Chapter 198 Marketing Ratings

Chapter 198

To be honest, judging from the current plot of "Up in the Clouds", there is absolutely no reason for viewers to ship the characters Sun Bo and Yang Ji.

The interactions between the characters lack tension.

Therefore, the more Liu Jingyi's side emphasizes "good to watch", the more confused the audience becomes, and the less willing they are to accept it.

Lin Yuan couldn't interfere with Liu Jingyi's marketing purchases; the only thing he could do was not participate, just like during the filming of "Up in the Clouds."

But the series has already aired, and the current situation is different from that during filming.

Back then, Liu Jingyi emphasized his good relationship with Lin Yuan, and the audience, unaware of the details, naturally assumed he was telling the truth. After all, the audience didn't know the specifics. But now it's different—

What Liu Jingyi emphasized was precisely what he lacked.

To some extent, the audience doesn't mind Liu Jingyi using Lin Yuan for publicity; perhaps Lin Yuan's fans are more opposed, but the audience has seen the episodes of "Up in the Clouds" that have aired.

Objectively speaking, Liu Jingyi's acting was—very poor.

"Can you please stop dragging kangaroos into this mess?"

"Instead of wasting time on hype, couldn't you at least work on improving your acting skills?"

"Like a leech, it's impossible to shake it off. I just feel so sorry for the kangaroo."

On the trending topics, Liu Jingyi's marketing efforts were quite aggressive. However, below the trending topics, apart from the emotional outbursts of Liu Jingyi's fans, netizens were full of criticism.

Sun Bo is a character with his own growth arc, as is the protagonist Yang Ji. The problem is that, compared to Lin Yuan's portrayal of Yang Ji, Sun Bo... gives a strong sense of flatness.

Liu Jingyi's interpretation of this character is too simplistic and fails to capture the essence of his character's growth.

Most importantly, with Lin Yuan by his side as a comparison, Liu Jingyi's acting skills appear even more mediocre.

But he seems completely oblivious to this, and continues to intensify his marketing efforts.

After the story of Yang Ji's career unfolded in "Up in the Clouds," viewers' aversion to Liu Jingyi became even more apparent.

The most direct impact is on viewership ratings.

Whenever Liu Jing appears in a scene, the ratings for "Up in the Clouds" drop. It's fine if Sun Bo's character has fewer scenes, but once viewers realize that he will be appearing for a long time, they will simply turn off the TV.

The fluctuations in the ratings of "Up in the Clouds" mostly occurred before and after Sun Bo's appearances. When the main character Yang Ji was present, the audience was more willing to give him some credit. However, if the entire episode consisted of Sun Bo's scenes, the audience's reaction was quite direct.

In this way, Liu Jingyi's frequent hype on trending topics is actually quite embarrassing.

He was hoping to gain a following through "Ascending to the Clouds," and ideally, ride on Lin Yuan's popularity as well.

But the result was that after "Up in the Clouds" aired, his previously stable Weibo followers suddenly dropped by tens of thousands.

Even his fans felt that there was no chemistry between the characters Sun Bo and Yang Ji in "Shang Qingyun".

"Isn't 'Ascending to the Clouds' a story about struggle? Why does it have to have a romantic pairing?"

"Sun Bo can succeed through his own hard work, right? His storyline is also very touching. Honestly, if A Jing really studies the character and portrays his growth, he'll get more positive reviews than if he's just creating a CP (couple pairing)."

Fans vaguely realized that perhaps Liu Jingyi could have portrayed the character of Sun Bo better.

But during the filming of the series, he kept emphasizing his good relationship with Lin Yuan, saying it in live streams and to fans, except...

"If all your energy is focused on creating on-screen couples, you really won't have time to think about the characters, right?"

"I've always felt that with Liu Jingyi's looks and acting skills, even if he doesn't become a huge star, he can still secure a place in the entertainment industry. Maybe he felt a sense of crisis because his peers and younger actors have all become famous."

"Even if there is a sense of crisis, it shouldn't be to this extent..."

Liu Jingyi wasn't particularly famous before, but he still got acting roles, which his fans thought was fine. Although he wasn't a huge star, Liu Jingyi had at least found his place in the industry and wasn't worried about making a living.

Many fans think he's quite laid-back and easygoing, which is why they became fans of him.

However, after the filming and broadcast of "Up in the Clouds," Liu Jingyi's performance surprised his fans.

It's understandable to ride the wave of popularity, but if you try to do it too aggressively... Liu Jingyi himself may not realize it, but his fans are being ridiculed.

Just like how the show's popularity doesn't actually revolve around Sun Bo, viewers are either discussing Yang Ji or other scientists, with very few mentioning Sun Bo, yet the character of Sun Bo is constantly trending on social media.

The fans also felt very embarrassed.

While the vast majority of fans give the impression of being blindly devoted to the point of being mentally challenged, there are also rational fans.

They know which character in a show is more popular.

The most discussed character in "Up in the Clouds" is definitely the protagonist Yang Ji. After Yang Ji, the one who caught the audience's attention was Yang Ji's colleague, a middle-aged scientist.

The actor who played this role was not well-known before, and it was a rare role in "Up in the Clouds" that wasn't too bloody, but the audience just liked him.

Fans started a buzz around him, and he even received new business offers.

This rarely happens to middle-aged actors, which only means that his role has indeed become a hit.

Sun Bo was not among them.

Otherwise, Liu Jingyi would be overwhelmed with business offers.

The data is real. Even though reposts, likes, and comments can be faked, netizens can see whether the comment section is filled with real people or fake comments.

Even today, the pairing of the emperor and Shao Jing in the TV series "The Powerful Minister" is still being created by netizens.

What about "Ascending to the Clouds"?

Liu Jingyi has been busy all this time, but where are the fans who created content for the Sun Bo and Yang Ji CP?

It doesn't exist at all.

To some extent, Liu Jingyi's constant marketing of the on-screen couple and his creation of the illusion that Sun Bo was very popular actually boosted Lin Yuan's reputation.

Liu Jingyi also has rivals. He hopes to become a big star through "Shang Qingyun," but there are actors who don't want to see this happen.

Liu Jingyi is desperately trying to market himself, but his rivals are trying to discourage him.

Lin Yuan became a very useful tool.

Not long after Liu Jingyi trended on social media, a marketing account published a long article titled "Lin Yuan's Dignity is Seen in the Details."

The long article first lavishly praised Lin Yuan, emphasizing that his momentum in the past two years was unstoppable, mentioning his Wall Award for Best Actor and his billions in box office revenue, saying that no one could stand against him. In short, it used the most exaggerated words of praise, making people deeply realize how fake marketing accounts are.

Next, the marketing accounts said that Lin Yuan, who is so popular, was forced into a CP relationship by Liu Jingyi, and no one stood up to refute him.

The marketing accounts came prepared, naturally listing all the interactions between Lin Yuan and Liu Jingyi during the filming and broadcast of "Up in the Clouds".

A long image roughly illustrates what kind of one-man show Liu Jingyi is putting on, during which Lin Yuan has absolutely no intention of cooperating with him.

But Lin Yuan didn't slap him in the face or come out to criticize him. This is the "magnanimity of a Wolverine Best Actor" (original text). In comparison, how ridiculous/despicable/shameless Liu Jingyi is.

Lin Yuan: "..."

First of all, he's not stupid.

Secondly, although the article praised him extensively, he could sense the strong malice directed at Liu Jingyi and the "Shang Qingyun" production team throughout the article.

After this long article was published, related topics also appeared on the trending searches.

In a very short time, a large number of viewers were emphasizing one thing: "With Liu Jingyi in the show, I won't watch 'Up in the Clouds'."

Some of these "viewers" even used the tone of Lin Yuan's fans.

Lin Yuan admitted that after reading the long article from the marketing account, some viewers did indeed think he was a respectable person.

But with the sudden surge of trending topics about "Liu Jingyi refusing to star in 'Up in the Clouds'", the nature of the situation changed.

Ultimately, this will only harm the interests of the production team.

As the protagonist of "Ascending to the Clouds," Lin Yuan may not like some of the actions of others, but he still hopes that "Ascending to the Clouds" will have more viewers willing to support it.

Because Liu Jingyi refused to star in "Ascending to the Clouds"?

This isn't the first time Liu Jingyi has appeared on the set of "Shang Qingyun". Does the production team think he can return him?

Besides, why did he refuse Liu Jingyi? Because Liu Jingyi forced Lin Yuan to create a CP (couple pairing) between them.

The source is still Lin Yuan.

Upon closer examination, the logic behind this is that, in order to protect Lin Yuan, they decided not to watch any dramas starring Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan: "..."

He really didn't know what to say about it.

However, the ratings for "Up in the Clouds" did indeed drop a bit.

The production team's decision to add scenes for certain characters had already drawn criticism from viewers. Currently, "Up in the Clouds" is still ranked first in ratings, but its ratings have dropped significantly, almost being overtaken by the second-ranked drama.

It's worth noting that initially, "Up in the Clouds" had a significant advantage over the second drama.

"Lin Yuan failed this time?!"

"It seems that the audience's boycott of Liu Jingyi has worked."

"Lin Yuan is a respectable movie actor now. What does it matter to him if his TV dramas don't get good ratings? He can't expect his films to be box office hits and his TV dramas to be number one in ratings at the same time. He can't have all the benefits. How are other people supposed to survive?"

The following day, the ratings for "Up in the Clouds" dropped even further, and the difference between the ratings of the second-ranked drama and the one that ranked second was only 0.2%!

Marketing accounts summarized it as Liu Jing driving away customers, or that Lin Yuan's magic failed, but Lin Yuan knew that the most crucial reason was that this part of the plot was not good enough.

In the script, this story describes the difficulties encountered by Yang Ji and others; the difficulties serve as a prelude, and the focus is on the joy of success.

However, judging from the broadcast clips, the proportion of difficulties was too high. Film and television works need setbacks, but setbacks should not completely defeat people all at once. Instead, they should be gradual, with major setbacks containing minor setbacks, and should also give the audience some hope.

This part is really not good.

As the lead actor, Lin Yuan could only express his hope that the audience would watch "Shang Qingyun" on his own homepage.

He couldn't interfere with others, but he had to fulfill his responsibilities as the lead actor.

Fortunately, director Li Xinjin is truly talented. Although there were changes and modifications along the way, the later plot still managed to be reconciled.

Lin Yuan believes this is probably related to the fact that the latter half of "Ascending to the Clouds" focuses more on portraying careers and less on the characters.

Yang Ji was still portrayed very well, so Lin Yuan's fans continued to support the show and did not abandon it due to interruptions.

Since the focus is on portraying career paths, it inevitably involves patriotism and the dream of space exploration, which aligns with the aspects that initially made "Up in the Clouds" popular with the audience.

The director also showcased the characters' emotions.

Even the reserved Yang Ji shed tears when faced with the success of an experiment.

Scientists who dedicate their lives to their posts persist even when the future seems bleak.

"Up in the Clouds" did not give up on showcasing the shining points of these characters.

After the mundane and boring parts have passed, these contents become exciting again.

"Up in the Clouds" is not only still at the top of the ratings, but the gap between it and the second place is also gradually widening.

The entire crew breathed a sigh of relief.

I can't imagine how embarrassing it would be for them if "Up in the Clouds" dropped to second place in the ratings.

After "Up in the Clouds" aired, Lin Yuan had no further communication with Liu Jingyi. Now that the ratings were gradually returning to normal, he couldn't help but ask Feng Zeng to pass on a message to Liu Jingyi's agency, asking him to temporarily abandon his CP marketing, which no one cared about at all.

In fact, judging from the current ratings, although "Up in the Clouds" has been able to maintain its number one ratings, it is far from meeting the expectations before filming began.

Many actors participated in this drama with the mindset that they would definitely become famous, and they had to go through many trials and tribulations to get the key roles.

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Author's Note: Here I am! [doge][doge]