บท 26: Mr. Tao Is Still a Good Fella
บรรณาธิการ: Henyee Translations
With the good record of Balala the Fairies, the TV channels Meng Lang had worked with all who showed interest in the first-round broadcast rights of Balala the Fairies.
However, they weren't as eager after they were told that not only was the show not going to be free this time, but there were also no exclusive broadcasting rights.
If it had been free, the non-exclusive rights wouldn't have much impact. One wouldn't mind not having chopsticks if the lunch were free.
However, a pair of chopsticks was expected if they had to pay for it.
Because of that, the negotiation was going to be very challenging.
Luckily, Meng Lang had prepared himself for this, and had set the price for a single episode at 50,000, which was very reasonable.
The TV channels were very pleased with that price, especially when they learned that Balala the Fairies was going to be broadcasted by CCTV-14 during the first round…
Anything the national channel wanted to broadcast was bound to be good!
But, the question remained!
They didn't have exclusive broadcasting rights, and had to wait until the National Children's ran the show first, which didn't sound very encouraging.
The TV channels were hesitating, especially when no one could tell if Balala the Fairies would turn out to be as successful as Blazing Teens. They didn't want to take the bet.
Just then, Mr. Tao, who had tricked Meng Lang earlier, gave him a helpful push.
Jiangchuan Children's Channel was willing to purchase the first-round broadcast rights of Balala the Fairies, and had accepted the term that they could only start running the show after CCTV-14.
50,000 for an episode? That wouldn't be a problem!
2.6 million was a reasonable price for the first-round broadcast rights, even if it wasn't an exclusive one.
After all, that much money was nothing compared to the hundreds of million of advertisement income the show would bring every year.
"Mr. Tao, I've misjudged you!"
Meng Lang was greatly touched. A friend in need was a friend indeed. Mr. Tao might have been a little cunning, but it didn't change the fact that he was a good man. Otherwise, he wouldn't have helped Meng Lang when the latter needed it the most!
As a matter of fact, even if Jiangchuan Children's Channel had planned to purchase Balala the Fairies all along, they didn't have to step out as early as now.
They could have always started negotiating after Meng Lang had closed the deals with the other TV channels.
But they had chosen to step out when Meng Lang was having difficulties with the negotiation with the other TV channels. How helpful!
Bye bye, 40-meter long machete, and Mr. Tao was removed from the black-list.
"Mr. Tao, you're still my man!"
…
Once Jiangchuan Children's Channel had taken the offer, other TV channels gradually followed suit.
After all, 50,000 for an episode wasn't that high of a price. Compared to other major productions, it was even a little humiliatingly low.
Balala the Fairies had 52 episodes in total. At that price, the first-round broadcast rights was only 2.6 million.
2.6 million might have sounded like a lot to most people, but to these rich national-owned TV channels, it was nothing.
In this way, with Meng Lang's persistent effort, Balala the Fairies was successfully purchased by 15 TV channels.
The CCTV-14 didn't lose. Although they had given a higher price, at least they had been given the "first-round". No other TV channels were allowed to broadcast Balala the Fairies before them.
To some extent, only CCTV-14 had the genuine first-round broadcasting rights!
But that limitation only lasted for a few days.
Once CCTV-14 started running the show, the other TV channels could run it as well.
Meng Lang got what he wanted as well.
The production cost was around 13.2 million, and with PR and post-production, the total cost was around 20 million. Selling the first-round broadcast rights alone had now only covered that cost, but also made the company some profit.
The main profits came from the peripheral products.
If the toys were a success, they would create a profit that would be much higher than selling the show at 1 million an episode.
Apart from toys, they could also come up with products such as sticks, pencil-boxes, posters, hairpins, figurines, so on and so forth. Money would literally roll into their pockets.
Meng Lang was going to focus on the toys. After all, his family business was a toy factory.
But that didn't mean that he had given up on other possibilities. However, he was going to give a few slices of pies to other parties when he didn't have the ability to do everything. That was the best solution.
Of the peripheral products of Blazing Teens, Pengda Toy Factory made the toys, and the other products had all been given to other manufacturers that had come to ask for the licensing rights.
The proceeds from other products alone had been giving Pengda a revenue of several million a month.
It was great news!
Blazing Teens had made yo-yos popular, but the characters themselves weren't as well-known.
Balala the Fairies was a different story!
If this show could gain popularity, the toys weren't going to be the only thing that would be hyped up. Other peripheral products related to the characters would become popular as well. By then, the revenue from them could be as high as that of selling the toys.
A common pencil-box of the same material and design could be sold at a higher price just because they had the images of the fairies on them, and they were more popular as well. Would other manufacturers do nothing about it?
And it wouldn't stop at the pencil-boxes. Soon, the entire stationery industry would be taken over by the fairies.
Meng Lang could still smell new bills just by thinking about it!
It was the smell of money!
And the smell of happiness!
Mr. Old Meng pulled Meng Lang back to reality and cut his daydream short.
"Something's wrong with Blazing Teens!"
"What happened?"
Mr. Old Meng stared at Meng Lang in bewilderment. "You're the director. Don't you track your own work?"
"I've been flying all over the country these days. Where would I have time for that? What happened?" asked Meng Lang.
"See for yourself."
Old Meng tossed his phone to Meng Lang, then went to pour himself a glass of water.
Taking the phone, Meng Lang first noticed the notification of a flirtatious incoming message from an aunt named "Xiao Fang" on Wechat before reading the webpage his old man had opened.
The ratings on Sprout?
Meng Lang saw what it was about a moment later.
Because of Blazing Teens' polarized ratings on Sprout, a battle between adults and kids had broken out.
The adults considered Sprout a "holy land" of movies and TV works, and wouldn't stand it when a rubbish show was given high ratings.
The reasons for the kids were quite straightforward. "I have the right to rate this show however I like. Who are you to tell me to choose otherwise?"
Both parties stood their ground, and neither would relent.
The conflict escalated, and both parties called for backups. As a result, the server of Sprout crashed because of the sudden influx of visitors.
Sprout wasn't run by some internet tycoon, and had rented a relatively cheap server. It was only expected that something like this would happen.
After the incident, Sprout couldn't just sit there and watch any more. They appealed to both sides, asking them to calm down, and shut the rating and comment section of Blazing Teens for "peaceful discussion".
Meng Lang was speechless after he learned the whole thing.
What the heck?
Even he, the director, couldn't care less about the rating, but these people were all over it…
How baffling.
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