Chapter 71 071 Competing Against Ratings Changes

Chapter Seventy-One

Lin Yuan: "..."

His recent feeling is that fighting against eight opponents is not a pleasant experience.

No matter what field he competes with the members of Wink in, he can't avoid being ridiculed. The key point is—

Can you be a little more objective?

The audience size of Tianfeng TV and Xiaguang TV is not the same, okay?

But for some reason, Lin Yuan never felt anxious about "The Powerful Minister".

After "The Powerful Minister" premiered, Lin Yuan watched it every night. From his perspective, although "The Powerful Minister" was slow to start, the pace was tight. The director cut out the extraneous parts during filming, leaving only the effective plot.

From the audience's perspective, Lin Yuan is very willing to follow "The Powerful Minister".

The show is right here. Lin Yuan felt that the director and everyone else had delivered a decent production, which was something they could control. As for the ratings, that was determined by the audience, not by their efforts.

Moreover, although the ratings of "The Powerful Minister" were much lower than those of "Lin Lang", among the dramas broadcast by Xia Guang TV in the past two years, the ratings of "The Powerful Minister" were in the upper-middle range.

At least its viewership ranking has risen from 17th place at the premiere to 15th place now.

...

Lin Yuan's new drama has poor ratings.

With a string of hit dramas airing in March, Ye Liuchuan's popularity is soaring.

In the ratings battle, Ye Liuchuan clearly wins against Lin Yuan.

Sang Zi couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Putting aside these sensationalist headlines, the content of the reports is also repetitive, simply emphasizing how awesome Ye Liuchuan is and how high the ratings of "Linlang" are. The problem is that Zheng Mian's name only appears twice in these reports.

Those who haven't watched the show might think that "Lin Lang" stars Ye Liuchuan.

But who doesn't know that among the two main leads, Zheng Mian and Ye Liuchuan, it is Zheng Mian who can truly carry the show?

The show has only aired a few episodes, and Zheng Mian's contribution has already been erased.

Sang Zi didn't watch "Lin Lang". "Lin Lang" and "The Powerful Minister" aired at the same time. She watched "The Powerful Minister", so she naturally didn't have the chance to watch "Lin Lang".

However, Sangzi heard from a friend that "Linlang" doesn't seem to be that good.

It's true that the pairing of Zhou Linlang and Qi Yejue is quite popular, but when you click into the pairing discussions on Weibo, most of the participants are still fans of Ye Liuchuan.

In other words, the popularity of the CP has a greater positive effect on Ye Liuchuan. Zheng Mian has no shortage of popular CPs. Zheng Mian's fans should have also vaguely realized that the CP of Zhou Linlang and Qi Yejue is essentially Ye Liuchuan sucking Zheng Mian's blood.

Zheng Mian has several hit dramas to her name, so she naturally has a lot of fans, but Zheng Mian's fans are not interested in contributing to Ye Liuchuan's popularity.

There's no way around it; we've been there before. Couples where one side supports the other will only end up being betrayed in the end.

Moreover, Ye Liuchuan was originally from Wink—when Wink disbanded, their backstabbing, cutting off, and tearing each other apart were a whole series of events that broadened the horizons of fans of various celebrities in the entertainment industry.

Moreover, since Wink disbanded, some members have faded into obscurity, while others have been ridiculed. Ye Liuchuan is one of the few who has managed to emerge unscathed, which is enough to prove his prowess.

In terms of marketing for the drama "Lin Lang", Zheng Mian's agency invested relatively little, with most of the marketing being handled by Ye Liuchuan's side. As expected by Zheng Mian's fans, almost every press release about "Lin Lang" in the past few days has been praising Ye Liuchuan, which has reduced Zheng Mian's presence to the lowest level.

Although this kind of situation is not uncommon in the entertainment industry, Ye Liuchuan's behavior is... extremely undignified.

Even an outsider like Sang Zi can see it, so how could Zheng Mian's fans not?

Therefore, to some extent, although the CP of Qi Yejue and Zhou Linlang seems to be very popular, its actual influence is rather weak and it is far less noticeable than Zheng Mian's other CPs.

...

Regardless of how others criticized "The Powerful Minister," Sang Zi watched every episode and followed the series to observe Shao Jing's life experiences.

After learning about Shao Jing's life, watching "The Powerful Minister" will evoke a sense of familiarity. "The Powerful Minister" also tells its story along the timeline of Shao Jing's life, with every scene pointing towards Shao Jing's future.

In the seventh episode, Shao Jing helps the emperor regain power, which leads to a conversation between Shao Jing and Song Kuan in front of the palace gate.

An old man and a newcomer. The old man was sharing his life experiences, while the newcomer only saw the bright present and the vibrant energy, unwilling to think about what the future might hold.

In Sang Zi's eyes, Shao Jing's eyes seemed to be shining at this moment, and no matter what he did, he had no regrets.

He wanted to be loyal to his emperor, and he wanted to make good plans for the country and the people. The young scholar's face was full of hope.

He didn't know that Song Kuan had once been like him.

However, one is often caught in the web of power struggles, and the imperial court is also a part of the martial world.

Before the palace gates, the light separated Song Kuan and Shao Jing into two halves, one in the light and the other in the shadows, one like a newborn sunrise and the other like a fading sunset.

Seeing this scene, Sang Zi couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness, and a sense of melancholy arose in his heart.

At this moment, Shao Jing, full of ambition, probably could never have imagined the future.

He talked with the emperor about his ambitions, read books with him late into the night, and was full of thoughts about changing the world, but the world would not turn out the way he expected.

He may have only been able to change a small part of the world, but he changed himself far more.

Watching Lin Yuan's performance, Sang Zi couldn't help but sigh—she wished time could stand still at this moment.

Lin Yuan portrayed the character of Shao Jing so well that it's hard to describe how good he was. Especially his sparkling eyes when he talked about his ambitions. Looking into those eyes, even though she was just a viewer and an observer, she still hoped that Shao Jing could realize his wishes.

After watching episodes seven and eight, Sangzi couldn't wait to search for information about "The Powerful Minister" in real time. Sure enough, just as she thought, these two episodes were easy to relate to.

Discussions surged rapidly.

Moreover, in forum posts about new dramas in March, the frequency of mentioning "The Powerful Minister" has increased.

Previously, discussions about the new drama were all focused on "Lin Lang," with almost all the posts on the homepage related to "Lin Lang." But now, "The Powerful Minister" can occupy at least two or three posts on the homepage.

Has anyone watched the latest episode of "The Powerful Minister"?

[In episode 7 of "The Powerful Minister," the dragon-slaying youth becomes the dragon himself. Anyone want to discuss the character Shao Jing?]

[He Xun and Lin Yuan are the best-matched emperor and minister actors. Raise your hand if you agree.]

Sangzi has recently been enjoying reading discussions on forums because the forum users are all very talented.

When Sangzi watches dramas, she focuses on the plot and easily overlooks details. She often only realizes something when netizens on forums bring it up.

Whether netizens praise Lin Yuan's acting skills or discuss the foreshadowing in "The Powerful Minister," Sang Zi feels a subtle sense of satisfaction.

She couldn't find so many fellow fans of "The Powerful Minister" anywhere else.

Regarding the way Song Kuan is addressed in this drama, Song Kuan was from Luzhou. He passed the imperial examination in XXX year, ranking fourth in the second class. In XXX year, due to his opposition to the powerful eunuchs controlling the government, Song Kuan left the Hanlin Academy. He returned to the academy many years later and entered the cabinet. After that, officials referred to Song Kuan as "Song of Luzhou." While people may not be familiar with the name Song of Luzhou, they are certainly familiar with names like Yan Fenyi, Zhang Jiangling, and Xu Huating.

[Song Kuan's ending was actually not bad; his reputation as an official wasn't as bad as imagined. However, compared to Shao Jing, his fame was slightly lower, but Shao Jing's reputation wasn't exactly good either.]

The lighting in this drama is also commendable. For example, in this shot, the character in the shadows is Shao Jing's friend. As we all know, his friend leaves the court later in the story.

That scene was incredibly heartbreaking. Seeing off a loved one in the snow was certainly the beginning of Shao Jing's awakening, but it also meant that some warmer aspects of his humanity were lost on that snowy day.

Shao Jing began to understand the meaning of sacrifice.

Sangzi said that these netizens were too good at talking, saying everything she wanted to say.

By the eighth episode of "The Powerful Minister," it seemed that Shao Jing had won and started his glorious official career, but the cruelty of officialdom had only just begun, and Shao Jing had actually already lost a lot.

Although she knew everything was destined to happen, Sangzi still felt it was very heartbreaking.

She had a premonition that the young scholar, who was so full of vigor and highly regarded at the moment, would one day become someone like Song Kuan.

Perhaps it wasn't a premonition, but destiny.

Moreover, as a viewer, even if she hoped Shao Jing would have a happy ending, at some point in history, Shao Jing had already met his end, and that was irreversible.

"In short, 'The Powerful Minister' is really good!!"

"As a fan of Shao Jing, I have never encountered a work that respects Shao Jing so much. History has not yet determined what kind of person Shao Jing was, yet some people have labeled him as a treacherous minister and a scumbag. I can only laugh."

"...Are you guys making this up? I've been struggling to decide what drama to watch in March. If you guys say that, I'm really going to watch 'The Powerful Minister'."

"Go for it! You definitely won't regret watching it."

"I'm currently torn between 'The Powerful Minister' and 'Lin Lang.' Many people have recommended 'Lin Lang' to me, so which one should I watch?"

"Follow your heart—ask yourself carefully: given that 'Linlang' has a stronger audience, cast, and platform than 'The Powerful Minister,' why did you put 'The Powerful Minister' and 'Linlang' side by side? Which one do you prefer? It goes without saying, right?"

"clear."

...

On Weibo, the pairing of Qi Yejue and Zhou Linlang remains incredibly popular, with everyone believing that Ye Liuchuan will definitely become a breakout star with this drama.

Unlike "A Tear in a Cup," "Linlang" didn't cause any trouble during its broadcast. Although it wasn't an S+ level project on a certain platform, its cast was just as good. Zheng Mian and Ye Liuchuan were relatively low-key, and the plot was also good. Unlike "A Tear in a Cup," Xie Yu's performance was so awkward that it made people want to dig their toes into the ground.

Compared to Xie Yu, Ye Liuchuan wasn't in such a hurry to "go broke" with his loan.

Of course, there is some comparison between "Lin Lang" and Lin Yuan, but in any case, "The Powerful Minister" and "Lin Lang" are broadcast at the same time, and in the current ratings competition, "Lin Lang" has indeed won by a large margin over "The Powerful Minister".

The viewership data speaks for itself; it's not just fans making things up.

Xie Yu was different back then. The plot of "A Tear" wasn't very good, and his acting skills weren't as good as Ye Liuchuan's, but he kept his eyes fixed on Lin Yuan and wanted to crush him under his feet.

In short, based on the success of "Lin Lang", many netizens believe that Ye Liuchuan will be the first Wink member to break free from the influence of the group and achieve success as a leading man.

As long as "Linlang" can maintain its current viewership ratings.

As the top-ranked period drama came to its finale, "Lin Lang" quickly followed suit, taking the top spot in the ratings charts in late March.

The success of "Linlang" was so remarkable that no one noticed that on the same day, "Quanchen" jumped from 15th to 10th place in the rankings, and its viewership ratings surged, exceeding 6%.

Although compared to the daily viewership of over 10% for "Lin Lang," the achievement of "Quan Chen" is nothing.

But the day before, the viewership of "The Powerful Minister" was less than 5%.

Compared to its previous performance, "The Powerful Minister" has indeed seen a surge in popularity.

The key point is that this increase came without any warning.

If "The Powerful Minister" had hired a big star for promotion, or had targeted a specific marketing point for widespread brainwashing marketing, then such a surge in sales would be understandable.

No, there isn't.

Xiaguang TV remains a second-tier satellite channel, and the frequency with which "The Powerful Minister" trends on social media is even lower than before its premiere—the entertainment industry, to some extent, follows the Matthew effect, where the more popular a drama is, the more popular it becomes, and the more trending topics related to it will appear.

In recent days, "Linlang" has been trending on social media more and more frequently, which has squeezed the space for "The Powerful Minister".

Of course, no matter how much it increases, "The Powerful Minister" only has a 6% viewership rating and ranks only 10th, so it's not something to be alarmed about.

The production team of "Linlang" was also unaware of the danger.

After all, the viewership rating for "Linlang" has reached 11%.

However, the production team of "Lin Lang" also failed to realize that the seventh episode of "Lin Lang" had a viewership rating of 11.2%, while the eighth episode had a rating of 11%.

It was indeed a tiny, yet undeniable, difference; however, it meant that for the first time since its premiere, "Linlang" had experienced a drop in viewership.

This difference is so small that it could be considered an error.

However, the day after that, "Linlang" had a viewership rating of 10.4%.

When the second episode aired, the rating was 10.1%.

Meanwhile, "The Powerful Minister" achieved a viewership rating of 7.9%—the same as the first episode of "Lin Lang".

The problem is that "The Powerful Minister" is broadcast on Xiaguang TV.

For example, although a 7.9% viewership rating is still not much, it was the highest single-day viewership rating for Xiaguang TV from May of last year to March of this year.

Moreover, the viewership increase of "The Powerful Minister" was quite remarkable.

It's at least better than "Linlang".

Clearly, this is not a good sign.

Ye Liuchuan was always wary of Lin Yuan; he was the first person in the "Linlang" crew to notice the changes in the ratings of "The Powerful Minister".

If you look closely, the viewership increase of "The Powerful Minister" far exceeds that of "Lin Lang"—it has doubled in viewership since its premiere!

"Has Xiaguang TV increased its marketing efforts? Or has Lin Yuan's studio stepped in?"

If this is the case, the increase in viewership for "The Powerful Minister" is not surprising.

The truth is—no, there is none.

Xiaguang TV's promotional efforts were far less than Tianfeng TV's. As for Lin Yuan's studio, Lin Yuan was not affiliated with a management company; he was just a fledgling artist and couldn't possibly have sufficient marketing funds.

Why did "The Powerful Minister" manage to increase its viewership ratings?

Ye Liuchuan turned his gaze to Weibo. On this day, there was indeed a trending topic for "The Powerful Minister" with the hashtag #ThePowerfulMinisterEpisode8#.

After clicking on it, Ye Liuchuan felt a chill run down his spine.

Ye Liuchuan often observed Zhou Linlang and Qi Yejue's discussions about their relationship, so he understood very well the difference between a living person and a non-living person.

In the "Seven Weeks" CP, there are too many fans spamming the screen with tags like #YeLiuchuanPerfectMaleLeader#, so there's not much active user base.

The entry for episode 8 of "The Powerful Minister" is filled with genuine discussions from viewers who have watched the show.

They didn't even consider recommending the drama "The Powerful Minister," they were just expressing their true thoughts.

"I thought I would be devastated by the pain of separation and death, but it turns out that the separation between close friends is just as heartbreaking."

"Is Song Kuan foreshadowing Shao Jing's fate? There's a strange sense of vicissitude about him."

"Waaaaah, 'The Powerful Minister' is so faithful to the original! My ideal Shao Jing suddenly has a face, just like Lin Yuan's face."

"Sigh, I'll stay with Shao Jing until the very last episode."

Ye Liuchuan: "..."

Are there similar discussions about "Linlang"? It seems there are, but very few.

Objectively speaking, countless ancient costume dramas like "Lin Lang" have been made, and there are many of them that are of better quality. Zheng Mian herself has made them. Unless "Lin Lang" is significantly better than other dramas, it will not be able to arouse the audience's desire to discuss it.

However, it did not exceed many.

It's just one of the many ancient costume dramas that air at least once a month throughout the year; there's nothing particularly outstanding about it.

But surely "Linlang" shouldn't lose to "The Powerful Minister"? Ye Liuchuan had never considered such a possibility.

When they premiered, the two shows had a ratings difference of exactly 100%.

Moreover...

No matter how you look at it, "Linlang" has no chance of losing.

But Ye Liuchuan suddenly felt uneasy. For some reason, whenever something related to Lin Yuan came up, this unease would grow stronger and stronger until it eventually became a reality.

That evening, Ye Liuchuan discovered a new trending topic: #LinYuanHeXun#

Ye Liuchuan's eyelids twitched.

His pairing with Zheng Mian is a powerful weapon, and so is the pairing of Lin Yuan and He Xun.

Lin Yuan and He Xun clearly have no intention of creating a romantic pairing. "The Powerful Minister" is a serious political drama, and neither of their characters has any romantic storylines, so how can they be considered a couple?

But that doesn't stop the audience from loving to ship them.

In fact, the pairing of Qi Yejue and Zhou Linlang was forced upon the audience. From the very beginning of the show, the production team tied this couple together, almost telling the audience from every angle that Qi and Zhou's relationship was too tragic and too lovable, so why not come and ship them?

At times like these, the audience might not necessarily buy it; they prefer to find their own sweet moments.

The hashtag #LinYuanHeXun# initially just discussed the two actors' acting skills.

"Doesn't anyone think that Lin Yuan and He Xun are both excellent actors? Not only are their images very suitable, but they have also perfectly captured the personalities of Shao Jing and the emperor."

"+1, Shao Jing and the Emperor are both smart men, and they both grasped their roles very well."

"There is a tension between the ruler and his subject. Because both of them are young, although they are scheming, it is not purely exploitation, but rather using each other to realize their ambitions."

"That's the best part!"

"The emperor bribed Shao Jing with subtle details, and Shao Jing also held back when carrying out the objective—look here, do you think the emperor knew about Shao Jing's little scheme?"

“He definitely knew, but he pretended not to.”

"The roundabout way that clever people do is so fascinating. Shao Jing is still talking about other things, tsk tsk, who says the emperor isn't just smiling indulgently here?"

"For no other reason than that our Shao Tanhua is too handsome! He's the man who fell from the top scholar position to the third-ranked scholar just because of his looks!"

Ye Liuchuan: "..."

When the ratings for "Lin Lang" dropped to 9.8% while "The Powerful Minister" reached 8.3%, his unease finally came true.

It was only then that viewers who were paying attention to the ratings noticed that, without their knowledge, "The Powerful Minister" had already climbed to 5th place on the ratings chart.

"???what happened?"

"What's going on? It seems like 'The Powerful Minister' has broken the ratings record for Xiaguang TV in the past two years?"

"I hadn't even noticed yet, how come 'The Powerful Minister' already has 8% rating? Isn't that already past the passing grade?"

"Even on a first-tier satellite TV channel, this ratings would be above average, let alone on a second-tier satellite TV channel like Xia Guang."

"...So is 'The Powerful Minister' any good? Did it rely solely on its quality and lack of marketing to achieve its success?"

"As a viewer of 'The Powerful Minister,' I came from the 'Lin Lang' side."

...

The audience for "The Powerful Minister" mainly consists of three groups of people—

First, the target audience for historical dramas.

Historical dramas are indeed a niche genre these days, but even the most obscure subject matter has its fans. In the past, there were at least a few historical dramas every year, but now, not only are there none, but even when one does come out, the quality is not very good.

"The Powerful Minister" is actually quite good; the pace is slow, but it's not boring.

Secondly, there are Shao Jing's fans, including those who like to ship him with other celebrities.

Thirdly, ordinary viewers.

This group of viewers doesn't have fixed preferences for TV series; they'll watch them if the quality is good.

"The Powerful Minister" is, after all, a drama with its highlights, and its existence cannot be completely ignored.

In addition, there is one more thing—

Audiences are getting tired of the same old thing.

There are at least ten dramas like "Lin Lang" every year.

Initially, due to Zheng Mian's appeal, many viewers were willing to watch it. The first few episodes of "Lin Lang" were of good quality, so the ratings were relatively stable.

But in the last one or two episodes, Zhou Linlang has been tortured too much in the show.

It's as if the director has a grudge against Zhou Linlang, torturing the character relentlessly, not only emotionally but also physically. If there were a reason for the torture, that would be one thing, but he just inexplicably tormented her.

Logically, after being subjected to such torture, the female lead should have risen up in protest. However, in the story, Zhou Linlang acts as if nothing happened, not only forgetting the torture she suffered but also not holding a grudge.

Who can stomach this kind of pairing?

The production team is still desperately marketing how wonderful the two are as a couple, but from the audience's perspective, the word "wonderful" simply doesn't exist.

Now that we've already had a tough time, there should be some sweet moments to come.

But the production team did the opposite and continued to torture the characters.

Whether it's a story of intense love and heartbreak or one of agonizing tragedy, generally speaking, it involves emotional trauma for both parties. But the drama "Lin Lang" is different; the tragedy is for the female lead, while the sweetness is for the male lead.

Viewers waited a full eight episodes, hoping for some sweet moments.

The production team told them quite frankly that there would be no more torture to come.

The audience: "..."

Even Zheng Mian's fans would find it difficult to continue.

Although Zheng Mian has filmed many tragic dramas, none of them are as heart-wrenching as "Lin Lang".

The female lead's experiences may be meant to highlight the male lead's shining moments, but Ye Liuchuan's image... at least fails to meet the audience's expectations for his shining moments.

It's no secret in the entertainment industry that Ye Liuchuan has had plastic surgery.

He has no problem performing on stage normally, but in the series, there are several scenes where his face looks off. He looks okay from the front, just a little swollen occasionally. But from the side, when Ye Liuchuan and Zheng Mian are facing each other, the audience can't accept that his chin is more sharply defined than Zheng Mian's.

In any case, the feelings between the characters should be mutual.

"Linlang" is a bit too biased towards Qi Yejue.

The anticipated plot never unfolded, so a drop in viewership was inevitable.

However, the extent of the drop in viewership for "Linlang" still exceeded public expectations.

On this new day, the ratings for "Linlang" have dropped to 8.9%.

Not only did it drop below 10 again, but it also caused "Linlang" to fall directly from the top of the ratings chart, and is now in second place.

"???"

"Isn't it normal for the ratings to be low? This stupid production team has introduced a new female character who has a crush on the male lead, and they're starting to torture the female lead to death, whipping her. What the hell? Are they sick in the head?"

"??? Even if the female lead were Ultraman, she couldn't withstand this kind of treatment."

"...The 8.9% rating for 'Linlang' is not the point. Let's shift our attention down and look at the current third place."

"?"

"?"

On the ratings chart, following "Lin Lang" was the "niche" historical drama "The Powerful Minister".

"Linlang" had a viewership rating of 8.9%, but what about "The Powerful Minister"?

8.8%.

The difference is only 0.1%.

"As far as I remember, the ratings difference between these two dramas was about 6%. What exactly happened in the last few days?"

"Hilarious! I still remember Ye Liuchuan's fans mocking Lin Yuan for being no good. But Lin Yuan didn't rely on Zheng Mian's fame, nor did he appear on a good platform like Tianfeng. He's third on the rankings. Xiaguang TV must be laughing in their dreams."

"Given the current upward trend of both dramas, 'The Powerful Minister' will definitely surpass 'Lin Lang' tomorrow."

"This 'The Powerful Minister' is amazing! So exciting!!!"

If "Lin Lang" hadn't had so much publicity at the beginning, and hadn't boasted about being number one in viewership, netizens might not have paid so much attention to the changes in the viewership rankings.

But Linlang did promote it anyway.

So now—all the marketing accounts are displaying today's viewership rankings on their homepages.

Second place, "Linlang", 8.9%.

Third place, "The Powerful Minister", 8.8%.

Just one step away.

A niche historical drama, focused solely on highbrow appeal, outperformed idol dramas with their popular on-screen couples.

"Lin Yuan can surpass Ye Liuchuan even without making movies!!"

-----------------------

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