After all of them were reborn, who would still be an actor?

Chapter 770 World Cup Broadcasting Rights
"This rhinoceros beetle is so weird, it's like a monster!" Mimi got goosebumps from looking at it and rubbed her arms back and forth.

"Yeah! That's why we chose Wu Zhengyu! Haha!"

"This new One-Punch Man is really well made... Can you add me as a character?"

Li Mingyang shook his head.

"It's just a cameo role, why are you being so stingy!"

“There aren’t many female heroes with long-term storylines. Basically, all the female monsters who appear end up dying tragically. Do you want to end up like Mina, getting slapped into a bloody mess?” Li Mingyang said.

"Ugh! What you said is disgusting! I'm ignoring you!"

Mimi pushed Li Mingyang away and left.

However, she returned soon after, coming back with Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei wore a black fitted coat, a gray sweater underneath, and a white long skirt, looking elegant yet stylish.

"That's rare! You're not wearing a suit anymore?"

"cold."

"It's cold in Korea too, but I haven't seen you change your style!" Li Mingyang laughed.

Zhang Wei ignored him, handed a document to Li Mingyang, and then went to make coffee.

Seeing this, Yang Mi asked Zhang Wei to sit down and personally made her coffee.

Mimi has absolutely no cooking skills, but she's a master at making coffee.

Li Mingyang turned his gaze back to the document.

The new One-Punch Man 2 surpassed 100 million views in China within eight hours of its release, more than two hours later than the first film.

The reason? Because Kuaibo was instantly stolen!

Even though iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video are free, Kuaibo is still easier to use; viewers are used to watching on Kuaibo...

iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video are really just raising fish, completely ignoring Kuaibo.

The situation overseas is not very optimistic.

In Europe and America, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon are dominating the market, further exacerbating the financial collapse. However, the number of paid subscribers has increased by more than one million!
South Korea's paid memberships have decreased by more than 500,000 compared to last month.

The number of paid members for this book only increased by a little over 300,000 compared to last month.

Overall, FBTV's paid subscribers are increasing, exceeding 1300 million!
The fast track to attracting new, inexpensive members is over; now it's time for stable development.

We need to retain existing paying users while also attracting new users!
The Korean market has reached its ceiling; not only can it not rise, it has even fallen.

However, as long as there are excellent Korean dramas, it can quickly become popular.

The notebook market is the key to expansion!

However, it was forcibly interrupted by Wall Street and Hollywood, and it will take some time to recover.

Actually, there's another super-fast track in streaming media! That's sports!

However, sports are a terrifyingly expensive business, and the potential profits are even more astounding, attracting the attention of countless investors worldwide.

A large portion of FBTV's traffic comes from the "Big Match"! Exclusive sports events! Huge traffic generation!

Next year is the 2014 Brazil World Cup, and Hughes is in talks about broadcasting rights.

FIFA earned over $20 billion from the television broadcasting rights for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The total value of the revenue comes from three main sources: television broadcasting rights, manufacturer sponsorships, and sales of related merchandise, amounting to over $80 billion.

The income from spinach is no less than the combined income from these three sources...

Whether it's legal or illegal.

The biggest bookmaker is FIFA!

Besides the World Cup, there are also European football leagues, the NBA, the Super Bowl...

Major global sporting events are perfect for driving traffic through streaming, with amazing explosive potential!
LeEco relied on the AFC Champions League and the English Premier League to attract users back then.

Given the immense profits and wide reach of sports, a dedicated sports streaming platform is typically established.

Because sports streaming is both a money-burning and money-making business.

One wrong move and you'll fall into a fire pit!
When Tencent Sports was launched, it was a time of fierce competition among numerous online sports video apps.

At the time, it faced fierce competition from rivals such as PP Sports and LeTV Sports, while the sports channels of the other two major video websites, Youku and iQiyi, were also eager to enter the fray.

And the way everyone competes is very simple: nothing but money!

For example, in 2015, PPTV, backed by Suning, squeezed out CCTV Sports Channel and bought the exclusive all-media rights for La Liga in China for 20 billion yuan.

PP Sports was founded in 2016.

They spent 50 billion RMB to buy the rights to the English Premier League for three seasons back then.

The copyright fee for a single season is 10 times that of the previous buyer, New England Sports.

From March to August 2017, PP Sports had gathered the "seven dragon balls" of the top five European leagues, the Chinese Super League, and the AFC Champions League, becoming a focus of the industry.

Within five years of its establishment, PP Sports spent more than 100 billion RMB on purchasing overseas sports broadcasting rights.

However, this amount of money is probably insignificant compared to LeSports.

Founded in 2014, LeSports made a resounding claim: owning more than 90% of the domestic and international sports event rights, covering mass sports, high-end sports and elite sports without any blind spots.

Then, LeSports acquired the broadcasting rights in an almost frenzied manner.

Within just two years, they acquired the broadcasting rights for NBA Dongda Internet TV, the exclusive new media broadcasting rights for F1 in mainland China, and 310 other sports events including CBA, AFC Champions League, and Chinese Super League.

The company holds the rights to over 10000 events, 72% of which are exclusive rights.

Tencent Sports was not an outsider in this money-burning war; in a sense, it was even the "instigator."

In 2015, Tencent Sports, a newcomer to the industry, spent $500 million to acquire the exclusive online broadcasting rights for the NBA in Tokyo for five years, equivalent to $100 million per year, five times the price of the rights in 2013. This shocked the industry and kicked off a capital-driven "land grab" for sports copyrights.

However, compared to the unrestrained practices of other platforms, Tencent Sports adopts a steady and pragmatic approach.

In 2016, Tencent Sports acquired online broadcasting rights for NCAA and NCAAF, increasing its web active users to 2000 million, and its app maintained a high growth rate in peak monthly unique device counts.

Starting in 2017, Tencent successively acquired the broadcasting rights to traditional sports events such as the CBA, the US Open, and Wimbledon, gradually achieving its goal of full coverage of international A-level events. By the end of 2018, the number of users had increased to 2500 million.

Since 2019, Tencent Sports has been the first to bring esports to the screen, and its user base has rapidly grown to more than 3400 million in just one year.

As of December 2020, Tencent Sports had over 40 million web users and an average of around 13.2 million unique devices using its app.

In addition, Tencent Sports' initial gamble on the NBA was successful, making it one of the few profitable sports live streaming projects. This strategy allowed Tencent Sports to survive the brutal "money-burning war".

LeSports, which was once incredibly successful, went from its peak to complete ruin in just three years. In 2019, LeSports' business license was revoked.

PP Sports is also facing challenges. In January 2021, PPTV was sued by the Premier League for failing to pay the £5.23 million buyout fee on time.

Tencent Sports' NBA project initially performed very well.

It could even be dedicated to a separate page and included in the financial report.

There are long-term title sponsors, such as the global sports protection brand, J-Speed.

They opened a specialty store and had a group of female live streamers selling goods.

Various online and offline activities, with impeccable aesthetics! The profits are phenomenal!
But that didn't work later either...

After securing its top position through blood donation centers, Tencent Sports is now facing its own challenges, only to discover that making money is incredibly difficult!
With sports video advertising business declining year after year and unable to gain traction, almost all sports apps have been unable to establish a healthy business ecosystem through their paid membership models.

Even Tencent Sports' flagship NBA broadcast only generates around 10 billion in revenue.

This was completely insufficient to cover the subsequent second five-year contract, which was $15 billion over five years, or $300 million per year.

In other words, Tencent Sports had only made money for a few years when it fell into a huge copyright fire pit.

Of course, this is mainly because the commercialization of sports in China is so poor.

It's different abroad; they have spinach there!

Japan's J-League is the world's number one match-fixing league!
Now we'll see if we can secure the Asian online broadcasting rights for next year's World Cup.

Acquiring this would put FBTV on the fast track to growth, and an internal war was about to break out!
If we can't get it, we'll smash it with a movie!
As is well known, streaming media revenue mainly comes from TV series, while movies are not as successful.

However, if it's a big-budget theatrical film with big stars, and it forgoes theatrical release to be exclusively streamed on a streaming platform, that's a different story.

For example, Tom Cruise's Greyhound was sold to Apple for $7000 million because it was difficult to release due to the mask issue.

The production cost was $50 million, and Sony made a profit of $20 million from the resale.

For example, the new One-Punch Man series exploded in popularity among doujinshi fans, nearly reaching the top of the doujinshi streaming market!
While reviewing the data report provided by Zhang Wei, Li Mingyang devised a new route.

The explosive growth period of the new One-Punch Man has been missed, and with the renewal of old members, the average price is around $10.

If you're just watching the new One-Punch Man, spending $10 a month is an outrageous rip-off!
Overseas forums are already complaining that FBTV's content is outdated, the quality of new dramas is poor, and the price is too high, saying it's better to watch TV.

"The data is alright, at least it's increasing," Li Mingyang said, putting down the file.

“The most stable is actually South Korea. Japan’s current situation is below expectations, but at least it’s rising. The biggest problem for Facebook TV is Europe and the United States. The data looks very good, but it’s seriously over budget,” Zhang Wei said.

Overspending is the biggest problem in the European and American versions, and also the most unsolvable one.

The streaming wars in Europe and America have created a vast market, which has now been divided up by industry giants.

The barriers to entry for FBTV to get a share of the market are extremely high!

The copyright fees, service fees, and technology fees are outrageous!
“This has nothing to do with me,” Li Mingyang said.

“That’s what I said too, but they demanded more high-quality content, otherwise they would stop promoting Bouquet Entertainment’s content,” Zhang Wei said.

"Threatening me?"

"They call it a discussion, but it's actually intimidation."

Has Li Meijin been threatened?

"She has been constantly threatened."

FBTV is one of the content producers, not the only one.

CJ and DreamWorks are the main players.

Li Mingyang chuckled and told Zhang Wei to delay as long as possible, and if she couldn't delay, to vote at the monthly meeting.

Following Cannes, FBTV attracted investment from Wall Street and Hollywood.

Against the backdrop of diversification and globalization, Zhang Wei has gained a deeper understanding of the contradictions between streaming media and traditional media. She has come to realize that the rapid development of streaming media does not necessarily equate to success.

Too many big players are eyeing this area.

If you want to speed, you can't reach it.

Instead, they will fall into the trap of capital.

After discussing FBTV, Zhang Wei mentioned her production, "The Hottest Girl in the World."

Both "Bad Genius" and "Flying Colors" are based on true stories!

The Genius is based on the sensational 2014 SAT cheating scandal in Asia.

From October to December 2014, SAT test centers in Asia were repeatedly exposed for cheating, with a large number of test questions leaked. The incident involved dozens of educational institutions and affected more than 10,000 test takers, including those in China. After the educational institution ETS investigated the cheating case, the scores of the students involved were canceled.

The cheating method involves exploiting the time difference (approximately 3 hours) between Australia and Thailand. A "test-taker" who takes the test first in Australia transmits the answers, and Asian test-takers receive the answers via mobile phones to cheat.

The genius gunman turned this group event into a personal one.

The real-life inspiration for the character "Flying Colors" is Sayaka Kobayashi, who was one of the worst students in her class during high school. After a year and a half of hard work, she was admitted to the Faculty of Policy Studies at Keio University in 2006.

A miracle of turning the tide!
The song "Flying Colors" is very popular in China, and there have been many rumors about adapting it, but adapting it is extremely difficult.

Sayaka Kobayashi miraculously gained admission to Keio University's Faculty of Policy Studies through her essay writing.

This is a prime example of taking shortcuts within the Japanese education system.

This doesn't apply domestically!

It's all about the actual scores.

Moreover, Sayaka Kobayashi started at the fourth-grade level of elementary school and managed to get into Keio University!
Keio University is generally equivalent to a mid-to-upper-tier 985 university in China.

Along with Waseda University, it is known as one of the "two private universities".

After obtaining the information about the prototype, Zhang Wei has yet to come up with a script outline that fits the requirements of Dongda University.

Li Mingyang glanced quickly at the new plot synopsis Zhang Wei handed him and said, "Movies adapted from real-life figures must have a social prototype; they can't just be made up. Keep an eye out; you might find one."

"If you were in charge of filming 'The Bottom-Ranked Hottie,' how would you film it?" Zhang Wei asked.

"Shoot it however you want, don't rush. You've just transitioned to being a producer, and it's a long process for a film project to go from conception to preparation. Focus on 'Brotherhood of Blades' first; that project is already taking shape." Li Mingyang boasted.

Yang Mi rolled her eyes, but Zhang Wei nodded.

……

"Manager Zhang, I feel like you've changed."

After leaving Mingyang, Yang Mi suddenly said.

"The styling? It's for work."

"No, it's your attitude! How could you believe everything he said? He was just fooling you!" Yang Mi said.

Zhang Wei's cold eyes flickered slightly as she glanced at Mimi and said indifferently, "Is that so?"

“Yes! He’s really bad now. He promises everything but guarantees nothing,” Yang Mi said, helping Zhang Wei open the back door of the Mercedes-Benz van.

Zhang Wei nodded, got into the back of the car, and moved a little further in.

Yang Mi naturally got into the car and then began to nag incessantly about Li Mingyang.

Zhang Wei knows Mimi quite well; she knows Mimi is a chatterbox, but it's hard to get anything substantial out of her.

Mimi knows what she should say and what she shouldn't say.

"How long has it been since you last went to the film set?" Zhang Wei suddenly asked.

"It's been a long time... whatever." Yang Mi waved her hand dismissively. "I'm waiting to film Love Letter. I've been reading Love Letter every day lately."

"Do you have the script for 'Love Letter' yet?"

"Um... just like you, it's all empty promises. I just offer an idea and that's it."

"What is the thought process behind the love letter?"

"Moving the timeline to the present and making localized adaptations—I bet he hasn't even figured out how to adapt it himself. He's just trying to fool me. It's outrageous! What does he take me for? A lubricant? He's such a bastard!"

"Flying Colors" and "Love Letter" have one thing in common: they both originated from doujinshi (Japanese doujinshi).

Zhang Wei wanted to extract the scriptwriting ideas for the love letter from Yang Mi, but it was very difficult.

Yang Mi didn't know much to begin with, and then she continued to steer the conversation toward Li Mingyang, venting her dissatisfaction.

This cannot be blamed on Yang Mi.

The main reason is... that Jing Tian gave him three passes.

She was furious!
Zhang Wei was unaware of the situation and felt that Yang Mi was behaving very strangely, constantly scolding Li Mingyang, which seemed like a trap.

She knew perfectly well that she was one of Li Mingyang's top targets for vigilance.

So the two women chatted for over an hour, from Mingyang all the way to the hotel where Zhang Wei was staying.

The two women talked a lot, but didn't come to any conclusions.

"Manager Zhang, I have some things to attend to later, so I'll be leaving now."

"Ah."

After leaving the hotel, Yang Mi looked back suspiciously, then took out her phone to report to Li Mingyang, saying that Zhang Wei was very loyal to him and had no complaints.

"You're playing tricks on Zhang Wei?" Li Mingyang was shocked.

"what happened?"

"She's not as emotionally intelligent as you, but she keeps a mental record! Be careful she doesn't block you!"

"Damn it! Why didn't you say so sooner... Hmm? How did you know!"

How could I not know...

……

Zhang Wei stood on the balcony, drank a strong cup of black coffee, and made a phone call to her assistant.

She's going to fly her notebook to prepare for the "bottom-ranked hottie" competition.

It's too difficult to adapt domestically; it's better to start with the original script.

The call had just ended.

A phone call came in.

Zhang Wei frowned unconsciously as she looked at Gong Yu's name on her phone.

She has met all the leading figures in these domestic streaming media outlets.

Gong Yu's way of thinking is closest to Li Mingyang's.

Especially...especially...

Zhang Wei couldn't even find an adjective to describe Gong Yu, because he had changed drastically in the past few years.

Li Mingyang once said that Gong Yu would one day make iQiyi a part of himself.

A prophecy!
Baidu's CEO, Li, has focused all his efforts on selling advertising.

Meanwhile, Gong Yu opened several companies in his own name during this period, launched a surprise attack on South Korea, and reached a series of secret agreements with the three major South Korean television stations.

They have obtained the ticket to the convergence of China and South Korea.

By deeply integrating iQiyi, itself, and the combined efforts of China and South Korea, a three-in-one partnership will be formed!

Surprisingly, Baidu subsequently tacitly accepted this practice.

Gong Yu has completely taken control of iQiyi!

"Hey."

"Hey, Chairman Zhang! Are you free right now?"

"I'm in a meeting."

"When will this end? I have a big problem and I need your help to solve it..."

"If you can't solve it, how can I?"

Gong Yu gave a bitter smile, helplessly looking at the stalled production of the "Miss Republic of China" drama.

"Actually... I originally wanted to ask Director Li, but he's been too busy lately and doesn't have time to deal with anything unrelated to the 10 billion yuan box office, so I thought I'd ask Manager Zhang for help."

Zhang Wei sat lazily on a chair on the balcony, rubbing her forehead, and said while thinking, "I'm also very busy, so please get to the point."

Upon hearing that there was hope, Gong Yu immediately began to flatter Zhang Wei, saying that Zhang Wei was Li Mingyang's right-hand woman, the most beautiful flower in Bouquet Entertainment, and the pillar of FBTV...

After a round of praise, the conversation turned to Zhao Wenzhuo and Zhen Zhidan.

She managed to handle the two kung fu superstars that even Li Mingyang couldn't manage.

Zhang Wei understood the underlying meaning: Gong Yu was facing a problem of discord among celebrities.

“I have a project here that has encountered the same problem, and I would like to ask Chairman Zhang for help.”

"Who and whom?"

"Bai Bin and Fan Binbin."

"Miss Republic of China?"

"Yes!"

"This movie is going to be released during the Lunar New Year holiday this year. If there are any problems, you should contact Director Li."

Miss Republic of China was jointly invested in by iQiyi and Bouquet.

Basically, iQiyi is the one paying for it.

Gong Yu's words were contradictory. When the Miss Republic of China was in trouble, the most anxious person was Li Mingyang, which was related to the 10 billion yuan box office.

"Well... I have my own difficulties too!"

With a long sigh, Gong Yu recounted the entire story of the Miss Republic of China pageant.

(End of this chapter)