that Zhang Chen was willing to attend.

The Saturn Award committee is willing to give out so many nominations because they hope the winners will attend. If you don't attend, the committee may not award you the trophy. This is an unspoken rule of all award ceremonies.

"If you're sure you can attend, then I'll go ahead and notify the others."

The other people he was referring to must be Jackie Chan and Fan Bingbing, who were nominated for Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively.

"Promise me you'll call them right now!"

Zhang Chen threatened David through gritted teeth, saying that he couldn't be the only one whose peaceful sleep was disturbed.

The next day, Zhang Chen received congratulatory calls from Fan Xiaopang and Cheng Long, and they arranged to meet at the Mars Awards.

Cheng Long casually asked, "Are you still going to buy the plane we talked about last time?"

"of course."

"What about Old Zhao?"

“He bought it too; we were talking about it when we met a couple of days ago.”

"Alright, I'll send you the information first. You can choose your preferred model, and once you've decided, I'll find someone to cut in line..."

Cheng Long once again took on a huge responsibility. They had already agreed to buy an airplane, but then the major earthquake struck.

Buying a plane at this time is definitely not a good idea.

At that time, some morally upright people will surely jump out and say, "If you have money to buy airplanes, why don't you donate that money to the disaster area?"

To avoid getting involved in such disgusting things, the plan to buy the plane was put on hold.

But now there's definitely no problem.

The information was sent over quickly, and Zhang Chen took a look at it. There wasn't much to choose from.

Basically, there are only two options: Gulfstream or Bombardier.

Several basic models are available, ranging from 2000 million to 6000 million.

Generally, you first select a basic model, and then add some facilities and decorations on top of that.

Of course, some impressive people choose to modify Boeing or Airbus aircraft, but that's expensive, costing at least 100 million yuan. Only Middle Eastern tycoons dare to do that.

Zhang Chen looked at it again and again but still couldn't understand why the 6000 million was better than the 2000 million. Just as he was thinking about whether he should ask someone knowledgeable, his phone rang again.

This time it's Chen Xiaowei~
He thought the other party was also calling to congratulate "2012" on its nomination for the Saturn Awards, but it turned out to be completely different.

Should we continue buying the rights to American TV series?

"Buy it."

"There's not much money left in that account."

"Okay, I'll transfer another $2000 million later."

At the beginning of this year, PPlive was officially renamed PPTV, focusing on American dramas.

"Watch American dramas on PPTV" is the buzzword that PPTV is promoting this year, and Zhang Chen has posted more than one Weibo post to promote it.

Last year, PPTV made a large-scale purchase of American TV series copyrights, spending nearly $3000 million on them.

The rights to American TV series are cheap nowadays; you can buy the rights to one season for around two or three hundred thousand US dollars, and you can broadcast it freely for three to five years, which is very cost-effective.

Friends, Prison Break, Lost, Heroes, The Big Bang Theory...

PPTV, a popular American TV series platform, has declined in popularity, and many of its shows are exclusively streamed on PPTV.

Exclusive broadcasting rights mean that I bought them, I can broadcast them, but you can't. If you broadcast them, it's an infringement, and I can sue you.

If you want to broadcast it, you can. Just pay me and I'll give you the authorization, because I hold the exclusive broadcasting rights in mainland China.

Does this look familiar? PPTV is following the same path that Sohu took back then.

Back then, the three major portal websites—Sohu, NetEase, and Sina—each had their own strengths. Sohu was famous for its video and entertainment sections.

Zhang Chaoyang bet on American TV series back then, and then started to promote the legalization of online videos, which is why legal American TV series became Sohu's moat for a long time.

In this timeline, Zhang Chaoyang still does the same thing, except that PPTV has bought the exclusive broadcasting rights to some popular American dramas in advance.

"Zhang Chaoyang from Sohu might have come looking for you."

"Who?"

Zhang Chen was so shocked that he sat up straight on the sofa.

“Zhang Chaoyang from Sohu,” Chen Xiaowei repeated.

"What does he want from me?"

"It's probably related to the anti-piracy alliance. He wanted to set up an anti-piracy alliance and talked to me about it once. I told him to take charge of this, and he probably went after you..."

Chen Xiaowei's tone was not good when Zhang Chaoyang was mentioned.

Zhang Chen then remembered that this woman had a past with Zhang Chaoyang, and that her return to China was even due to Zhang Chaoyang.

Unfortunately, the two didn't end up together. After leaving Sohu, Chen Xiaowei went to 56.com, and then came here to work for Zhang Chen.

Chen Xiaowei gave a general overview of the situation, and Zhang Chen had a pretty good understanding. Zhang Chaoyang still wanted to follow his old approach: using an anti-monopoly alliance to destroy his competitors.

What if you don't have many exclusive broadcasting rights?
simple.

Let's exchange!
You grant me exclusive rights to your drama series, and I grant you exclusive rights to my drama series; this way, everyone's subject matter will be enriched.

As for the others, let them die.

Want to broadcast?

Sure, give me the money!

In this way, the two companies essentially became the general agents, while other video platforms became distributors, and a portion of their profits had to be handed over to the general agents as protection fees.

In its previous life, Sohu made a fortune from this very strategy until 2014.

Why did it not work in 2014?

Because of the "foreign content restriction order" issued in 2014, foreign dramas are no longer allowed to be broadcast at will.

Sohu later transformed into a self-produced drama, and "Men's Diary" was born at that time.

Thinking of "Men's Diary," Zhang Chen also thought of self-produced dramas.

Why not train the team in advance and take a two-pronged approach?

Even if the restrictions on foreign content are implemented ahead of schedule due to unforeseen circumstances, PPTV will not suffer significant damage.

"You could launch a 'Collaborative Creation Program,' calling on outstanding filmmakers to create their own dramas, with no length limit. If the script is good, we'll provide some financial support..."

Zhang Chen explained his idea, and Chen Xiaowei frowned: "You want to produce your own drama?"

"Yes, you have to be strong yourself to succeed; relying solely on buying things is definitely not a long-term solution..."

Chen Xiaowei understood this logic, "but this would put a lot of pressure on our cash flow."

Zhang Chen understood what she meant. If it were a listed company like Sohu, doing this would certainly be fine.

However, Star Entertainment is not yet listed on the stock exchange, which means it is essentially using its own money to support PPTV, which will put a lot of pressure on it.

"Forget it, let's not issue any more calls for submissions. Let's try making our own drama first."

TV dramas require a lot of funding, often starting at tens of millions of yuan.

But online short dramas don't need that.

Each episode only needs to be a few minutes long; as long as the show is good, it will greatly help with user retention.

Do you have a direction?

"Yes, the biggest feature of online short dramas is their sensationalism. I'm planning to make a short drama about scammers..."

"Something like 'Hustle'?"

As expected of someone who returned from abroad, Chen Xiaowei immediately thought of it as soon as Zhang Chen mentioned it.

"Yes, but it needs to be localized."

Zhang Chen was referring to "Mao Pian," which, while not exactly plagiarism, was at most a work of inspiration.

During this period, most domestic internet products were like this.

……

The following evening, Zhang Chen indeed met Zhang Chaoyang.

"Mr. Zhang, it's an honor to have you here. I'm so sorry I didn't greet you sooner!"

"I've heard so much about Director Zhang, and today I finally met him in person!"

This was the first time the two had met in the strict sense.

Zhang Chaoyang is a bigwig who owns two listed companies, Sohu Portal and Sohu Changyou; he is a capitalist.

Zhang Chen's current assets are really nothing in other people's eyes.

But Star Entertainment is also going through the listing process, so maybe one day Zhang Chen will also become a capital player.

"Director Zhang should know why I'm here today, right?"

Sohu has not yet declined, and Zhang Chaoyang is at the height of his career.

"Xiao Wei mentioned that President Zhang wants to start an anti-piracy alliance..."

"Yes, our two companies hold the majority of the exclusive broadcasting rights. If we cooperate and get a few more companies involved to form an anti-piracy alliance, we can create a huge buzz. The authorities will definitely side with us. Then, if other video websites broadcast it, it will be considered copyright infringement. If they want to broadcast it, they'll have no choice but to pay us..."

It has to be said that Xiao Zhang is indeed very bright; he truly deserves to be a top student at Tsinghua University.

This approach is a perfectly legitimate, overt strategy.

Follow other people's paths and leave others with nowhere to go!
None of those who can become the heads of internet giants are simple people.

In the mobile internet era, Sohu declined, and many people felt that Zhang Chaoyang was nothing special.

The most widely circulated photo online is of Zhang Chaoyang sleeping during a meeting, which stands in stark contrast to BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) and serves as a typical example of backwardness.

But it's just that the people going up the mountain are mocking the gods coming down.

In the early days of the internet, Sohu became one of the top three portals and dominated the scene, which definitely shows it had some real talent.

Initially, he was able to break through the competition by relying on American dramas, and later he lived a very comfortable life by relying on exclusive copyrights. After the restriction on foreign content was introduced, he immediately started producing his own dramas.

It can be said that every step they took was correct.

However, the internet industry is too dangerous; it's truly a matter of life and death.

Sometimes, one wrong step can lead to utter ruin.

"I have no objection. I wonder who else Mr. Zhang contacted?"

"I plan to jointly launch the China Online Video Anti-Piracy Alliance, initiated by representatives of five domestic new media copyright owners and distributors, including Jidong.com, PPTV, Youpeng Pule, Sohu, and Huaxia Vision, and in conjunction with 110 internet video copyright holders nationwide..."

Zhang Chaoyang said it was jointly initiated by five companies, but only Sohu and PPTV actually have significant influence among them.

This scene is just like a joke:
Inside the prison, the prison bully shouted at the other inmates, "From today onwards, I'm in charge here. Anyone have any objections?"

Then a notoriously tough guy stepped forward and said, "I have a problem with that."

Then the prison bully put his arm around the troublemaker's neck and addressed everyone again: "From today onwards, the troublemaker and I are in charge here. Anyone have any objections?"

That's the reality: without either Sohu or PPTV, this anti-piracy alliance couldn't be established.

But if the two companies cooperate, it will definitely work, since they control 80% of the legitimate resources.

"No problem, I wholeheartedly support Mr. Zhang's decision!"

Of course I agree; it's a win-win situation.

Video websites are big spenders; despite their high annual advertising revenue, they also incur significant expenses for bandwidth, copyright fees, and other costs.

Any extra income is better than none.

Strictly speaking, the two are actually in a competitive yet cooperative relationship, because Sohu is also currently developing Weibo, and doing so with great fanfare.

Not only Sohu, but Tencent and NetEase are also doing it.

Weibo is such a great traffic portal; everyone can see that.

Even though Sina has taken the lead, as the saying goes, in the internet industry, life is a series of rises and falls.

56.com was doing so well, but it couldn't overcome one hurdle and has now disappeared.

Users were also divided up between Tudou and Youku.

Although Sina Weibo started early, it may not necessarily last.

Even if Zhang Chaoyang knew that Zhang Chen had a presence on Weibo, he still had to cooperate.

Cooperation between companies does not preclude them from working together while simultaneously stabbing each other in the back.

"However, my main job is making movies, so I probably won't have much time to spend on this alliance..."

"It's alright, Director Zhang, just focus on what you need to do. I'll take the lead on this matter. Director Zhang just needs to hear good news."

Zhang Chaoyang has a personality that likes to act as the big brother. In his early days when he was a gangster, he often said, "I'll pay for everything."

They'll even secretly pay for things if they see a celebrity.

Many celebrities don't even know him, but they only find out when they go to pay the bill that Zhang Chaoyang has already paid for it.

For a while, people in the industry were saying that he was a fool with too much money!

Moreover, in the original timeline, Sohu invested a great deal of effort in curbing piracy, and Zhang Chaoyang himself was even given a title by the media—the most active anti-piracy businessman.

(End of this chapter)