Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 427 The Scolded Niece
Meng Bai was just joking, and Evergrande naturally would not allow the new platform to be named Arc Light.

The main reason they want to do streaming is to have an additional business concept, enhance brand value, and then drive up stock prices. If they really change the name of the new platform to "Arc Video", wouldn't that be like making wedding clothes for others?

Therefore, in response to Meng Bai's proposal, Zhou Cheng just smiled, and then said that everyone would slowly consider it later.

Meng Bai didn't have any thoughts on this. As far as he was concerned, he didn't really want this arc to be tied to this new platform.

He positioned Arclight Films as a pure film and television content production team. Only in this way can they take the initiative in the competition for high-quality content among several major platforms.

This is why ArcLight owns shares in Qiyi TV, but will still cooperate with Tencent Video and Youku.

On the contrary, if any "Arc Light Video" really appears, it would be equivalent to directly competing with the three major platforms, and Arc Light's current transcendent status would no longer exist.

And then again, even without this title, ArcLight still has a lot of say for new platforms that are short of content.

Evergrande itself has no experience in the film and television industry, and Tencent will not care about a channel station. Even if Meng Bai stands behind the scenes, he can completely let the new platform develop in the model he wants.

However, with this new platform, Arclight has finally gained its own strength at the end of the film and television chain, the "platform channel". Although it is still very young compared to the three major platforms, it is the first step after all.

In this way, ArcLight Pictures has completed the entire chain of the film and television industry from funding, content, production, artists, and channels.

This model looks somewhat familiar. In fact, it is the concept that Leshi.com has always wanted to create.

In fact, Mr. Jia’s original idea was not wrong. The current major film and television capital giants are essentially following the path that Leshi.com failed to complete.

It’s just that because of past experience, everyone is taking smaller steps to avoid being like Boss Jia, who ran to the United States and kept saying “I’ll go back next week”.

The cooperation intention was reached, and Evergrande, Ruyi and Huguang all got what they wanted, which made everyone happy.

"Mr. Meng, our new platform only has content related to movies and TV series. Isn't it a bit monotonous?" Zhou Cheng said: "I wonder if Arclight has any innovative variety shows or reality show plans. Anyway, we are a new platform, so we can try some new things."

"Reality show planning?" Meng Bai thought for a moment, "We did have some similar project plans before, but Arclight lacked a production team in this area, so they have been shelved."

So far, the only variety show that Arclight has been involved in is "Star Detective" in cooperation with Mango TV. Moreover, they are only responsible for the creative planning of the script, while the actual production, personnel, post-production, etc. are all handled by Mango TV.

"It doesn't matter if we don't have a team, we can just find professionals to do it." Zhou Cheng slammed the table, "It would be best if it succeeds. Even if it fails, as long as it is innovative and can make users feel that we have something new, it won't be a loss."

It has to be said that Evergrande and Tencent have obviously adopted each other's operating model after their cooperation. For new areas, they directly invest money to create a batch of new projects, throw away the failed ones, and continue to invest in the successful ones.

To this, Meng Bai just wanted to say that he liked doing this kind of job that paid well, as long as it wasn't his own money that was being burned.

"Okay, I'll go back and sort out Arclight's inventory, pick out a batch of more promising projects and bring them over for everyone to discuss, to see if we can add more content to our platform."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Meng."
-
At the end of July, just as the battle for new dramas on the three major platforms was about to begin and summer movies were released one after another, a piece of news from the Hong Kong stock market attracted the attention of many people in the industry.

Evergrande Tencent Network, a Hong Kong-listed company jointly established by two capital giants, Evergrande and Tencent, was temporarily suspended from trading, and then an announcement of major events was issued.

Hengten Network plans to acquire Ruyi Pictures in full by allocating and issuing shares and subscribing for equity, with a total price of approximately HK$116 billion (RMB 108 billion).

After the merger and acquisition is completed, the original holders of Ruyi Pictures will become shareholders of Hengten Network, while retaining the original management team and continuing to be responsible for Hengten Network's new film and television business and streaming media platform operations.

As soon as the announcement came out, the capital market was in an uproar.

In the current cold winter of the film and television industry, it is truly shocking that such a large-scale merger and acquisition can still occur.

However, when major financial media revealed the situation of the acquired Ruyi Pictures, everyone's shock immediately turned into understanding.

More than a dozen blockbuster movie projects, Chen Zhixi, a well-known "billion-dollar producer" in the industry, and the support of Arclight Pictures, this combination is always a high-quality asset with unlimited potential.

Therefore, Hengten Networks only released a merger notice, but before any formal action was taken, its stock price had already started to rise sharply. Even the stock price of Evergrande headquarters also rose.

According to Zhou Cheng, their boss Xu was quite happy about this. On the one hand, it was because of the stock price, and on the other hand, since this year, there have been rumors in the market that Evergrande’s debt figures are getting bigger and bigger, and the capital chain is likely to have problems.

Now that this 10 billion acquisition has been announced, all the rumors have been quelled in an instant. In fact, Chen Zhixi had discussed this rumor with Meng Bai before. In this regard, Meng Bai's opinion is that it doesn't matter if they have any problems, as long as they can guarantee our funds.

After all, it is Hengten Network that is responsible for the acquisition of Ruyi. Even if Evergrande really has problems, it will not affect them.

Even then, the other party might sell off their shares for funds. In this way, they would have a chance to take over, and perhaps they could become the host in the future.

"Tsk, Mr. Meng, you...think long-term." Chen Zhixi commented with a helpless smile.

Meng Bai didn't take it seriously: "First time is second time is familiar. I've had this experience before."

Chen Zhixi heard this and then reacted. Indeed, Arclight had cooperated with Leshi.com before, and was one of the few who successfully left before the building collapsed.

"Will Evergrande really have problems?"

"I'm afraid that only Mr. Xu knows about this... Oh, PricewaterhouseCoopers, who is responsible for financial audits, should also know about it." Meng Bai spread his hands, "Come to think of it, the audit of Leshi.com was also done by PricewaterhouseCoopers."

"..."

Chen Zhixi didn't ask any more questions. After all, even if Evergrande really went bankrupt, it wouldn't happen in the next one or two years. At least for now, it seems that they are still thriving.

Most people in the industry are discussing whether Evergrande's entry into the film and television industry means that capital is optimistic about the entertainment market again and whether the film and television winter is over. However, ordinary audiences and fans outside the industry are more concerned about the "summer hit drama competition" among the three major platforms.

In early August, Tencent Video's "The Untamed" and Youku's "The Longest Day in Chang'an" were released one after another. As soon as they were launched, they both showed strong potential to become hits.

The original work of The Untamed, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, was already a top-tier IP in the BL circle before it was adapted. After the news of the film and television adaptation was announced last year, it became popular before it was filmed, and many fans of the original work were eagerly waiting.

In addition, the two main actors, Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo, are both new-generation traffic stars in the past two years, so the popularity value of the web series exceeded 10,000 as soon as it was aired. The album of the same name released by the crew, which includes the music in the play, has dominated the charts of several major music platforms.

On the other hand, Youku's "The Longest Day in Chang'an" is also not to be outdone. The lead actor Lei Jiayin has been very popular in recent years, and with the addition of veteran traffic star Yi Yang Qianxi, although the popularity is slightly weaker, it is not much worse.

In comparison, The Bad Kids is at a disadvantage in this regard. Without popular actors, there are naturally no fans who specialize in collecting data.

Fortunately, this drama was launched early and successfully broke through the circle, attracting a large number of passers-by. Therefore, relying on its high quality and a large number of passers-by fans, it withstood the impact of the other two dramas and firmly occupied the first place in the real-time popularity list of major data platforms.

In this regard, fans of "The Untamed" and "The Longest Day in Chang'an" are not in a hurry. The reason is simple. "The Bad Kids" only has twelve episodes. Even if only two episodes are updated a week, it will be over in two months.

In comparison, their two shows have 50 episodes and 48 episodes respectively, and they were aired at the same time, so they are each other's biggest rivals.

As a result, the three platforms formed a short-lived equilibrium, with The Bad Kids at the top and The Untamed and The Longest Day in Chang'an fighting back and forth.

As for other dramas that aired at the same time, they basically became cannon fodder and all failed silently.

However, although "The Bad Kids" ranks first in popularity of the entire drama, "The Untamed" still has the largest revenue.

Just like when the hit drama Soul Land became popular last year, the two leading actors, Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu, instantly became top stars. Since The Untamed began airing, the most popular domestic entertainment actor rankings on Weibo have been dominated by the two leading actors, Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo.

Even "Zhang Dongsheng", who was so popular before, was squeezed to the third place.

There is no way, since Qin Hao doesn’t have any “career fans” to help him with data.

Of course, they are not the only ones who have reaped the benefits. Other actors in the drama, such as Xuan Lu, who is called "senior sister" by fans, and Wang Zhuocheng, who plays the third male lead, have also seen a surge in popularity.

In addition, the popularity of the drama's lead actor has also increased a lot during this period.

But compared to others, she received more criticism.

[I just want to ask, how awesome is the background of that Meng Ziyi to be able to turn a female supporting role with few scenes into the female lead? ]——From a fan of The Untamed.

(End of this chapter)