Unboxing, Director!

Chapter 131 The Great Harvest

8 month 16 day.

The ratings for the finale of "Full House" are out.

Among the four channels, Shanghai TV actually achieved the highest viewership, with its national viewership peaking at 17%, and its share of the total viewership across all four channels completely surpassing that of "The Grand Mansion Gate".

However, based on the average viewership of the entire series, it still cannot compare to "The Grand Mansion Gate".

Lu Jiang thought the result was good, and "Full House" could now be safely launched.

According to the viewership betting clause in the contract.

Ultimately, the price per episode for the first run of "Full House" rose from the initial base price of 160 million to 220 million.

The revenue-sharing time for in-group ads has increased from 1 minute to 2 minutes, and the revenue sharing ratio has also increased to 65%.

The first round of revenue from the series reached 5280 million.

Revenue from in-group advertising reached 2300 million, and revenue from product placement reached 2140 million.

However, the profits have to be shared with the investors, with Dawn Pictures taking half.

The total of around 1600 million from pre-roll ads is entirely within the scope of the production company's revenue.

Ultimately, Dawn Films will receive nearly 6500 million yuan from the first round of revenue generated by "Full House" in mainland China!
The profit after tax is probably about five times.

However, it had the high profits of "Meteor Garden".

All Lu Jiang can say now is: It's alright.

The profits are substantial, and the reputation seems to be quite good so far.

Because of his narrow defeat in "The Grand Mansion Gate", he didn't "stand out" as much.

Furthermore, Southeast Asia is also very popular.

The meaning is very positive.

Of course, some people say that this is a Korean IP, not authentic enough, and that it's helping others export it.

However, Xiamen's cultural and tourism sector directly presented the data.

Tourism data surged this month, with overseas tourists doubling in number. Singapore and Malaysia had the most visitors, and there were even quite a few from South Korea!
Meanwhile, the food and clothing featured in the film also generated considerable economic benefits.

As a result, the media outlets became more friendly.

This also takes advantage of the current trend in China where people urgently need foreign recognition.

This also serves as a reminder to Lu Jiang that he must emphasize "originality" in the future, and his achievements must be even better, otherwise this will truly become a black mark on his past.

They said they would look back at the results.

Some media outlets have stated that "Full House" actually suffered from being broadcast simultaneously on four channels.

If it were to air on a single satellite TV channel, it would likely surpass the average viewership of "The Grand Mansion Gate" without much difficulty, and at its peak, it could replicate the phenomenal success of "Meteor Garden."

Some people say that "Full House" suffered because it had too few episodes; 24 episodes were too few, and if it had 10 more episodes, the results would have been very different.

Some argue that a four-channel broadcast is far more effective than a single-channel broadcast, since there are three fewer competitors airing at the same time. Therefore, the outcome of a single-channel broadcast is uncertain.

There are various debates within the industry, but there is a consensus on the show's immense popularity.

While "Full House" may not be as popular as "Princess Pearl" or "Meteor Garden," it was definitely a hit drama of the year.

Whether it can become a phenomenal hit remains to be seen.

Because if we're really talking about "popularity," we can't just rely on the data from the first broadcast.

Why are TV series like "Princess Pearl" and "Journey to the West" so popular with the public?

More often, it's the second and third runs after the initial broadcast, and the frequency of broadcasts on local TV stations afterward.

It can be said that if a local TV station keeps airing a certain show, it basically means that the show is really popular.

For artists, however...

The viewership ratings of the premiere will determine the upper limit of the market value and status growth brought about by this exposure.

The real foundation lies in the exposure after the second and third rounds.

To have a strong financial foundation, you must penetrate the market deeply, broadly, and persistently.

Therefore, in the second and third rounds of negotiations after the finale.

Dawn Films didn't insist too much on the price.

But no matter how much Lu Jiang offers discounts, the series is currently very popular, and it's difficult for the price to come down.

The final transaction price for the second and third rounds was quickly finalized.

The second round of episodes will have 5 views per episode, covering a total of 9 satellite channels.

Three rounds of 2, covering more than 30 channels.

Compared to the initial starting price of 160 million per episode, this drop seems like night and day.

However, it's important to know that the second round wasn't a joint purchase, but rather a single purchase. This means that for each of the nine channels in the second round, each channel would have to pay 50,000 per episode.

The same method applies to selling tricycles.

It won't be until after the third round of bidding that the price of the series drops below 1 yuan, at which point it will be within the range that local TV stations can afford.

The broadcast schedule for "Full House" has been finalized, and the next step is the variety show schedule for the main actors.

After the series became a hit, the lead actors also wanted to capitalize on the popularity by appearing on variety shows to reap the benefits. So, in the following days, Lu Jiang took the lead actors on several variety shows, giving them a lot of exposure.

However, Lu Jiang remains relatively conservative in securing advertising endorsements, as he still needs to wait for viewership feedback from various overseas regions.

"Full House" aired two episodes a day in mainland China, finishing in two weeks.

However, in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, it is often broadcast weekly.

Based on the timeline, Macau will be the first to conclude its series, followed by mainland China, with Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and other places following two weeks later.

In the following months, the grand finale will gradually unfold in various regions.

However, this does not affect the fame gained.

Firstly, the show already had high ratings during its broadcast, with good news coming from the Philippines, Thailand and other places. It is said that "Meteor Garden" has already broken records in the Philippines.

Secondly, Lu Jiang and Fan Binbin are also singers, and their songs are currently selling like hotcakes in various regions.

So after Lu Jiang secured a spot on variety shows in mainland China, he started a round-the-world trip with Fan Binbin and others.

Several observers from various brands were also present.

Fan Binbin took the initiative to invite them, and her purpose was simple: to let them see her popularity firsthand.

Besides the brand representatives, Zhou Jianhui also joined them during their first stop in Bangkok.

After the Southeast Asian tour of "Meteor Garden," Lu Jiang opened up the market in Southeast Asia, and Warner Music also benefited.

So although Zhou Jianhui is still the president of the "Greater China Region", he may soon become the president of the "Asia Region".

Of course, these were secondary to him; the main thing was to personally talk to Lu Jiang about something.

That's about "You Are Beautiful".

"Lu Jiang, the release of this song may have to be postponed."

Zhou Jianhui said somewhat embarrassedly.

"What's wrong?" Lu Jiang asked curiously.

"Many singers will be releasing songs in September, but after careful consideration, they decided to postpone it to October or later."

"Oh, resources are scarce, so we have to sacrifice little Karami, right?"

“Lu Jiang, don’t blame me. I’m only in charge of the Greater China region. I don’t have much influence with the Americans.”

As he spoke, Zhou Jianhui quickly added, "However, as compensation, I've secured some good resources in Europe and Japan, which will benefit your new album and your English songs."

In any other year, Lu Jiang would probably have been quite angry.

But this year is different.

This year has 9/11!

So Lu Jiang pretended to be unconvinced and talked nonsense for a while before finally reluctantly agreeing.

Zhou Jianhui finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The entire record industry is currently in a slump.

There are fewer and fewer records on the market that can make money.

As for Lu Jiang, not only did his record business continue to be profitable, but he was also able to expand his market further through television dramas.

Take Japan for example, the early sales of "Meteor Shower" in Japan exceeded 40.

"Our Song" has been released in Japan for a week, and sales have exceeded 5 copies in a single week.

After "Full House" airs in Japan, album sales will likely increase even further.

This is already the best result achieved by a Chinese-language singer in Japan in the past decade.

Apart from him, there really isn't any other Chinese-language singer who can do that right now.

Furthermore, the profit margin per customer in the Japanese market is extremely high.

As a result, Lu Jiang's influence in Warner China is growing.

Therefore, Zhou Jianhui has become somewhat cautious when speaking to Lu Jiang.

She was afraid that her abilities were not good enough for Lu Jiang, and if she messed up something, their relationship would be in real trouble.

Fortunately, Lu Jiang is still quite open-minded, so there's still a chance. I need to work hard from now on.
Next, Lu Jiang, Fan Binbin, and others spent a week quickly navigating through Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Unlike the last time F4 came, this time it was different.

This time, Lu Jiang is still the main character, but more attention is being paid to Fan Binbin.

The drama "Full House" is currently a huge hit in the Three Kingdoms region.

The theme song from the show also became a huge hit.

Fan Binbin thus enjoys the double advantage of being both a leading actress and a singer.

In addition, she herself is extremely beautiful.

Wherever they went, the male fans' enthusiasm was no less than that of F4 back then.

"Bingbing!"

"so beautiful!"

"what!!!"

The female fans screamed.

Male fans had all sorts of wild fantasies.

The reporters' flashes went off.

The beauty of the Asian continental flower is no joke.

Especially when she's dressed up, her peak beauty is incredibly captivating.

The next day, entertainment newspapers in various regions sold out.

This is a typical result brought about by high popularity.

It's also an effect that comes from good looks.

Don't worry about who bought these newspapers or what those people do with the photos after they're sold to.

In short, sales figures speak for themselves.

So when the Asian flower first "tourized" Southeast Asia in its full glory.

She was immediately dubbed the "Goddess of Chinese Culture" by people from all over the world.

Wait until this title gets back to China.

Although many female celebrities were resentful.

But what can you do if you're not convinced?
They were not only lucky, they also ran into Lu Jiang.

Their own strength is indeed formidable.

Anyone who isn't blind will not deny the power of that face.

With perfect timing, favorable location, and harmonious relationships, Fan Binbin has achieved the combination of good looks, excellent work, and high popularity. Moreover, he is not only popular in mainland China, but also well-known throughout Asia.

This is a truly solid achievement.

Therefore, she is the goddess of Chinese pop culture!

And top mainland stars, well-known Asian stars, and goddesses of the Chinese Wave.

These three labels are valued differently by advertisers.

There can be many A-list actresses.

There are many well-known ones in Asia as well.

But there can only be one goddess of Chinese pop culture right now!
Therefore,
Transfer the money now!

After a week-long trip to Southeast Asia.

Lu Jiang's album "Our Song" also saw a huge boost in sales.

As of August 29th.

Two weeks after its release, "Our Song" sold 17 copies in mainland China and a total of 34 copies in other regions.

It's quite disappointing compared to data from before 2000.

But this year, that's a huge lead!

Moreover, the total sales of the "Full House" OST album in Asia have exceeded 20.

This achievement can be attributed to Fan Binbin, as she contributed two solo performances in the film.

Therefore, Fan Binbin's resume can now proudly include the word "singer".

In addition to the song, "Full House" also achieved great success in Southeast Asia and other regions.

In Thailand, it achieved a peak viewership rating of 54%.

In the Philippines, it achieved a viewership rating of 57.3%.

This has already surpassed the original record.

The magazine is almost guaranteed to be in the top three for the year in Malaysia, Singapore, and other regions.

Whether they can take first place depends on whether an even better drama will emerge in the second half of the year.

The huge success of "Full House" in various regions has also attracted the attention of film and television companies from many countries.

Immediately, countries outside of East Asia have extended invitations to import the series.

Among them, India, a major South Asian country, appears to be the most sincere.

Upon learning the news, everyone at Dawn Films except Lu Jiang was somewhat excited.

On the one hand, they are happy about the business expanding once again.

On the other hand, India's current economic strength is not much worse than China's.

Many people still have a biased view of India.

Therefore, everyone attaches great importance to this collaboration.

But Lu Jiang found it rather offensive at the time.

Then he gave the direct instruction: No matter how much money is negotiated, sign the contract only after the money is in your account.

In addition to the expansion of import business, there are also signs of remakes.

The Thai side was the first to call and inquire.

It was a fairly reputable Chinese film and television company that wanted to buy the remake rights to "Meteor Garden" and "Full House".

Lu Jiang had already acquired the remake rights, so he can now set his own price as he sees fit, unless the other party is willing to wait for ten years or so.

The specific negotiations were left to Li Chao, while Lu Jiang turned his attention to Japan.

Full House is about to premiere in Japan; it's a 16-episode version, airing two episodes a week.

When the original series aired in Japan, it was also supported by KNTV.

KNTV is a television station specifically designed for the Korean Wave audience.

It broadcasts Korean dramas, variety shows, K-POP music programs, and news 24 hours a day.

It was one of the earliest channels in Japan to systematically import Korean Wave programs, even before the Korean Wave boom of the 2010s.

Despite these advantages, "Full House" still failed to achieve a "hot" rating of over 10%.

Lu Jiang didn't have high expectations this time, only hoping that the broadcast of the TV series would boost the sales of his new album and OST in Japan.

However, when the drama actually premiered in Japan, the situation was better than expected.

The next day, Lu Jiang received a message from Fuji Television that "Full House" had achieved a 17.6% viewership rating on its premiere in Japan, immediately becoming a "hot" show.

Clearly, Lu Jiang's popularity played a significant role in this.

Of course, this result cannot compare with the average 20% viewership rating of "Meteor Garden" on "private broadcasting," which is the ratings of commercial television stations.

But this is only the first episode, and we can still expect it to surpass that in the future.

Along with the high viewership ratings, Lu Jiang's new album, as well as the OST album and CD of "Full House", also began to sell well.

In the following week, sales of "Our Song" and "Full House OST" surged into the top 30 of the Oricon charts in Japan.

Among them, "Our Song" has been released for three weeks, so its sales look quite impressive, reaching 36 copies in three weeks, of which 26 copies were sold in the most recent week.

The OST for "Full House" also garnered around 25 views per week.

Lu Jiang's entry into the Oricon charts in Japan has also drawn attention from various Chinese-language singers.

Everyone looked at Lu Jiang, then at Xie Tingfeng.

Then cast a sympathetic glance at the latter.

Xie Tingfeng has been making a big show of expanding into the Japanese market this year.

As a result, there's been no movement at all.

And it was compared to something else all of a time.

Speechless looks flashed in everyone's eyes.

Why did you have to choose such a bad time, clashing with Lu Jiang? Is there something wrong with your brain, or is your team crazy?

Xie Tingfeng was secretly rejoicing at this moment.

He had originally planned to visit Japan.

Thankfully I didn't go, otherwise I would have had to fake illness and escape like I did in Bangkok last time.
Lu Jiang's new album sold 36 copies in Japan, bringing the total sales of "Our Song" across Asia to 90 over three weeks.

He earned 90 in less than a month.

Upon seeing this achievement, countless industry insiders felt as if they had returned to the glorious era of physical records in the 90s.

As I always say, sales figures speak for themselves.

High sales have further solidified Lu Jiang's position as the number one figure in the Chinese music scene.

Many media outlets have directly asserted that Lu Jiang is currently Asia's number one male singer and also Asia's top idol star.

But Lu Jiang no longer cares about this result.

Because many things are afraid of comparison.

Let's focus on the "Asia" level.

Lu Jiang's sales figures are really not impressive.

It's worth noting that in March of this year, Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki had an epic battle, known as the Hikaru-Ayumi Battle or the 328 Battle.

I won't go into the details of the battle; let's just look at the result.

In its first week alone, Utada Hikaru's "Distance" sold 300 million copies in Japan!

So when it comes to sales volume in Asia, Lujiang is still far behind.

However, Lu Jiang was still confident.

The Asian market is only so big, and piracy is rampant in the Chinese music market, making it very difficult to become the true number one seller in Asia in the future.

But the situation is different when you look at Europe and America.

I hope the day will come soon when I'm blown away by a top Japanese singer's breath and exclaim, "Lu Jiang is amazing!"

A few days later, the ratings for the second week of "Full House" came out, and the results were good, with a slight increase to 18.8%.

High viewership means high popularity, and Lu Jiang and Fan Binbin also took the opportunity to visit Japan, gaining a lot of attention.

Riding on this wave of popularity, "Our Song" achieved total sales of over 120 million copies across Asia.

With monthly sales of 1.2 million, it far surpasses all other Chinese singers, while singers like Xie Tingfeng have completely disappeared from the scene. Compared to monthly sales of 200,000, it is really nothing to brag about.

Mainland media outlets were jubilant.

However, Taiwanese media presented a different story.

They felt that the efficiency was somewhat inflated, relying too much on the popularity of the TV series and having too much of a film and television bonus.

So, has the definition of a king of Mandopop returned to pure music?

Lu Jiang didn't bother with them. He simply had someone compile the contradictory statements from these media outlets and post them online so that all netizens could see through their true colors.

Looking back at the endorsement winners, Fan Binbin is undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary.

By this time, mainland media already knew about the situation of "Full House" in Japan, but the data from the first week did not tell much.

Now that the second week's ratings are out, mainland media outlets can finally report with peace of mind.

Various media outlets are frantically reprinting related news from Japan.

Similar to Southeast Asia, many of these focus on Fan Binbin himself.

High颜值 (good looks) is irresistible.

The prestige of the "Chinese Wave Goddess" has been further solidified thanks to reports from Japanese media.

Following this came a series of good news regarding endorsements.

Fan Binbin's market value finally surged one last time before the broadcast of "Romance in the Rain".

Subsequently, various endorsement deals were quickly finalized.

The total number must be over 30, and the total amount exceeds 4000 million, leaving Dong Xuan speechless.

But Lu Jiangxin thought to himself, "This is nothing! At his peak, Fan Binbin had over 150 endorsements, making him the absolute number one in the Chinese entertainment industry!"

So she still has a long way to go.

Among these endorsements, the collaboration with Chanel is particularly significant.

Currently, international luxury brands such as Prada, Chanel, and LV have not focused their efforts on the mainland.

But mainland Chinese women are very familiar with these big brands.

This is why these big names hold a very high status in the eyes of mainland artists.

The benefits of collaborating with these brands are obvious, and often it can even signify an artist's status.

Currently, only Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, and other top international luxury brands have collaborated with them.

Moreover, the content of the collaboration is relatively simple.

It's probably limited to invitations to fashion shows and magazine photoshoots.

This is the most basic level of contact.

There are no such things as "brand ambassadors," "Asian brand ambassadors," or "global brand ambassadors." These titles will only appear after the Chinese market has grown in a few years.

Fan Binbin is in a similar situation now. He has successfully reached an initial cooperation with Chanel, but it is only a simple magazine shoot where he wears the brand's products.

Even so, to some extent, Fan Binbin has become the third person in mainland China after Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi to achieve this.

After accepting the collaboration with Chanel, Fan Binbin also stopped looking favorably upon the previously mentioned "Fashion" magazine.

Now all she can think about is securing formal collaborations, such as becoming a brand ambassador, to solidify her position as a top-tier brand in mainland China.

What she lacks is an international exposure stage, such as the red carpet of an international film festival, to let people see her true potential in this area.

Just in time, filming for "The Lobster" is about to wrap up.
(End of this chapter)