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

Chapter 410 Phenomenal Success and a Second Spring in His Career

On the seventh day after its release, the plot of "Lurking" reached another climax, with the viewership rating exceeding 7% that night. The popularity on Mango TV became meaningless, as "Lurking" had achieved the most exaggerated lead in recent years in the overall popularity ranking of the entire network.

Meanwhile, a large number of fan-made videos featuring clips from the TV series "Lurking" have appeared on streaming platforms such as Douyin, Bilibili, and Weibo.

For example, there are countless viral memes and famous scenes such as "Jade Throne Golden Buddha" and "Stupid Hanging Image".

Yes, after six days of its release, the so-called "traffic restriction" was no longer mentioned.

Because it's just so incredibly popular.

How big exactly?
To put it simply, Hunan TV may set a record for its highest revenue in nearly 15 years because of this drama. At the same time, the rights to broadcast "Lurking" for the second time have been fiercely contested by various TV stations.

It was so crazy that a certain TV station actually tried to broadcast a "pirated" version of "Lurking" late at night. Because it was just a local station, it didn't attract much attention at first, but unexpectedly, after just three days of broadcasting, the station's ratings broke a new record since its establishment.

Furthermore, advertising revenue broke records, resulting in huge profits, which even led to a lawsuit.

No one expected that this obscure spy drama, which seemed ordinary in both its name and synopsis, would generate such tremendous buzz at the end of the year.

This is absolutely the most outrageous spy drama series in the history of Chinese entertainment, not only in terms of popularity, but also because of this popularity, various historical events related to the series have been brought up again.

A spy drama can become popular, but one that becomes popular to this extent means it has already reached a certain level of dissemination and guidance value.

Therefore, whether it's Douyin, Bilibili, or Weibo, especially the latter, they didn't dare to impose any traffic restrictions on "Lurking" in the later stages, because Kuaishou had tried it before.

While other platforms had already lifted the ban on "Lurking," Kuaishou continued to act as it pleased, adding "Lurking" and various videos by Chi Ye to its "banned" list. As a result, it was criticized by a relevant department that very evening, before the next day had even arrived.

This caused Kuaishou's stock price to plummet that night.

Who would dare?

"It's not that we're praising Chi Ye, it's just that he can't say this. Who would have thought...right? Old Liu is unlucky, but he only benefited from the subject matter..."

In a WeChat group chat for entrepreneurs, an uncle from Bilibili was talking at length. While subtly taking a jab at his "ally" Kuaishou, he also shared his views on the current explosive popularity of the TV series "Lurking".

An executive from another platform nodded: "Indeed, this topic is still a bit too sensitive. It would be fine if it weren't popular, but since it's so popular, there's no way to restrict it too much."

"That's right, once this wave of hype dies down..."

More people got involved.

But soon an executive suddenly spoke up: "Didn't you receive the notification?"

"what?"

"Notification? What notification?"

Everyone was stunned.

Executive: "The copyright for 'Lurking' has been revoked, and we're cracking down on all kinds of derivative videos..."

Everyone: "..."

?

Uncle's expression changed as well: "What? The copyright has been taken back? The production company would take this back on their own initiative?"

No one paid him any attention, and everyone fell silent.

They don't really care about the copyright of a show, no matter how much traffic it gets... Okay, right now "Lurking" does have a lot of traffic, but... the main problem is that the production team of "Lurking" has started to crack down on fan creations, so their platform will not only lose this huge amount of traffic, but also because the higher-ups have just given them "directives".

If we still can't find any videos about "Lurking" on the platform, then...

Don't try to explain that "Lurking" took back the copyright itself. It's also a fact that they collectively blocked Chi Ye and "Lurking" before. Moreover, the higher-ups never care what your reasons are. They give you a quota, and if you fail to do it, that's your own problem.

In other words, the many bigwigs who were just having a good time and "giving pointers" are now suddenly in a bind.

"How dare he? Taking back the derivative works copyrights from one or two platforms is understandable, but so many? Isn't he afraid of affecting the performance of 'Lurking'?"

After a long silence, one of them frowned and said, "I think Chi Ye has really lost his mind. He's willing to give up even the benefits he's already got in his hands for the sake of a petty squabble?"

Fan-made videos of popular TV dramas are one of the most mainstream ways of dissemination and promotion since the rise of the Internet era, and a resource that many production companies would love to have as many as possible.

Even within and outside the industry, there's a common practice of using the number of fan-made videos and popularity data for a work as one of the indicators to judge whether it's a hit or not.

Thus, leveraging this rapid and efficient information dissemination, creative writing has always been a "culture" that has garnered much attention and popularity.

Of course, some dramas have voluntarily reclaimed their derivative works copyrights, but as they said, it was to undermine a particular competitor. For example, Kiwi's drama reclaimed its derivative works copyrights on Bilibili because of its relationship with Tencent, the competitor behind Bilibili.

However, they will not do something like this where all streaming platforms collectively withdraw their data.

Doing this will definitely affect the dissemination of the work. In their view, this is a strategy of Ikeno that hurts the enemy a thousand while losing fifteen thousand of his own, which is completely insane.

Is this a case of someone who wasn't content with just causing a ruckus in the domestic entertainment industry, and after starting their own business, now wants to cause a ruckus in the capital market as well?
"The drama 'Lurking' is a bit special."

Just then, a well-informed insider typed: "I heard that CCTV-1 has already bought the rights to run this show for a second time, and compared to online, 'Lurking' is clearly a work with a much larger offline presence."

"Several of my friends are also watching 'Lurking,' but they don't go online often. They watch it on TV every day, and they watch it with their families..."

The biggest difference between "Lurking" and Ikeno's previous representative works "My Love from the Star" and "Goblin" is that "Lurking" is a "family-friendly" work. The different target audience determines that the release of "Lurking" and the impact it has on the industry are destined to be strong.

After all, since the end of the era of traditional television stations, no TV series has ever achieved the level of being watched by "the whole nation".

When did it happen that the whole family watched a TV series together? It must have been at least twenty years ago.

In comparison, online popularity is certainly important, but for "Lurking," it is definitely not as important as other works on the market.

With this work, Ikeno truly achieved a level of fame where everyone from ninety-nine-year-olds to toddlers had heard of his name.

Given such influence and Ikeno's personality, it's unlikely that simply "lifting the ban" would be enough; it wouldn't be surprising if he reclaimed the copyright for derivative works. Reclaiming the copyright doesn't mean he won't use it himself. Ikeno actually owns a platform, but perhaps due to his overwhelming personal fame and past controversies, people subconsciously overlook it.

……

Congratulations, Bingbing!

"What are the ratings for 'Lurking' today? Has it broken any new records?"

"You're the one who's been hurt. When you 'descended' to act in a TV series, I thought you... Sigh, now that I see this kind of show in this environment, it's truly a rare find."

Ling Bingbing's recent life can be described as "rejuvenated".

As for why it's called a second spring instead of a first spring, it's because Bingbing was already famous back when Chi Ye was still unknown and Sheng Ning was still a nobody.

However, Ling Bingbing has always been a film actress. In the early years, the competition among the four leading actresses was so fierce that she rose to the top by relying on her hard work and dedication.

However, as time entered the internet age, Ling Bingbing grew older, and the aftereffects of working too hard in her early years began to appear. Her health was not good, so in those years she could only barely maintain her work and spent most of her time resting and recuperating.

Over time, the status of Zhang, who was working with Ling Bingbing, and several other actresses rose higher and higher. Although Ling Bingbing had long had the idea of ​​moving behind the scenes and her investment projects were considered successful, she had also worked her way up to become a big shot in the Beijing entertainment circle.

In the entertainment industry, not being famous is a sin, but even if you are famous, it depends on who you are compared to.

The Beijing film circle has long lost its "past glory," which is reflected in the fact that they were completely outmatched by Chi Ye alone. Feng Kuzi, once the top director of commercial films in China, almost knelt down to Chi Ye at the peak of his career.

Ling Bingbing made her comeback and chose to collaborate with Chi Ye.

She was met with disdain and resistance from a group of old-timers in Beijing's elite circles, including her former friends, sisters, classmates, and even business partners. They didn't understand her behavior and actions because her collaboration with Chi Ye was not on a movie, but on a TV series.

Isn't this lowering one's own standards?
Never doubt the older generation's obsession with "big shots".

In their eyes, TV dramas might not even be considered part of the film and television industry. The so-called film and television industry refers only to the film industry, which is considered noble, high-minded, and artistic. As for TV dramas? They're just electronic waste, something for others to fantasize about.

Ling Bingbing's choice led to her gradually fading out of the Beijing entertainment circle, a situation that continued until recently. Due to Chi Ye's precarious situation, her "gamble" on collaborating with Chi Ye has become a laughing stock.

But just a few days later, less than ten days after "Lurking" was released, everything changed.

The notion that TV dramas are not respectable and only movies qualify as part of the film and television industry has to give way in the face of nationwide viewership.

Whether it's art or not, movies or not, TV series certainly don't have the same star power as movies, but it also depends on how popular you are. Not to mention "Lurking" recently, "My Love from the Star" is a perfect example.

This thing can really make someone famous! Especially with a series like "Lurking," Ling Bingbing's acting career, which had been "dim" for almost ten years, was completely transformed by this one TV series. In just ten days, she experienced an epic comeback.

What's even more incomprehensible and shocking is that this was clearly a disastrous start. The male lead of "Lurking," Chi Ye, has already been reduced to this state, and despite the massive soft crackdown by major internet companies, the result is…

In the end, it turned out that Ikeno had reversed the situation and taken back the copyright to derivative works. The traffic restrictions were gone, the soft ban was gone, and even the copyright was gone...

For many people in the entertainment industry who have always viewed capital with a cloud of admiration and a sense of superiority, this is perhaps the most astonishing thing.

"Hey Bingbing, do you have any news?"

A friend casually asked me, "You're the only one here with 'insider information' right now."

Ling Bingbing looked at her: "What news?"

"It's about the copyright issue. Is Ikeno really not planning to release it? If it were released, wouldn't your show be even more popular? What a pity."

“Hey, why do you care about this?” Another person laughed when they heard this. “The problem now is not copyright, it’s Chi Ye and those platforms fighting… To be honest, in all my years in this industry, this is the first time I’ve seen someone who can fight with several platforms, even Tencent, for so long and still be alive and kicking.”

"Putting aside everything else, I'm genuinely a little afraid of Ikeno. He's really daring."

"Are you scared now? I think I heard you say bad things about them before."

"Hey, don't talk nonsense. That's just rumors spread by others. I have no grudge against them, so why would I say anything bad about them?"

The man was getting a little anxious.

Ling Bingbing listened to their conversation without showing any emotion: "Actually, I'm not very familiar with him. We just worked together once. I don't know much about what you're talking about."

"No, are you still trying to fool us? This whole thing started because..."

In the crowd, someone spoke rather recklessly. Ling Bingbing's face darkened, and when she looked over, she found that it was indeed an acquaintance.

Director Lu smacked his lips as he walked over, his tone ambiguous: "There's no point in worrying about these things. No matter how much they can keep jumping around, once this momentum passes, things will go back to normal."

"That's not necessarily true."

Feng Kuzi chimed in, "I heard that someone has given directions; Chi Ye's situation is going to be tough this time."

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this. Director Lu frowned and asked, "Who told you that?"

Kuzi remained silent, only shaking his head with a sigh.

……

To say it reached the heavens directly would be an understatement, but "Lurking" did indeed, due to its unique subject matter and phenomenal popularity, allow Chi Ye to instantly achieve a major reversal from his previous "soft ban" situation.

His exposure seems to have been building up, reaching its peak in the last few days.

Since its release, "Lurking" has been a hot topic of discussion in Taiwan. Currently, "Lurking" has reached the No.1 rating in Taiwan, and its popularity is no less than that of "My Love from the Star".

Just a few days ago, Chi Ye's former boss finally got the chance and took the initiative to make a call to the person who had heard Chi Ye sing before to express his condolences.

That's why that indicator came about, and why all those high-ranking "big shots" quickly collapsed and admitted defeat, like harvesting wheat.

Even if they backed down, they never expected that Ikeno could be so ruthless as to turn around and sabotage them.

(End of this chapter)