Who said this top flow is crazy! This top flow is awesome!

Chapter 380 sold out; its main competitor is Penguin.

"Why did you suddenly change your mind?"

Honey was happy inside, but she couldn't help but ask a question.

"...I can change it whenever I want."

The old lady's answer was as firm as ever, but her demeanor made Sister Mi breathe a sigh of relief—this was more like it, this was the Xia Xia she knew.

It seems that Ikeno is indeed the only cure for this summer's ailments.

Click.

Just then, the door was pushed open, and Ikeno, slightly damp, stepped in.

"Teacher Chi!"

This summer, she called out once, then quickly lowered her head and nestled into Chi Ye's arms like a fledgling returning to its nest.

Chi Ye was taken aback, but this time he didn't make any jokes or scold her. He simply hugged the old lady's slender waist and patted her back.

"Teacher Chi... I'm so sad, sob sob..."

This summer has never been a strong girl. She would selectively avoid Ikeno because of her image, but that was only because of her image.

When her most beloved elder left her forever, the little drama queen couldn't hold back her emotions the moment she saw Ikeno's figure.

She hugged Chi Ye tightly and sobbed in his arms.

Ikeno didn't say anything, but simply hugged Jinxia tightly as well.

Ten minutes passed before the old lady calmed down a bit and realized what was happening. She kept her head down, seemingly trying to avoid Chi Ye's gaze.

Ikeno noticed this, but didn't call it out. He simply said softly, "Let's go on a trip."

"Ok?"

The old lady was startled, and subconsciously raised her head, revealing a pair of peach blossom eyes that were several times more swollen than before, still wet with tears. When she met Chi Ye's gaze, she hurriedly lowered her head again: "Ah...why...?"

I think you need to clear your head.

"But you...you're so busy with work..."

"Work is not as important as you."

Silence this summer.

Ikeno, unusually serious, said without joking, "I can temporarily put my work aside."

“...Teacher Chi”.

"what happened?"

When will filming for our movie begin?

Ikeno was taken aback: "...I've been waiting for you. You can come anytime."

Actually, it's not always possible; he'll definitely have to adjust his schedule. But... speaking of which, the original estimate for when the old lady would join the crew was the end of this year, which hasn't happened yet, but considering the crew's preparations before filming starts, it shouldn't be too far off.

"I want to make a movie with you."

This summer, she rested her head on Chi Ye's chin and kept moving around: "I don't want to interfere with your work, but I also want you to be with me... Let's make a movie together, okay?"

Chi Ye's neck was incredibly itchy, and she felt a dampness on her neck. After a long pause, she finally nodded and said, "Okay."

Honey, standing next to her, covered her eyes, her face flushed red: "Pah! What are you doing in broad daylight?"

……

The return of the old lady (Kaiser Karl Lagerfeld) signifies that "My Sassy Girl" has finally ushered in the opportunity to start filming.

But film crews aren't playing house; there's a lot to prepare and work on. Ikeno Company is currently working on a series of projects, so Ikeno still has to attend all the scheduled events before filming begins.

He stayed in Shanghai for about three days, which, considering the current tight schedule of Ikeno, was definitely an exceptional performance.

The announcement that Ikeno's next concert would be at "Little Days" has sparked various controversies and heated discussions, naturally attracting a lot of attention from people both inside and outside the entertainment industry.

So during the three days he stayed, there were many rumors circulating outside, and he frequently made headlines on social media.

Unfortunately, there was no substantial news, as if an invisible hand had suppressed some things.

Five days later, Ikeno officially boarded a plane to Little Life to discuss the details of the concert.

This will also be his last concert in the second half of this year. Due to a last-minute change of plans, "My Sassy Girl" was put on the schedule. Even without this movie, Ikeno still needs to keep up with his film and television work in the second half of the year.

The original plan was to hold four events first, but now it seems that we can only reduce it to three. The remaining events will be squeezed out of the announcements to reveal the cities that have been formally negotiated for cooperation.

"What did they say about the little days?"

on the plane.

Chi Ye sat in his seat, writing something in a small notebook he carried with him. His handwriting was beautiful, with a touch of elegance and grace, but Coco knew that Chi Ye's handwriting used to be very bad, and that Xia Xia had taught him all of this.

Because Xiaxia is a Virgo, a perfectionist and a stickler for detail, and Chi Ge is truly amazing, he only casually tried to learn it, but actually mastered it…

"Well... everyone is more concerned about your popularity in Japan, but the collaboration is basically the same as before."

Ikeno nodded without saying anything.

Domestically, everyone is focusing on whether Xiao Rizi's concert is just a bluff, but within Xiao Rizi's own country, there are certainly those who have reservations and thoughts.
If a singer is a global superstar, then it's perfectly acceptable for them to hold a concert at Xiao Ri Zi.

But Ikeno's works are almost all Chinese songs... to be honest, they weren't very popular on Little Days.

"Have the tickets gone on sale yet?"

"not yet."

Coco glanced at the time and said, "But it'll be soon. It will officially go on sale in an hour."

"Hmm, let's keep an eye on it. If all else fails, we can hire some online trolls."

Ikeno said it very honestly.

"...It should be fine. We've done background checks, there's no way it won't sell."

When Coco said this, she was very confident. This confidence came from her confidence in Chi Ye, and even more so from Chi Ye's popularity throughout Southeast Asia. Even if you're not a fan, just seeing "Professor Chi's" face makes you want to buy a ticket to support him, right?

Even if the locals aren't as enthusiastic as the Koreans, the idea that tickets won't sell is absolutely absurd.

That's what she thought, but she never expected that the tickets for Ikeno's Little Days concert would sell out in a second as soon as they went on sale.

Yes, sold out in a second!

This almost set a precedent in the history of the Chinese music scene, and when Coco received this "report card," her first reaction was not joy, but bewilderment and astonishment: "Did you really buy it?"

Just then, Chi Ye came back from the restroom, wiping his hands and raising an eyebrow: "Watch your words."

"Wasn't it bought by our online army? Brother Chi, are we really global superstars already?!"

Coco was shocked.

“This can’t be called buying; this is strategic marketing.”

cocoa:"……"

"just kidding."

Chi Ye laughed, threw the tissue into the trash bag, and hummed a little tune: "Nothing strange about it. It proves to be effective. All my hard work over the past few years has paid off." Coco was taken aback and fell silent.

"Alright, global superstar Ikeno needs to get back to creating now. This concert is his first overseas show, so he needs to do a great job."

"……clear."

"We need to take care of the concert, but we can't neglect the company's projects either. By the way... what's the news from Kiwi? Has the schedule been released? Which movies have been confirmed for release?"

……

end of August.

The headquarters building of Tencent Video.

"Our online user base and downloads in Q1 and Q2 both saw a significant decline compared to last year, and the drop was even more severe this month. We were previously able to maintain relatively acceptable figures..."

"But because no blockbuster products were produced this year, we were unable to maintain the original data as planned."

In the conference room.

The third-in-command of Tencent Video had a serious expression, and when he finished speaking, the entire room fell silent.

The person in charge, who had been betrayed by his daughter at home, and the second-in-command of Tencent Video, coughed twice and glanced around: "Everyone, we need to be on guard."

"I don't think this is our problem."

A colleague in charge of market research said, "Since the beginning of this year, the overall market share of our long-form dramas has been shrinking. It's not just us; the market share of the other two platforms has also been squeezed."

"People would rather spend an extra hour watching short videos than have the patience to watch long dramas. This is a general trend, so I think it's wrong to blame individuals for this."

"..."

The meeting room was quiet.

A sudden impulse rose within the second-in-command, and he asked abruptly, "What about 'Goblin'?"

Everyone was stunned.

The research colleague who had been speaking was also taken aback, and surprisingly nodded, asking logically, "Then what about our relationship with Ikeno?"

Silence fell again in the meeting room, but this time the tension was much stronger.

The second-in-command was parachuted in; within the Penguin Video faction, he belongs to the "parachuted faction." He doesn't have any allies or a strong foundation, which is why the other party is so friendly and accepting of him.

After all, from a certain perspective, YueNa can be considered a branch of Tencent Video, so they are all family members.

"...Indeed, Chi Ye is amazing, but there's only one Chi Ye in the entire Chinese entertainment industry. Besides, he's already partnered with iQiyi. So why didn't you try to work with Chi Ye back then?"

Another person stepped forward.

"Yes, I've long felt that many people's approach to Ikeno's issue was wrong, heavily influenced by personal emotions..."

Within Tencent Video, where the upper management has always maintained a superficially harmonious relationship and avoided open conflict, such a large-scale "condemnation" and "PD" incident is one of the most serious in the company's history.

The second-in-command's face gradually turned purple, but he did not utter a word in rebuttal.

"Is such that."

The newly recruited underlings, quick to read the room, stepped forward and reminded everyone: "Today we're discussing the issue of declining platform traffic. Gentlemen, headquarters has always been committed to providing unwavering support to the platform."

"But with such a significant decline this year, how are we going to explain ourselves at the end of the year?"

"You make it sound so easy. Then tell me, what are we supposed to do? We can only hope that our next few big dramas will be good."

"No, I think that in addition to the issue of the quality of the works on our own platform, there are other new channels that can help recover some of the lost traffic."

"Oh?"

Everyone looked at him.

The younger brother coughed twice and said firmly, "Short drama!"

Everyone: "..."

"I don't know if everyone has heard about it," the younger brother said confidently. "The Coconut Short Drama that Chi Ye himself is making is getting off to a very good start. And short dramas are almost a perfect fit for the current trend of being short, fast, and efficient, and they have a natural working relationship with short videos."

“I think we can also try similar collaborations. Our partners, Kuaishou and Bilibili, have already started to enter the market. As long as we connect with the traffic entry points, there is a high probability that the platform's traffic will return to its peak in a short period of time.”

After he finished speaking, he sat down leisurely, and his second-in-command gave him an appreciative look—because he had actually instructed the other party to say those words.

As for why he didn't say it himself... well, he was afraid of being blamed if he failed.

It is common knowledge that a successful project is attributed to the leader, while a failed project is blamed on the mistakes of subordinates!

"We're already working on this, so there's no need to discuss it further."

The top leader, who had been silent until now, finally spoke, but skipped over the topic altogether, saying directly: "Short dramas are fine, but long dramas are our foundation, and that will never change. How are the publicity and distribution preparations for 'The Long Moon' going?"

Upon hearing this, the person in charge stepped forward and said, "The release date for 'The Long Moon' has been set, and the publicity and distribution are also provided according to the platform's top-tier S+ standard. This time, the theme is quite novel, and that's one of the reasons we bought this IP in the first place. It should increase the platform's new user acquisition rate."

“Some won’t do; I want at least traffic levels that are the same as before the decline.”

The top leader was very domineering. After finishing speaking, he continued to ask, "We also need to pay more attention to the projects of the other two companies. Long dramas are not going well this year, but the worse it is, the more intense the competition becomes. Now, it's time to focus on quality."

"clear."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

As we approach the end of August, the three major video platforms have undoubtedly suffered the most damage this year.

Of course, thanks to "Goblin," kiwifruit made a significant comeback, even raking in huge profits, becoming the only one among the three major platforms to be able to celebrate the Lunar New Year with a smile.

But the other two companies are having a tough time.

As for Tencent Video, as the top of the three major platforms with the largest investment and the highest traffic, its works this year have been lackluster. However, during the "Goblin" period, it had a few seemingly popular "blockbusters".

But...only those within the family know their own situation. When the tide goes out, it will be clear who is swimming naked.

Several hit shows were exposed for inflated and fabricated data even before they finished airing. Hit? Flopped!

Cool Video isn't doing much better. While Tencent Video still has some pretentious momentum, Cool Video is completely silent and has flopped without anyone noticing.

—The biggest topic of this year for Cool Movies is actually their copyright dispute with Coconut Culture over "My Love from the Star," which has already gone to court.

happy.

Many people in the industry don't really understand Cool Film's actions. They had a winning hand back then, with a solid foundation of collaboration with Ikeno and hit works like "Loop" and "My Love from the Star." Why did they choose to cut off their own arm?

Hmm...that's not scientific.

That initial choice directly led to a precipitous drop in all of CoolMovie's metrics this year.

As the year drew to a close, their last chance to save face, their last chance to "save themselves," finally arrived.

……

"Kiwifruit doesn't have any top-rated dramas in Q4 this year because 'Goblin' cost too much money to produce, and the market for long-running dramas has shrunk. Kiwifruit's competitiveness at the end of this year shouldn't be too strong."

Backstage at an awards ceremony on a domestic television station.

A senior executive at Coolfilm whispered to his friend with a smile, "So, this year-end, Tencent is our main competitor."

(End of this chapter)