The battle for traffic in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 549 The Most Fierce Asian War in the History of Streaming Platform Development
[Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes, what doesn't kill me makes me want you more...]
The devil rolls the dice, the angel rolls his eyes: If you can't kill me, you'll only make me want you more...

"Having heard so many stories about you and Joe, this song is dedicated to your relationship."

Taylor Swift's blue eyes blinked blankly.

Even now, as she sits on her flight back home, Xu Xing still finds the memory particularly amusing.

I've also gained a new understanding of bugs.

Xu Xing had never used such a special attack against creators before.

When collaborating on "Exile," he only scratched the surface, "helping" Taylor complete the song, which gave her her initial goodwill. Hsu Hsing didn't think too much about it.

When Xu Xing presented Taylor with the song "Cruel Summer," which he had acquired long ago, and saw her reaction, he realized it was as if he had taken a piece from her heart beforehand and was filling it back in much later.

Then, Xu Xing finally broke through that door at the end of Zhang Ailing's path and filled in.

To be honest, Xu Xing's original intention was just a mischievous joke; he simply wanted to leave the key so he could sleep in America again later and solidify their friendship.

After all, because he wanted to fully develop Son Ye-jin's submissive, he ignored Ms. Taylor for ten days and avoided her multiple hints and direct advances, so she must not have been very happy.

To Xu Xing's surprise, Ms. Taylor's emotional response far exceeded her expectations, leading her to impulsively confess her feelings.

"I know you are a demon, an abyss. This is the best distance; going any further will lead to utter ruin... But I can't deceive myself anymore. I never thought I would fall in love with a Chinese person, but you are everything I need, both physically and emotionally. If only... it had been you in the first place."

When the young aunt gets emotional, she can utter a whole string of words.

She was referring to her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, the longest relationship Taylor had ever had, which meant a great deal to her.

Joe appeared when Kanye's "Famous" music video controversy caused her to be attacked online. A warm, younger man comforted her emotional wounds. The aunt was so moved that she even released a toilet album "Lover" to celebrate their sweet love.

Unfortunately, both of her albums during this relationship flopped. Just then, the pandemic hit, and Taylor began to reflect on the relationship. After a period of reflection, her creativity exploded, and the two folk albums, Folklore and Evermore, were released at lightning speed, bringing her back to the top and even propelling her to new heights.

Looking back at Prince Joe of Ganlu Temple, who still hasn't accomplished anything after all these years, he's still too mature and not very ambitious. He's a good person, but... everyone has shortcomings when they're young. Some people will try to improve, while others just want to live a carefree life at 25 forever.

In 16, Joe, then 25 years old, had just debuted in the entertainment industry as the male lead in the Hollywood blockbuster "Bill Lynn's Long Halftime Walk," which was the peak of his career—the peak of a failed film.

25-year-old Hsu Hsing, who dominated the world music scene last year with the release of "Blinding Lights," has achieved a small part of her accomplishments as she becomes the King of Asia and is on her way to becoming the King of the World.

Taylor Swift in 16 has been killed and grown into the person she is today... a three-time Grammy winner, a great artist whose status in music history will only rise higher and higher!

In addition, as Taylor entered her 30s, her physical needs also reached their peak, and skinny Joe really... Fortunately, I am not slandering Taylor. Her next publicly acknowledged boyfriend in her previous life, Travis Kelce, a burly football player with a full chest and back of hair, is proof of that.

After a few years of indulging in the "fresh and clean" style, the 30-year-old auntie has finally come to honestly face her own needs.

Therefore, Xu Xing kicked the pedal at full intensity from the very first time.

This time, Xu Xing agreed to Taylor's request that she hadn't had a chance to voice last time and postponed her return to China by two days. Then, aside from things that Xu Xing herself found disgusting, she tried many unusual and extreme things that she had never tried before.

The previous champion of the lowest standard was Teacher Fan; now it's Ms. Taylor.

Well, there's nothing to worry about.

Xu Xing was very clear-headed; a brief entry into one's heart is one thing, and a long-term entry into one's heart is another.

Ms. Taylor is just an emotional person, not a naive little girl. She can calm down quickly, and the older she gets, the faster she can calm down. Then she will think that her passionate confession that night was just a moment of madness.

Hsu Hsing has no plans to develop her career in the United States for a long time, nor will she go to China. Her team has been reminding her to be mindful of her sensitive identity, as this is not the Romeo and Juliet she sang about when she was 21 in "Love Story".

They just slept, and both of them slept very comfortably.

Therefore, Xu Xing responded to her confession with a gentle and long kiss, thanking her for her sudden and sincere feelings at that moment.

There are plenty of such moments when it comes to playing along, and Hsu Hsing always handles them very well.

After that kiss, an even more emotional Ms. Taylor asked Xu Xing for a clear response, but she only got halfway through her sentence before stopping amidst Xu Xing's gentle and calm smile.

She paused for a few seconds.

She smiled with relief.

The two smiled together.

She thanked Xu Xing for her maturity, restraint, and composure.

She apologized for her impulsive and reckless behavior.

They laughed together for a while longer.

She murmured with a sigh, "You are the most special one..."

Hsu Hsing-hsiao: "Friendship lasts longer than love."

Her blue eyes flickered a few more times, and she nodded gently with utmost seriousness. Then, she began to make an uncontrollable and frantic demand.

Xu Xing uses a firm approach to suppress her, but also uses tenderness to encourage her to be honest about her inner thoughts, allowing Xu Xing to uncover the secrets she wouldn't even tell her lover, exposing all her dark side, and solving all the problems with Xu Xing's help.

In just two days, Hsu Hsing efficiently managed to control Taylor, the woman fans would be praising as the world's leading lady after the release of "Midnight" next year.

Of course, it was still just sleeping. Xu Xing remained calm and focused on sleeping.

If I ever flop, Taylor's friendships will quickly disappear too. Even though Hsu Hsing managed to snag a few more songs as keys to unlock those opportunities.

However, Ms. Taylor didn't have many more years to keep Xu Xing interested.

Both are fun activities, but Son Ye-jin's is much more fun than Taylor's.

Son Ye-jin possesses a delicate and innocent charm, and the broken, pure white moonlight is her most captivating screen image.

During the ten days that the villa completely collapsed, although her smile became more and more natural, the last few days were filled with the atmosphere of a sweet older woman-younger man relationship, and she became more and more intoxicated and enjoying the process.

However, the sense of fragmentation that Hsu Hsing firmly unlocked each time became increasingly intense. By channeling this period of mindset into her performance, Hsu Hsing believes that the audience will give her even greater praise for her performance in her next film.

She even asked Xu Xing if he liked her in that state the most. After receiving an affirmative answer, when the two were together, she only switched between two modes: laughing and joking and looking pitiful and broken.

Each time, Xu Xing's goal was to unlock her senses and let her enjoy herself. It was very simple, though; a gentle kiss would do the trick.

In comparison, Ms. Taylor has almost nothing to do with manipulation.

Therefore, on the flight, Xu Xing also reminisced about Son Ye-jin more.

The "pure and erotic" trend is sweeping the country, and Nuna has truly taken it to the extreme this time. Xu Xing never expected that she could accept it so well after adjusting her mindset, and finding out those very erotic little fetishes was really...

After returning to South Korea three days ago, she has been actively keeping in touch with Heo Haeng every day.

For example, WeChat popped up right now.

So, is Taylor Swift going to sing our song? [Cute]

Hmm... "Cruel Summer" is truly a wonderful song. It's the only great contribution of Taylor's "Lover" album, and it's Taylor's best '89-style single from the post-'89 era that she didn't get over until "Midnight." It's also one of Taylor's top ten singles.

Using one song for two purposes is quite a good thing.

For Son Ye-jin, this was indeed a cruel summer. The more she tried to maintain a normal attitude in front of Heo Haeng, the more intense her inner turmoil became.

Hsu Hsing used this song to show that she was not just greedily indulging in pleasure, but also hypocritically putting on a mask and performing. She also understood the pain and struggle in Hsu Hsing's heart.

Although Hsu Hsing was just performing and enjoying herself.

But Nuna was especially moved, even more so than Ms. Taylor.

After all, with Ms. Taylor, Xu Xing only said that after bringing up Joe countless times to join in the fun, he had listened to their story and dedicated the song to them to commemorate their relationship.

In Son Ye-jin's words, Heo Haeng said it was for her, to commemorate our feelings.

Of course. [Cute]

Xu Xing turned back.

Before leaving, Ms. Taylor said that she would definitely put this song on her next album.

There's no need to worry about Ms. Olivia turning against the grain this time, causing controversy over whether "Cruel Summer" plagiarized "De Javu". Xu Xing has already saved "De Javu".

When I feel that Miss Ya Ya is somewhat attractive, we can cooperate. Xu Xing can then test her to see if she is truly dissatisfied with his failure to promote her.

Sun: [It's a strange feeling, that's Taylor Swift! [laughing and crying emoji]]

Little Han, the celebrity, never imagined that one day America's most popular female singer would be singing about her love life.

[That's me! [Cool]]

Xu Xingfa went over.

She turned around.

Yes! What an amazing fellow monk (younger brother)! [Thumbs up][Laughing and crying emoji]

Actually, Son Ye-jin did ask Heo Haeng if she had a relationship with Taylor. Heo Haeng didn't lie and even showed her the WeChat messages Taylor had sent her. In any case, there was no way the two of them could have had any communication.

Seeing that Ms. Taylor couldn't help but want to ask Xu Xing out many times, but Xu Xing kept pretending not to see it and only slept with her at the villa every day, Son Ye-jin was overjoyed. She immediately asked Xu Xing to hug her in her favorite way and then see what would happen after she was back in her place.

[Have you returned to China yet? When will you be able to come to South Korea? Or...]

Just watched "Snowy Mountain," the younger brother is so handsome! [wink][wink][wink][wink]

She sent two more messages in quick succession.

The novel "The Sword and the Brocade" finally premiered yesterday. Originally, it was planned to be released after Xu Xing returned to China, with Xu Xing cooperating in a live broadcast for promotion.

However, Ms. Taylor pleaded, and since she could also do live streams here, Xu Xing, who was originally supposed to be quarantined for another half month after returning to China and participate in the live streams from the hotel, postponed her return to China by two days.

When the live broadcast started in China yesterday afternoon, it was just past midnight in Los Angeles. Knowing that Xu Xing would be leaving during the day, Ms. Taylor was very active off-camera.

It was always Xu Xing who was torturing her, and it was only a rare opportunity for her to put Xu Xing through a difficult task.

Unfortunately, Ms. Taylor was unaware of just how much experience Xu Xing had.

When I was chatting with Son Ye-jin before, she also mentioned the upcoming drama, Heo Haeng.

Son Ye-jin had only ever acted in dramas where she wore hanbok like in "Dae Jang Geum" before. A few years ago, in the very comedic "The Pirates," she did have a look that was very similar to that of domestic period dramas, but it was a simple and handsome style.

She expressed her longing for the beautiful costumes in Chinese period dramas, and frankly said that Xu Xing in the trailer of "Snow in the Sword" was so handsome that she couldn't help herself. She even asked Xu Xing to dress her up in the male lead's costume in "Snow in the Sword" so that she could wear beautiful Chinese Hanfu and take a nap.

Hsu Hsing has already let her try out countless different looks.

Xu Xing naturally didn't refuse and promised her that she would try it next time she went to South Korea.

Even though they've only been apart for three days, she can't wait any longer.

Nuna even sent Xu Xing a news link stating that starting in July, travelers from China to South Korea would no longer need to undergo quarantine.

However, Xu Xingye won't be going to Korea anytime soon. Son Ye-jin is in great shape right now, but it will be even better to wait until her condition gradually improves before going back to Korea to rekindle the flame.

After the highly anticipated premiere of "Snow in the Sword", on domestic social media, apart from extreme book fans nitpicking and asking questions like "Is this Ning Emei?" "Is this Xu Longxiang?" "Is this Chu Lushan?", etc., the main reaction was that book fans were excited and eagerly explaining the plot and discussing famous scenes to netizens who felt the drama was of good quality but didn't quite understand the story.

When "Joy of Life" first aired, the catchy phrase "box sniper rifle... Emperor Qing, the Grandmaster" attracted many casual viewers.

"If Heaven had not given birth to Li Chungang, the way of the sword would have remained in eternal darkness," "Sword, come!" "Return to the Land of Immortals," "One Sword Opens the Gate of Heaven," "Northern Liang is bitter, the most bitter is the white-robed," "Northern Liang is bitter, the most bitter is the Crown Prince," "Technical skills deserve reward," "Wang Xianzhi vs. Li Chungang," "The White Fox Face can kill even a celestial being with nineteen steps," "Three hundred thousand iron cavalry of Northern Liang"...

It's all a mess. Most netizens remain silent and respect this critical tone, while drama fans quickly embrace it, and those who enjoy debating and arguing directly read the original novel to find evidence...

But many people also began to resist.

Sun Xiaoguo of Beiliang was listed with lightning speed, criticizing the use of historical figures and allusions, the collapse of the battle power, the claim that the 300,000 Beiliang Iron Cavalry were invincible in the universe, the disrespect for women, the Xuanyuan family's disapproval, and the theft of the princess's aunt...

"Crash-drop literature" has also become popular, with princes and noblemen constantly demanding others to exaggerate their misery? What kind of saccharine, southern-sounding marriages are these?
and many more.

In fact, both the criticisms and recommendations from haters and fans have the effect of deterring some people and attracting others.

What unites both haters and fans is the unparalleled production quality of this drama, the amazing glimpses of action scenes, and Hsu Hsin-shuai reaching a new peak.

The original novel of "Joy of Life" only mentioned that Fan Xian was good-looking, without emphasizing it. When it was adapted into a TV series, there were some scenes specifically showing how handsome Xu Xing was, but not many.

The original novel of "Snowy Mountain" uses too many words to describe how incredibly handsome Xu Fengnian is. Yes, just being handsome isn't enough; he has to be incredibly handsome.

In the drama, the camera work and Xu Xing's acting style also highlighted this point.

An unintentional smile, the coldness beneath the surface of her eyes, a fleeting sharpness... even her uninhibited antics all contribute to a visually stunning effect.

At the prime of her life, 25-year-old Hsu Hsing gave every woman the most beautiful dream.

Another bunch of jinxes wailed and repented: Why were I blind to such a super handsome guy before? Why... However, it seems that many of them were actually cross-dressing fans, so Xu Xing didn't pay much attention.

Overseas, however, the popularity of "Snow in the Wind" exceeded Xu Xing's expectations.

Although the number of views of Chinese period dramas on Netflix has been steadily increasing, predictions, including those made by Netflix, suggest that they will definitely sweep across Asia, while they will only have some popularity in Europe and America.

After all, Hsu Hsing's first English album was sweeping the world at that time.

However, after its official release, perhaps due to the excellent promotion of Xu Xing's album, or Netflix's marketing that "piggybacked" on the popularity of "Heroes" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", or perhaps because "Childhood Games" attracted a large number of European and American viewers to Asian dramas, "Snowy Mountain" broke into the top five in viewership in several European and American countries on its first day of release.

It has been 20 years since the first Chinese period drama of the early 2000s brought a fresh feeling to Europeans and Americans. In the era of streaming media, information dissemination is extremely prosperous, and the novelty brought by "Snowy Mountain" has swept the world on a larger scale and more quickly.

Unlike Netflix's previous production of "Marco Polo," which was neither fish nor fowl, or the simple or Japanese-style costumes and makeup of the millennium era, "Snowy Mountain" is the most exquisite result that China's film and television industry has produced in recent years after great development, as it ushered in the era of ancient costume dramas.

Fabric, texture, embroidery, accessories, pattern... We don't pursue historical accuracy; "Snow in the Sky" is a fictional story anyway. It's all about achieving the pinnacle of visual appeal.

On Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, everyone is praising the oriental aesthetics in "Snowy Mountain," with comments like, "I told you long ago, Chinese period dramas are really captivating."

The most hilarious thing is that some marketing accounts copied this from overseas social media, and some Europeans and Americans asked if Li Mugo was based on Zhang Yimou.

The whole internet was in stitches, and even Director Li was sweating profusely trying to save face.

Director Li does indeed film beautiful people and scenery in the TV drama industry, but he really doesn't deserve to be compared with the big directors in the film industry. You can't expect ordinary netizens overseas to be able to see any difference. Most viewers only care about the story and won't pay attention to the visual language. Ordinary Europeans and Americans will just think that they are telling stories of ancient China.

Therefore, there are also many criticisms of Xu Xing for using the comparisons between "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to market "Snow Sword" overseas.

However, with most of the positive reports on "Snow in the Sky" coming out in mainstream European and American media today, those voices have basically disappeared.

Mainstream media affirmed this, and there are also viewership and social media data to prove it. Even if "Snow Sword" was just riding the coattails of others, it still helped Chinese period dramas gain international recognition, which is beneficial to the film and television industry and helps China's cultural and entertainment influence expand further overseas.

Will constantly displaying "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" on the altar have the same effect? ​​It's better to let "Snowy Mountain" step on them.

Besides, "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" were made to please Westerners, while "Snowy Swordsman" has a pure Chinese martial arts flavor.

The current top trending topic on Weibo is #TheSnowSwordIsReallyABeatInEuropeAndAmerica#
The entire internet is buzzing.

Excited netizens were in high spirits and took the initiative to help Xu Xing eliminate the jinx who dared to jump out and spill oil again. The performance of "Snow in the Snow" is indeed different from that of "Childhood Games", but the significance of "Snow in the Snow" is much more important than that of "Childhood Games".

Even fangirls are actively defending "Snow Sword". They say that their own idols can only make period dramas now. Fortunately, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is taking Chinese period dramas overseas. If their idols ride this wave, they might suddenly become a hit in Europe and America, and then come back and laugh at all the amateur dramas in China.

The internet in China is buzzing with activity, filled with all sorts of exclamations, dislikes, daydreams, reposts, and laughter...

There are also jokes on Weibo saying that the reason why "Snowy Mountain" became so popular in Europe and America is because it starts with the male lead's beggar scenes. Europeans and Americans thought it was another Chinese tragedy, and they were fooled after clicking in.

However, the popularity of "Snowy Mountain" in Europe and America is actually quite superficial. For now, it's really just overseas users who were attracted by the novelty and clicked on it due to Netflix's marketing that are contributing to the viewership.

Most of the users who liked those clips from "Snow in the Wind" on overseas social media probably won't actually watch the show.

Sun Man's report also clearly explains how much effort Xu Xing put into his overseas marketing matrix.

In fact, Erika had already told Xu Xing that the number of views for "Snow in the Sky" in many European and American countries had begun to decline today.

After all, "Snowy Mountain" wasn't released all at once on Netflix. Instead, it followed the domestic release schedule, with six episodes released on the first day and two episodes released every day thereafter.

The pacing of the early part of "Snow in the Sky" was indeed a bit bland.

To be honest, Netflix's promotion of "Snow in the Sky" in Europe and America was somewhat beyond Xu Xing's expectations. Those media resources were not something Xu Xing spent money to promote, but rather Netflix's.

Before the show was released, Xu Xing had already learned about Netflix's promotional efforts.

According to Sun Man's analysis to Xu Xing during her report, she felt that Netflix was trying hard to retain Xu Xing and "Snowy Mountain" because Tencent Video's WeTV was finally about to make a big push.

The craze sparked by "Childhood Games" finally made Tencent unable to hold back any longer.

Tencent has indeed not yet fully established itself in the long-form video market in China, but with its continuous global investment, it certainly has the strength to compete with Netflix in its home turf of Asia.

You can invest the money you were going to put elsewhere in WeTV instead.

As soon as the group makes a strategic decision, the military equipment will be in place at lightning speed.

Two days ago, President Qu told Xu Xing that Tencent had decided to promote Yu Murong to vice president in the near future, unlike before when Xu Xing had to make a promise to always stand on Tencent's side in the competition between Tencent and Netflix.

Yu Murong felt deeply "humiliated" because she felt that she had not earned the promotion through her own abilities.

It took Mr. Qu a lot of effort to persuade her to accept it.

Once Tencent makes its official announcement, Asia will witness the fiercest battle in the history of streaming platform development.

WeTV is no longer playing dead.

Previously on WeTV, Xu Xing's "Joy of Life" completely outperformed all other dramas combined in attracting new viewers overseas. Even if they sold everything they owned to acquire the rights to Xu Xing, it wasn't entirely impossible for them to compete with Netflix.

However, WeTV had previously shown very little competitive determination in acquiring the overseas rights to the dramas "Signal" and "Snow in the Wind." In reality, they were deliberately putting on a show for headquarters, unwilling to just let Xu Xing's lukewarm performance serve as a facade, in order to provoke headquarters into making a strategic decision to vigorously develop WeTV as soon as possible.

At a party in Los Angeles, Bajaaria also openly expressed her concerns about WeTV's upcoming official entry into the competition.

Xu Xing responded by promising that at least "Childhood Games" would definitely be on Netflix, and that if WeTV was determined to acquire the final season of "Signal" and the later seasons of "Snow in the Sky," Zheng Rong would firmly maintain its position of simultaneously launching the series on both platforms.

As for future plans to participate in other dramas, Xu Xing has none at the moment.

Currently, Xu Xing only has three dramas listed: "Joy of Life", "Snow in the Sky", and "Signal".

And a series called "The Three-Body Problem" that only starts to feature prominently in the second season.

The existing stock is the film version, which hasn't been edited yet. I wonder when the TV series version of "Blossoms Shanghai" will be edited.

Xu Xing is already overwhelmed with filming these TV series, and she also has to make movies. She has also made the decision to hold a global tour as soon as possible.

After years of hard work, Xu Xing is still full of energy, and her return to China is always accompanied by a lively party at Wutongyuan. However, Xu Xing has decided to gradually reduce her workload each year and increase her rest time.

All of Xu Xing's partners must feel somewhat disappointed, but no one can blame Xu Xing for having such thoughts.

Xu Xing is now the most popular superstar in the world. No one in the entire entertainment industry can match Xu Xing's workload every year.

Xu Xing is not a robot.

Xu Xing is only 26 years old, which is incredibly young. We have a long, long time to work with Xu Xing.

However, in this streaming platform war in Asia, the only shows that Xu Xing could compete for were those few.

By the time Hsu Hsing films a new series in the future, this great battle will surely have come to an end.

They would fight for a maximum of three or four years. In the previous life, Disney announced at the end of 23 that it would once again license some entertainment content to Netflix, and the two companies shook hands and made peace.

With WeTV joining the fray in Asia, their main growth region, the reconciliation between Netflix and Disney+ should come sooner.

Xu Xing could simply sit back and watch them clash.

In any case, the fact that Son Ye-jin eventually entered the villa in Los Angeles was definitely related to the increased pressure exerted by Netflix under this background.

Sun Man also complained to Xu Xing that Tencent would definitely try to corrupt Xu Xing, and advised Xu Xing in advance that it was just for fun and that she really shouldn't add any more long-term holdings of her sisters or brothers, so as not to add more management difficulty to her already busy schedule.

They even complained that Xu Xing wasn't uglier or more rotten, because that would greatly reduce the women's desire to corrupt him.

Who wouldn't want to sleep with the world's most famous, talented, and outrageously handsome superstar?!

Xu Xing is also...

Wake up.

The plane is about to land in Haishi.

Ms. Taylor was so crazy last night that she absolutely refused to sleep.

It was rare for Xu Xing to sleep so soundly on the plane.

However, after such a good night's sleep, one is surprisingly full of energy upon waking.

get off a plane.

Detection.

Travel to a designated quarantine hotel.

I just settled into the hotel and am waiting for the others to leave.

There was a knock on Xu Xing's door.

The person outside the door was someone I never expected.

Host Hou.

She smiled and introduced herself in a pleasant island accent.

"Xu Xing!!! I had a feeling it might be you, and it really is you! Did you just come back from the United States? I came back from an overseas vacation and came here to record a program for Tencent Video."

(End of this chapter)