Huayu: The young actress is heavily dependent on me

"Boss, the data for our 'So Cute Us' after one week of release is out."

Chen Li leaned back on the sofa, and you could tell from her expression that it wasn't good news.

Bai Mengyan pointed to the playback volume curve on Tencent Video:

"The first week's viewership just exceeded two million, compared to the 30 million views in the first week of the second season of 'Unexpected' which was released at the same time, with an average of over 10 million views per episode."

She pushed over another comparison chart, her fingertip pointing to two data curves that were on completely different orders of magnitude.

"Both are low-budget web series, but our show's first-week data is less than a fraction of theirs. Based on this trend, Tencent definitely won't give it a homepage recommendation, let alone any A-level resources."

Chen Li took the report and glanced at it, her face showing no particular expression.

"What about audience reviews and retention data?"

Bai Mengyan turned to the second page: "This is the strangest part. It opened with an 8.2 rating on Douban, a 91% positive review rate from the comments, and the second-day retention rate of viewers was almost double that of other C-level dramas in the same period."

"In other words, everyone who has seen it thinks it's good, but the problem is that not enough people have seen it."

She pushed the retention rate comparison chart over, and sighed first.

"It's a classic case of critical acclaim but commercial failure. Boss, at the same time, Tencent's homepage was promoting 'The Empress of China' and 'Darker' Season 2,' and all the traffic was drawn away by the top-tier content. Our low-budget youth drama was unknown to everyone, and nobody searched for it."

Chen Li put the report back on the coffee table, stood up, stretched, and walked to the window to look at the sky outside.

In late December, it gets dark early in Beijing, and the streetlights are already shrouded in hazy yellow light.

"These are not problems."

Bai Mengyan looked up at him.

Chen Li turned around, leaning against the window frame, a slight upward curve to the corner of her mouth:

"This shows that what we have in our hands is not a terrible show that nobody watches, but a firecracker that hasn't been lit yet. The low viewership isn't because the show is bad, but because not enough people know about it."

Chen Li leaned close to Bai Mengyan's ear and told her his plan.

"What we need now is to leverage this momentum!"

......

"Hehehe..."

At 3 a.m., Bai Mengyan squatted in front of the computer, a mischievous expression on her face.

She opened QQ and found a contact named "Chief Instructor of Online Trolls".

"Let's get started!"

"Understood! Target locked: 'Unexpected 2'!"

......

BJ, Wanhe Tianyi Office.

When Professor Yi Xiaoxing walked into the conference room with a coffee in hand, the latest data for the second season of "Unexpectedly" was projected on the wall.

The series garnered over 600 million views in four months, averaging over 30 million views per episode. It ranked first on Youku's drama ratings list and generated over 20 million yuan in revenue.

His hair was still his signature buzz cut, and behind his black-rimmed glasses, his small, upturned eyes shone with a hint of smugness.

When they were making the first season of "Unexpectedly" with only 50,000 yuan, no one expected that these young people, who couldn't even afford to rent a proper film studio, could turn a "low-class drama" into one that even the Wall Street Journal interviewed.

Now, things have taken a turn for the better. In the second season alone, GG's revenue exceeded 20 million, making it a cash cow for Youku's self-produced dramas.

Even Bai Ke, known as "Wang Dachui" under Han Han's wing, was cast in the film "The Continent".

The assistant knocked and entered, holding a tablet, with a somewhat subtle expression.

"Professor, the public opinion monitoring team just detected some posts—a lot of discussions comparing us to another new drama have suddenly appeared on Baidu Tieba and Weibo."

He handed over the tablet, on which was displayed the latest hot post from the "Unexpected" forum.

The title reads: Both are low-budget productions with newcomers, but look at the show next door, "So Cute Us"!

The top comment, which has over a thousand likes, says: "《万万》 is a comedy sketch, each episode is five minutes long, you laugh and then forget about it."

"Cute is a genuinely story-telling youth drama, and I still remember the line at the end of each episode. It's not in the same category, but in terms of content depth, Cute is definitely not inferior."

The professor scrolled down the thread and found that these discussions were not just a few scattered posts, but rather appeared almost simultaneously on multiple channels such as Baidu Tieba, Weibo, and Douban discussion groups.

Some of the posting IDs were newly registered, while others were long-time, highly-rated users who frequented the film and television section. The wording of the posts varied, but they all pointed to the same conclusion:

Comparing a low-budget youth drama that has only been airing for a week with the second season of "Unexpected".

The post pinpointed the weaknesses of "Wanwan" precisely—its tendency to be anecdotal, fragmented, and lacking in emotional depth.

At the same time, we will maximize the advantages of "So Cute Us":

The series features a unit structure, philosophical narration, an initial Douban rating of 8.2, and over 90% positive reviews from the comments section.

"Interesting." The professor placed the tablet on the table, leaned back in his chair, and scratched the back of his head. The curve of his lips was more amused than annoyed.

Having spent the last two years in the online drama industry, he is all too familiar with this kind of "opportunistic marketing" tactic.

After all, I've taken advantage of quite a few opportunities back then...

He picked up his mouse and casually searched for "So Cute Us," then clicked on the first episode to see if the show was truly good or just hype.

The screen lights up.

At the deserted entrance of the old staircase, the morning light shines on the cracks of the third step, and a narration slowly begins: Some people are destined to meet from birth.

But meeting is just the beginning, not the end.

The background music consists of clean, single piano notes. There are no lines of dialogue, only the sound of a boy walking in the hallway, his footsteps echoing softly in the corridor where the ambient sound has been absorbed.

The professor leaned forward unconsciously as he leaned back in his chair.

Two minutes later, he put down the cup in his hand.

Ten minutes later, he could barely read any of the comments on the screen.

The main actors sat under the old locust tree playing cards, fighting over cameras, and sticking notes on each other. The girl had five or six notes stuck to her face, making her look like a small steamed bun with a seal on it.

The boy brought an umbrella to the girl in the rain, getting soaked himself, but secretly tilted the umbrella slightly towards her.

The segment concludes with a gentle narration:

Back then, we thought that liking someone meant arguing with them every day.

Later I realized that the argument was fake; what I really wanted was for him to look at me more.

The professor paused for a few seconds and then paused the video.

He couldn't help but think of his own book, "Unexpected".

He gives the audience the most enjoyable, instantly funny jokes and plot twists, but he does spend limited time on narrative and emotional depth.

He can shoot five-minute comedy sketches, he can play with deconstruction and parody, but when it comes to shooting something that requires emotional engagement, he really can't do it.

This team, these people, are able to capture the sense of time and history in a dilapidated old building!

What they lack is not ability, but simply that not enough people know about them.

Once this round of positive word-of-mouth has finished building up, this show is bound to be a hit sooner or later!

"Professor?" the assistant asked cautiously.

The professor slammed the tablet on the table and tilted his head back to gulp down a large mouthful of now-cold coffee.

"This kid isn't trying to scam me; he wants to take advantage of my influence."

He walked to the window and looked down at the street scene in BJ in November.

The lights of Wanhe Tianyi shone in the building for a whole year, and he still habitually reviewed the situation late at night.

The idea of ​​transformation had come to him more than once. Of course, he knew that if "Unexpectedly" continued to be made, it would eventually fall into the ceiling of sketch comedy. He just needed a key moment.

A project that can prove that this group of people can also create immersive emotional stories.

Meanwhile, the rough cut of "Report to the Boss" was still on the hard drive and hadn't been color-graded, while in the next studio, "Senior Sister Knows" was filming a crucial episode.

This kid wants to take advantage of my influence.

Why can't he also take advantage of this situation?!

You want me to avoid their sharp edge?

Turning his head, the professor gave instructions to his assistant:

"Let our operations team get involved too, post a few Weibo posts with titles like, 'Two ceilings for low-budget web dramas: jokes vs. empathy, which one are you on?'"

He slammed his hand on the table and added,

"Find a few more video bloggers and make a comparison edit of 'five minutes of comedy vs. half an hour of heartfelt content,' including the tags from both sides."

"Isn't he trying to leverage this momentum? Then I'll mix both momentum together."

"Let the storm rage on!"