Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 185 Douyin's Big Move

Following the press conference for the new film "Qin King's Battle Song," pre-production work has officially begun.

As per Chen Xiu's request, the TV series should be filmed primarily on location, and the filming locations should ideally be based on historical records.

For example, the theme of the first unit is: Li Shimin's pursuit of Song Jingang's troops for three hundred miles through Queshu Valley, with eight battles fought and all eight victories. The best filming location would be Queshu Valley.

According to the "Commentary on the Waterways Classic", Queshu Valley is located in the southwest of Jiexiu County, with dangerous and narrow roads stretching for dozens of miles.

Converted to the current location, it is the mountain road from Lingshi County, Jinyang Province, northward through Liangdu and Yitang, all the way to Jiexiu.

The film crew's location scouting team has already set off for Sparrow Valley for on-site scouting.

If a suitable location can be found on-site, that would be ideal. If it is not suitable, then another location must be chosen based on the actual situation.

For other scenes, such as the Tang Dynasty palace and Luoyang city wall that are necessary, there are readily available locations in the film studio.

In addition to the location scouting team, the props team also started researching and forging armor, and chose to cooperate with a horse farm.

Producer Wei Feng needed to communicate with various official agencies to secure favorable conditions for filming, as well as to find enough special actors in Inner Mongolia who could ride horses.

Chen Xiufang scheduled the auditions for the other supporting roles for September, specifically setting aside a month to allow them to familiarize themselves with the characters and practice their riding skills.

All these specific tasks were handed over.

Chen Xiu herself arrived at Yingdu Building before the premiere of "Love O2O" to attend Douyin's mid-year meeting.

……

"...The bullet screen function of Douyin Live has started internal testing and is expected to be added in the next software update."

Listening to Su Xiao's explanation, Chen Xiu silently calculated the update time of Douyin and the broadcast time of "Love O2O" in her mind.

According to the timeline of the previous life, the bullet screen function of Douyin Live appeared in 22.

The reason it appeared so early was because Chen Xiu brought it up at a meeting at the beginning of this year and asked the product development department to add it.

After six months of trials, the product development department delivered a fairly satisfactory result.

After recounting the changes Douyin has undergone in the past six months, Su Xiao also shared her new development goals and challenges.

"The company's next development direction is to launch an overseas version of Douyin, and try to resolve the plagiarism controversy of Musical.ly through acquisition, while also solving the user problems in the early stages of the overseas version."

"However, the company's funds are no longer sufficient to complete these two steps, especially the acquisition of Musical.ly, which will likely require up to $10 billion."

I have no money, but I want to get things done.

Either the shareholders need to invest more, or they need to accept external financing.

Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming across from her exchanged a glance, their expressions both carrying a meaningful meaning.

Although Chen Xiu is quite wealthy, the amount of funds he can mobilize is only a little over 10 billion yuan, which includes the profits from the A-share market last year and the dividends from Tencent.

This money is far from enough for Douyin's development, and Chen Xiu herself doesn't want to put all her money in one basket.

ByteDance has been doing quite well in the past two years, but Chen Xiu owns 49% of Douyin's shares. It is obviously unrealistic to expect Zhang Yiming to use the money raised by ByteDance to inject funds into Douyin as he did in his previous life.

Since shareholder investment is not feasible, the only option is to accept external financing.

Thinking of this, Chen Xiu asked, "If we open up Series A funding, can we raise 10 billion US dollars?"

"impossible."

Zhang Yiming spoke first, and this urgent reaction piqued Chen Xiu's interest.

Realizing he had revealed his thoughts, Zhang Yiming said with a embarrassed look, "I have done a valuation assessment of Douyin, and at most, it can only raise 2 million US dollars in the Series A round."

"Sister Xiaoxiao, is that so?"

"Well, Douyin's current valuation is around 20 billion US dollars. It's unlikely that they can raise 10 billion US dollars in their Series A round."

"Then let's wait until the next round to talk about it."

Chen Xiu tapped the table lightly, saying that he had already sorted out his thoughts.

Zhang Yiming asked before Su Xiao could, "What about this round of financing?"

“Let’s invest together, according to the standard of 2 million US dollars, each accounting for 50%.”

Chen Xiu said with bright eyes, "1 million US dollars is about one-third of the funds I can mobilize."

This number is still manageable.

"We're casting our own ballots again?"

"Yes! Your reaction just now was probably because you didn't want others to get involved so early, right?"

Zhang Yiming gave Chen Xiu a strange look, but did not deny it: "This 2 million US dollars is not enough to acquire Musical.ly!"

"No, this is trading time for space."

Su Xiao saw right through her words; with a quick glance, she had already guessed half of Chen Xiu's thoughts.

"What does this mean?" Zhang Yiming looked back and forth between Chen Xiu and Su Xiao, puzzled as to what kind of code they were using.

Chen Xiu glanced at Su Xiao with approval, then raised her chin slightly, signaling her to explain.

Withdrawing her gaze from Chen Xiu, Su Xiao smiled and said, "Launching an overseas version of Douyin is expected to be the main task at the end of this year. As for acquiring Musical.ly, it won't be until the second quarter of next year at the earliest."

"There will be a one-year time lag in this process. If we can multiply Douyin's user base within that year, the next Series B funding round will be even larger. Mr. Chen, is that what you mean?"

"Cough cough."

Chen Xiu coughed lightly twice, and when she looked at Su Xiao again, she found a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Correcting her expression, Chen Xiu turned to look at Zhang Yiming and said, "That's roughly the idea. In a few days, the drama we advertised for last year will be broadcast."

"The effect of promoting the TV series will be far greater than that of last year's Weibo live stream. If its popularity can meet expectations, Douyin's user base will definitely see a significant increase."

"I suggest that when the TV series is halfway through its run, we could invite the lead actors to the Douyin official live stream room to participate in a live variety show Q&A session. We could ask He Jiong to be the host."

Chen Xiu then presented a long and clear explanation of what he had said.

Zhang Yiming asked in a daze, "Is it the TV series you starred in? I think you spent 500 million on advertising and promotion last year?"

"You might say it's my starring role, and our Douyin icon and functions appear in close-up at least 10 times throughout the series. This promotional expense is definitely worth it."

"real or fake."

Zhang Yiming said suspiciously, "A mere 500 million yuan in advertising fees is just a drop in the ocean in the internet industry."

The reason they were willing to invest in advertising was because Chen Xiu asked for it, and the amount of money was indeed not much.

In other words, Zhang Yiming didn't have much hope for this advertising fee, and he really couldn't imagine how much value Chen Xiu's so-called "good value for money" would actually be.

Chen Xiu glanced at him and said, "Really? You'll find out in a few days."

"Tsk, it's not that I don't believe in your popularity, but it's really the first time that a TV series has been used to promote software. At most, Ma Yun promoted Double Eleven through movies."

"There's a first time for everything; the key is the result."

Chen Xiu presented her proposed solution.

"If there are no objections to the live variety show, then I will find the people. Lao Zhang, you can arrange the venue. It doesn't need to be too formal. Just clear out an office in the company for temporary use. Also, have Xiao Yu and the others keep an eye on things and monitor the backend data at any time."

It was another perfectly planned scheme, as if Chen Xiu had thought of it all in advance.

Zhang Yiming frowned and said, "I don't know much about live-streamed variety shows. If you think it's okay, then let's do it this way."

"OK, let's wait for the TV series to air and see how it goes. The live stream is to take advantage of the TV series' popularity to further enhance the promotional effect, let more people know about Douyin, and officially launch the bullet screen function."

Chen Xiu went to act, although it was to complete the tasks given by the system, he was not foolish enough to simply see himself as a star.

The economic value and publicity effect of any hit TV series are immeasurable.

Modern urban romance dramas like "Love O2O" attract young viewers, who are also the target customer group for Douyin.

With such a perfect match between the two parties, and Chen Xiu knowing in advance that "Love O2O" would definitely be a huge hit after its broadcast, it was only natural for her to take advantage of this momentum to help Douyin.

In the future, Douyin will become very popular, and self-media bloggers will use short videos to advertise products.

Now Chen Xiu is using her own starring drama to advertise Douyin, which is exactly the same method.

Zhang Yiming has only a superficial understanding of the entertainment industry, but judging from the effect of Chen Xiu's live broadcast on Weibo last year, he still has high expectations for this Douyin live broadcast variety show.

"Show, when the live variety show is scheduled, please let me know in advance. I'd like to come and see it live."

"I'll definitely call you when the time comes."

Chen Xiu nodded to Zhang Yiming, then smoothly moved on to the next topic.

“By the time we raise Series B funding next year, it will be about time to set up an employee stock option pool. I suggest that we set aside 10% of the original shares as stock option rewards for core long-term employees.”

When Chen Xiu left Didi, she promised Lao Hou and Lao Zhang a future, and now it's time to fulfill that promise.

Chen Xiu glanced at Su Xiao, thinking that as the CEO, she would also receive her share from the option pool.

Setting up an option pool is a common method for startups to retain talent, and Zhang Yiming naturally had no objection to it.

"OK, I agree."

Is ByteDance planning to launch its Series D funding round this year?

"We do have that plan."

“I will continue to invest. Including the shares from the previous two rounds, I now have 4%. This time, I will make it 5% and I want to join ByteDance’s board of directors.”

Chen Xiu said to Zhang Yiming that he believed the other party had seen the future of Douyin, and strengthening their cooperation had become something that the two of them had to do.

Zhang Yiming nodded, pleased with the arrangement.

(End of this chapter)