Entertainment: Starting from joining Kugou Video

Chapter 167 The Battle Begins: "The Lost Tomb 2" Becomes a Hit!

Pan Yueming smiled and clinked glasses, but after finishing her drink, she went outside alone.

The desert night is filled with a dazzling array of stars.

"Teacher Pan, you seem very anxious."

Pan Yueming turned around and saw Tang Lou walking over.

"Mr. Tang," he said with a wry smile, "it would be a lie to say I'm not worried at all. After 'Day and Night,' everyone thought I should continue filming a second season of 'Day and Night.' But I took on 'Ghost Blows Out the Light,' which is a completely different genre. 'The Lost Tomb' was a masterpiece before it, and the main actors were all young and handsome, while I'm just a middle-aged man."

"As you know, I was once very popular, but then my luck ran out and I fell to rock bottom. After 'Day and Night,' I finally made a comeback, so the pressure is quite high this time."

Tang Lou didn't say anything, but handed him a cigarette.

The two lit up their cigarettes and smoked in silence for a while.

"Teacher Pan, what do you think is the most difficult aspect of playing the role of Hu Bayi?" Tang Lou asked.

Pan Yueming thought for a moment: "It's about a sense of proportion. He was a soldier, went to the battlefield, and saw life and death, so he's cynical. But deep down, he's also loyal and righteous. If he acts too slick, the audience will hate him; if he acts too upright, he won't be like Hu Bayi."

"So, when you were acting, did you find the right balance?"

Pan Yueming thought for a moment, a confident smile appearing on her lips: "Of course."

As a veteran actor with solid acting skills, Pan Yueming is confident in his abilities.

"That's enough," Tang Lou said. "The audience may not understand acting, but they can sense what's right and what's wrong."

If you act correctly, they will buy your tickets.

At this moment, Zhang Yuqi also came out.

"Hey, so you two big shots are hiding here smoking?"

"Yuqi." Tang Lou waved his hand, beckoning Zhang Yuqi over and handing her a cigarette.

Zhang Yuqi waved his hand: "I've given it up. I need to maintain my form to play Shirley Yang."

Privately, Zhang Yuqi and Tang Lou have a close relationship, but at work, with Pan Yueming also present, Zhang Yuqi remains very tactful. When the topic came up, she was also curious about Tang Lou's opinion: "President Tang, is it really possible for our drama to succeed?"

What do you think?

"I think it's possible," Zhang Yuqi said. "Having acted for so many years, I can feel the energy of a production crew. In our crew, from the director to the props department, everyone is competing—not with others, but with themselves. The work produced by a crew like that won't be bad."

"Then trust your gut feeling," Tang Lou said.

The three stood there for a while, then Zhang Yuqi asked again, "President Tang, I heard that 'The Lost Tomb' is about to be released on Tencent Video?"

"Yes," Tang Lou said, "a month earlier than us."

For a series that Tencent Video has already proven, everyone except Tang Lou is under a lot of pressure.

After filming wrapped up for "Candle in the Tomb: The Lost City" and the series entered post-production, Tencent Video's "The Lost Tomb: The Wrath of the Sea & The Sacred Tree of Qinling" is ready to launch.

Before "Candle in the Tomb: The Lost City", "The Lost Tomb: The Wrath of the Sea & The Sacred Tree of Qinling" was released a month earlier.

In an effort to combat KuMiao, Tencent Video has mobilized all available channels for promotion and publicity.

Thanks to the influence of the first installment, this series has a very strong fan base and ranks first in terms of attention among all web dramas released at the same time.

Time flies, and the day of launch has finally arrived.

Tencent Video Headquarters, Data Monitoring Center.

The screen displays real-time playback data for "The Lost Tomb: The Wrath of the Sea & The Sacred Tree of Qinling".

上线1小时：播放量破3000万上线3小时：破8000万上线6小时：破1.5亿「破亿了！」一个年轻的数据分析师跳起来。

The entire monitoring center erupted in cheers.

The project manager looked at the screen, a barely suppressed smile on his face.

She picked up the phone and called producer Bai Yi: "Professor Bai, it's surpassed 100 million! 150 million in 6 hours!"

On the other end of the phone, Bai Yicong's voice was calm, with a hint of smugness: "Normal. The IP has a solid foundation, and with my personal oversight, it's impossible for it to back up."

"Besides the fan base and viewership, this show also has good reviews!" An analyst scrolled through the comments section. "It opened with a 7.1 rating on Douban and trended on Weibo five times."

#Hou Minghao Wu Xie##Ready-to-wear Zhang Qiling# are both in the top 10!

"We'll continue to monitor the data. So far, everything is going well, but we can't let our guard down," Bai Yicong said. "This is only the first day. We'll need to look at the retention rate later."

After hanging up the phone, the data specialist looked at the data again.

On the screen, the playback curve for "The Lost Tomb: The Wrath of the Sea & The Sacred Tree of Qinling" continues to climb.

She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in her chair.

It seems that Tencent Video has achieved a dream start in this battle. With such data, it's safe to say that imitators from Youku Video have no chance of succeeding.

Just as Tencent Video felt victory was in sight, at the same time, at the headquarters of Kugou Video...

The atmosphere in the office of the "Candle in the Tomb: The Lost City" project team was somber.

"1.5 million already." Publicity specialist Xiao Zhao stared at the computer screen, her voice dry. "It's only been 6 hours. At this rate, it could easily break 3 million on the first day."

"A 7.1 rating on Douban is not bad," sighed Li, the content operations manager. "The pressure on us is getting greater and greater."

"What are you afraid of?" The project leader stood up. "They're filming 'The Lost Tomb,' we're filming 'Ghost Blows Out the Light.' They're not the same thing."

"But the audience will think it's the same genre!" Xiao Zhao exclaimed anxiously. "They're all tomb raiding and adventure stories, and these are proven top-tier IPs. They're both web series; so many people are watching!"

"Then let's compare!" the project manager raised his voice. "Our investment is 1.8 million, theirs is only 1.2 million. Our set construction cost 4500 million, how much did they spend? Our actors, Pan Yueming and Zhang Yuqi, aren't their acting skills better?"

"But the market doesn't just look at those things," Xiao Zhao said softly. "The market only looks at what's trending."

Silence fell over the office.

Then, the door opened.

Tang Lou walked in.

Everyone stood up: "President Tang."

"Sit down." Tang Lou walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and said, "I heard everything that was said outside."

He turned around and wrote two numbers on the whiteboard:

The Lost Tomb: The Wrath of the Sea & The Sacred Tree of Qinling: 1.5 million (6 hours)

"Candle in the Tomb: The Lost City"

"I know everyone is under pressure," Tang Lou said, looking at everyone. "But pressure isn't a bad thing. It reminds us how ruthless this market is and how fierce the competition is."

He paused, then added, "But I also want to remind everyone of one thing: the popularity of 'The Lost Tomb: The Wrath of the Sea & The Sacred Tree of Qinling' is not a threat to us, but an opportunity."

"An opportunity?" Xiao Zhao asked, puzzled.

"Yes." Tang Lou nodded. "The novels *The Lost Tomb: The Wrath of the Sea & The Sacred Tree of Qinling* have really boosted the popularity of the tomb raiding and adventure genre. The whole internet is talking about it now, and audience expectations for this type of story have been raised. At this point..."

"Our appearance as the finale will definitely attract everyone's attention."

"We should thank 'The Grave Robbers' Chronicles' for boosting our popularity."