Peninsula: You've been chosen here for producing girl groups.

Chapter 141 A Huge Hit

"Director Han, could you please remove this special episode from Bilibili?"

"Director Park, do you think it's appropriate to delete it?"

Han Shuo gave a forced smile.

How dare they ask him to delete the video right away?

"Oh, Director Han—"

Han Shuo usually acts like a nice guy who's always on good terms with everyone, but unexpectedly, he was given a cold shoulder right away, and all the words that Director Park had prepared were stuck in his throat.

Han Shuo took the initiative to give him a way out.

"This special episode is already circulating everywhere. Even if you delete it, it won't help. On the contrary, it will bring new controversy and make your three TV stations even more passive and the target of public criticism."

A perfectly good program was suddenly cut.

Even the slowest netizens could guess that this was due to pressure from the TV station.

This approach of blocking instead of dredging not only fails to eliminate the existing impact, but also incites strong dissatisfaction among netizens.

Delete it again?

What kind of stupid person would come up with this method?

That makes sense.

Director Park walked down the steps.

In fact, if he were in Han Shuo's shoes, he wouldn't accept the TV station's request either.

Everyone here is in the industry, and we all know that this wave of traffic is enormous. It's the first time Bilibili has seen its self-produced content break into the mainstream since its acquisition spree.

Or cross oceans and break into foreign lands.

Bilibili definitely needs to seize this opportunity.

How could they possibly sacrifice their own interests for the sake of the TV station's position?

If Han Shuo cared about the feelings of the TV station, this episode shouldn't have appeared on Bilibili in the first place; at the very least, he should have proactively deleted it immediately after it attracted attention.

"Actually, there's some misunderstanding in this episode. Our TV station isn't as greedy as depicted in the video."

"I understand, I understand everything."

This time, Han Shuo genuinely laughed: "I will remind them to verify the content of their next production from multiple sources, and not to draw conclusions based solely on conjecture."

"That's right."

Director Park felt that Han Shuo was laughing at him.

But he dared not show any displeasure and had to keep smiling throughout.

Previously, Han Shuo had to beg them to buy copyrights.

Now the artists' union is demanding a pay rise, and the station is facing a huge new expense. Other channels can't generate extra money out of thin air, so Han Shuo's side has become the station's only hope.

He'd better appease Han Shuo, hoping to get some compensation from him.

Their positions are completely reversed.

After exchanging pleasantries with Han Shuo for a while, he took the opportunity to request Bilibili to purchase Korean dramas and variety shows from SBS TV.

"It's not that we won't buy," Han Shuo dodged the question, "it's that we'll buy slowly, buy carefully, and buy step by step."

This is also true.

Bilibili has acquired too much content in a short period of time. Even with free subtitle groups and paid translation services combined, it has not yet been able to translate all the programs on the site.

Only those TV series have completed the translation service.

That won't do.

Bilibili's acquisition of K-pop content is not to send money to the three major local TV stations, but to operate these music shows, variety shows, and dramas.

"The website needs time to digest the content it has already acquired, and we hope Director Park can understand."

"Director Han, we can actually reach a cooperation agreement first. The TV station's dramas and variety shows can be sent to Bilibili first, and Bilibili can contact them for translation. The related payment can be made later."

You can't blame them for being so proactive.

Now, it's not just SBS that's facing demands for higher salaries; two other television stations are doing the same.

KBS, which is still operating at a loss, was the first to make concessions and agree to the demands of the artists' union. It might even have to swallow its pride and ask Han Seok for help.

Bilibili's purchasing quota is limited; if KBS takes a larger share, Bilibili's quota will be smaller.

Shouldn't we take the initiative?

Han Shuo really wanted to laugh.

SBS has the best revenue among the three major broadcasters, but asking them to share a little of their extra profits is like taking their lives.

They've gone to such lengths to pass on the extra costs.

"Since Director Park has said so, I'll give you face. I'll have my people assess the situation and take the drama and variety show contracts first, and pay later."

First SBS, then KBS, and finally MBC.

Three television stations took turns visiting Han Shuo, requesting him to purchase more of their drama and variety show content.

KBS and MBC's financial figures are much worse than SBS's, and their attitudes are much more humble, even agreeing to sell the global rights to their own one-act dramas, including those in South Korea.

Look how anxious these people are.

A one-act play is usually a single episode.

Occasionally, there will be more than two episodes.

Most of them are for testing new themes and giving new screenwriters a chance to try their hand at something; they are not considered a core genre of Korean dramas.

However, even if the core audience for a one-act play is small, every little bit counts.

Historically, the copyright of Korean dramas has belonged to the television stations.

Whether it's broadcast on television or online, the television station has full authority to handle it.

This is the first time a television station has expressed its willingness to relinquish a small portion of its domestic market.

Han Shuo still didn't agree immediately, saying he needed to let his subordinates assess the situation.

Bilibili's target market for quite some time is Asia, so there's no need to waste money on acquiring global copyrights for now.

All you need to do is acquire the copyrights from the three East Asian countries and Southeast Asia.

South Korea is in an uproar, with heated online debates. While television stations outwardly remain resistant, they are secretly plotting to shift the costs onto their own.

The issue also sparked heated discussions in China, which is just across the sea.

Since this wave of popularity originated from Bilibili, the related topics have perfectly achieved a "re-importation" from export to domestic sales, attracting wave after wave of "followers" like Liu Ming.

Many netizens don't necessarily like watching Korean dramas or following the Korean wave.

However, most people who enjoy going online like to follow current events and are keen to express their opinions.

This kind of matter, involving the life-or-death crisis of a country and an industry, successfully aroused the desire of domestic netizens to express their opinions, with each side sticking to their own views and arguing fiercely.

This has sparked a debate among many people about how to improve the export of Chinese dramas.

Even those who dislike Korean dramas cannot deny that Korean dramas have a much stronger soft power in overseas markets than domestic dramas, and the Korean Wave, with Korean dramas as its medium, continues to spread its influence throughout Asia.

This has caused great distress to many netizens in China.

Despite having a large and powerful domestic industry, why is China's output of domestically produced dramas far inferior to that of other countries?

Should we emulate South Korea by increasing the control of television stations, and adopt a market-driven production model of filming and broadcasting simultaneously?

The topics are numerous and varied.

This has led to another small peak in Bilibili's user registrations.

The previous special episode exposing Kpop's management company also garnered considerable attention.

There was also a dramatic incident where it appeared that Han Geng's alternate account had been caught collecting and liking posts, further solidifying the special episode's endorsement from the person involved.

Without fan-driven hype and with an objective and neutral reporting attitude, "Weekly Korean Broadcast" has attracted a group of netizens who don't usually pay much attention to K-pop with its unique approach.

Each episode is insightful and to the point.

This has led many netizens to eagerly anticipate and speculate on the theme of the next special episode.

"The special feature begins by stating that the Korean Wave has three inherent weaknesses, which have already affected K-pop and K-dramas. What will be next?"

at the same time.

The innovative bullet screen interactive function, the gradually increasing variety of Korean dramas and variety shows, and the high-definition, genuine Chinese and Japanese animations have successfully retained a portion of the audience.

Especially anime content.

In the realm of Chinese animation, Bilibili has reached a cooperation agreement with Shanghai Animation Film Studio, acquiring a package of ten animations from the studio, including Calabash Brothers, Shuke and Beta, and The Sloppy King.

They also acquired the exclusive rights to "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Seven Heroes" and its sequels.

In addition, there are 15 Chinese animated series with a focus on martial arts, classical stories, and mythology, including "Q Version Three Kingdoms", "Go Master", "Little Chef Fu Gui", "The Adventures of Little Carp", and "The Legend of Nezha".

Regarding Japanese manga content, the price for exclusive buyouts is too high, and progress has been slow.

However, they still secured the exclusive rights to seven short and concise comedy anime series, including "Gag Days 1-3" and "Rabbit Break 1-2".

In addition, there are the two highly popular new anime series, "Natsume's Book of Friends" and "Toradora!", which are about to be broadcast.

The chances of buying out the remaining serialized shonen manga are slim, and the high operating costs mean they are not currently under consideration.

Instead, they focused their efforts on the four classic IPs: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Inuyasha, and Slam Dunk.

Negotiations.

After a period of contact, the manufacturer agreed to an exclusive purchase, but the two sides have significant differences on price and negotiations may continue for several months.

This is a perfect time to await the arrival of the financial crisis.

These four anime series are expected to become the pillars of the site's classic IPs.

Although Bilibili doesn't have a huge number of anime, its reputation for official and stable content has attracted many anime fans to stay, and it has even siphoned off a significant number of users from its rival AcFun.

This video platform model, which focuses on being small and high-quality, once attracted attention within the industry.

Gu Yongqiang, the founder of Youku, loves to speak in the media, and he mostly criticizes his peers, giving off an air of superiority.

But this time, he surprisingly praised Bilibili: "Bilibili has avoided the fiercely competitive mainstream and focused on niche markets. Perhaps Bilibili will be one of the few websites that survive to the future."

""

Whom do you look down on?

Han Shuo stated that with music as its core business, focusing on its fanbase, and animation as its core business, focusing on the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) community, and by integrating ticketing, anime conventions, merchandise, mobile games, and other businesses, Bilibili has the potential to become the first profitable video website in China.

Of course, the biggest impact of this special episode's popularity is on South Korean entertainment industry unions.

They promptly adjusted their demands, expanding from simply requesting salary increases for individuals to seeking a glimmer of hope for the precarious state of the Korean drama industry.

The previous demands from the artists' union to increase performance fees for entertainers had little relevance to the general public.

Even worse, some people think they are making trouble out of nothing, enjoying public attention while trying to easily earn a large sum of money.

That's different now.

This concerns Korean dramas.

The memory of the past popularity of Korean dramas in China and Japan makes even the poorest residents of Seoul's shantytowns stand tall with pride.

No one wants to see the Korean drama ecosystem collapse.

This event, initiated by entertainers, ultimately gained widespread public support in a bizarre way.

"No wonder people say that only Bae Yong-joon and TV stations have made money from the export of Korean Wave. It turns out that the income of low-level entertainers is only slightly higher than the minimum wage."

"If this really leads to a periodic crisis of actor salaries, who would still be interested in making movies?"

From being completely ignored to receiving nationwide attention, Kim Eung-seok, the president of the Artists' Union, broke down in tears during a media interview.

Whether it was a gesture of reciprocation or a genuine desire to do so, he publicly mentioned in the media that one-act plays could be made available to online video platforms.

The reason for not mentioning support for cable TV is due to policy factors.

We won't mention fully developing online copyrights or allowing TV stations to relinquish overseas copyrights, because that would cut off the lifeline of TV stations.

It also makes no mention of strict agreements and enforcement of industry standards, including production costs and subsequent profit sharing ratios, because this is not within the authority of the artists' union.

As someone working in the industry, I'm simply saying that Huye TV is loosening its grip on the one-act drama market and giving online platforms a chance to revitalize the Korean drama market.

This can be seen as sending a signal to the TV station that they would stop short of making a move.

As one of the few online video platforms in South Korea, and at the center of this incident, Bilibili has once again come into the public eye.

Han Shuo also became a trending topic.

Some people even guessed by chance that he was in charge of the two special episodes.

"At least Han Shuo provided a lot of advice and insights."

Last week's special clearly focused on SM Entertainment, discussing the recent controversies surrounding Super Junior. Without Han Seok's involvement, nobody would believe it.

Upon receiving a comment from Lim Yoon-a, Han Seok stated that it was all slander.

How could someone as magnanimous as him hold onto such a trivial matter from the past?

"You, so generous? Who took away our Ryuhee unnie, Seungyeon, and Moon Ga-young? And they even took hundreds of autographed albums?"

"I've noticed you're a real stickler for details."

Today is May 14th, and tomorrow is Li Sanlang's birthday.

Han Shuo is flying to Beijing tonight and won't have time to attend Lin Yoona's birthday party, so he specifically asked her what cosmetics she usually likes to use, planning to send her a set.

"Not sending gold anymore?"

"We don't have time to make little trinkets with the gold, and we can't just send gold directly, can we? That would be too insincere."

"Heh, you have time to give gifts to Jessica unnie, but not so much time to give gifts to Sunny unnie, right?"

The blatant favoritism made Yoona feel indignant on Sunny's behalf: "Besides, maybe Sunny unnie just likes gold?"

""

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

As the two chatted casually, the car arrived at the filming location of "Iljimae".

He had already informed the media that he would be visiting the set.

However, he underestimated his popularity.

Following this special episode controversy, his popularity among the Korean public has soared, making him even more popular than the giant pandas at Everland.

The open space in front of the antique-style buildings at the filming location was packed with media and fans.

Some media outlets even brought their own ladders to take up high positions and film the scene from above.

After the convoy slowly came to a stop, they surrounded it like zombies besieging a city.

Unable to move.

It took a lot of effort from the nearby police to help them swim through the crowd and stand on the steps at the entrance of the filming location.

Han Shuo wiped his forehead.

He was sweating profusely from the heat.

With the combined efforts of the film crew and the police, order was gradually restored at the scene, and Han Shuo routinely answered many questions from reporters.

"It has nothing to do with me. I learned about the popularity of this special episode from senior actress Son Ye-jin. If you don't believe me, you can call her to confirm."

"I won't comment on the viewpoints expressed in this special issue; let those with a higher perspective handle everything."

"Bilibili will actively produce web dramas in the future to contribute to the Korean drama market. Two short dramas have already been filmed and are expected to be released next week."

"Wow," Han Xiao circled around Han Shuo for a bit, "You're quite the ladies' man, there's even a lipstick mark on your body—"

You can't see it, I'll take a picture for you.

""

韩孝周