Unlike the promotional approach of "Yun Qing Ji," which relied entirely on free publicity before its premiere, "Tian Ban" adopted a full-scale promotional campaign.
Since the release of the first trailer on June 15th, the official account for "Half a Day" has been releasing new trailers every three to five days, and also regularly posting stills or classic lines from the characters every morning and evening. Each trailer release is accompanied by the purchase of several trending topics, making their actions extremely ostentatious.
In just twenty days, the official Weibo account for "The Half of the Sky" has already released five trailers. In addition to "Rain Disappears in the Water" and "The Ninth Game", they have also released the individual trailers "Light Fat" for Lu Huaizhang; "Listening" for Cui Jingya; "Mahjong" for Shen Yanzhi, Cheng Daiqing, Jin Heming and Bai Jingan; and "Eternal Rivers" for the Red Party martyrs.
As the lead actor, Shang Yechu is obligated to unconditionally support all promotional efforts for "Tianban" at all costs. Now, she's constantly retweeting the official "Tianban" Weibo posts, practically becoming a ruthless retweeting machine. Previously, some of her fans complained about Shang Yechu's lack of online activity, but now they'd rather kneel down and beg her to stop retweeting—the data is simply too much to handle.
Shang Yechu cared more about how "Tianban" was airing than anyone else. She would watch every trailer released by the official channel several times in great detail. She was afraid that Ruguan TV's mismanagement might reveal too much plot and affect the broadcast of the series. — Especially the trailer for "Jianghe Wangu," which was a full three minutes long. When Shang Yechu first saw it, she almost had a heart attack.
Fortunately, Ruguan TV, as a long-established television station, has rich experience in publicity and operation. Each trailer is exceptionally well-produced, with a cinematic quality, combining movement and stillness beautifully. While seemingly revealing a wealth of information, they actually leave behind only a series of mysteries, making viewers eager to unravel them.
Not only on Weibo, but also on television, the promotion of "Tianban" is extremely exaggerated. Ruguang TV is currently airing a long historical drama called "When Will There Be Merit?", which is currently ranked number one in its time slot. Advertising slots for such dramas are always highly sought after. However, starting June 15th, Ruguang TV has been airing previews for "Tianban" every day before and after "When Will There Be Merit?"!
Prime time slots are incredibly valuable, so they certainly can't be used for one- or two-minute trailers like on Weibo. The trailers for "Half a Day" aired on television will never exceed forty-five seconds. Even so, this is still quite shocking.
There's a saying in the industry: "Getting on prime time isn't difficult, but inserting ads during prime time is the real skill." On Ruguang TV, prime-time advertising costs over 150,000 yuan per 15-second ad, and can reach over 400,000 yuan if the ratings are high enough, with a minimum frequency of one week. Even so, major brands are fiercely competing, and they might not be able to get a piece of the pie. Inserting a trailer for an unreleased drama during this time signifies that Ruguang TV is using its prime-time traffic—in the physical sense—to drive viewership for "Tianban."
In addition, with its frequent mid-roll ads throughout the day, its scheduled broadcasts after the evening news, and even its appearances during the opening credits of currently airing dramas, the advertising slots occupied by "Tianban" on television platforms are worth tens of millions of yuan!
This method was the core means of promoting TV dramas during the heyday of traditional television stations (around 2000-2015). However, in today's information-saturated, fast-paced, and cost-conscious era, even patriotic dramas, adaptations of top-tier IPs, or award-winning dramas rarely receive this treatment.
Even more so—Ji Juntao went to Ruguan to negotiate several times, and when he returned, he told Shang Yechu with a look of astonishment that the "Tianban" brand had already been laid out in Ruguan!
Ru Guan TV's actions go beyond mere pampering; they're treating "Tianban" like a precious mother. They've truly gone all out.
Shang Yechu had never seen anything like this in either of her two lifetimes. Even the massive marketing campaign for last year's hit drama "Qingyun Zhuan" paled in comparison to the scale of "Tianban".
Shang Yechu was originally very confident in the quality of "Tianban", but under this kind of viral marketing and promotion, he was a little uneasy.
With such a grand setup, what if it all falls apart?
Even if it doesn't flop, a regular release would be risky—the promotion of TV dramas is the same as that of movies. When the investment is kept under three million, a box office of ten million is considered a success; when the investment becomes fifty million, a box office of one hundred million is considered a flop!
Ruguan TV's promotion of "Tianban" is reckless, seemingly disregarding costs. If it turns out to be a case of losing money while gaining publicity, both Ruguan TV and Shang Yechu will become a laughingstock, surpassing even "Qingyun Zhuan".
Unfortunately, neither Shang Yechu nor Ji Juntao had the authority to interfere with Ruguan TV's publicity decisions. They could only watch helplessly as Ruguan TV launched massive marketing campaigns across various platforms. Even hundreds of marketing accounts on Weibo, including but not limited to entertainment bloggers, literature bloggers, book bloggers, and film critics, got their share of the profits, desperately promoting "Tianban" in various creative ways.
[Ruguan TV's featured program of the year, Tianban, let's wait and see.]
[Shi Shan is returning to television dramas after many years! We're all so excited!]
The highly anticipated spy drama "Tianban" will premiere on July 15th. What are some classic spy dramas that come to mind? Share your thoughts in the comments!
[The "Double Han" duo reunite! Their first collaboration since the "Double Yun" conflict! A new masterpiece comparable to "Xi Yuan," "Dong Lou Mi Shi," and "David's Legend: The Story of the Daughter" is about to be produced in Chinese dramas!]
Since "The Lonely Willow" in 2015, there hasn't been a high-quality spy drama in Chinese television that has captured the hearts of the entire nation for nearly three years. It remains to be seen how "Half a Sky," directed by Xu Hanwen, written by Zheng Bohan, and starring Shi Shan, will fare.
[Based on the true story of the legendary Communist Party agent "Tian Guang No. 1," *Half a Day* tells the thrilling tale of an underground Communist Party member's infiltration of the Kuomintang's Ninth Bureau. After a year of meticulous work, it's finally ready to be released!]
I have a feeling that just as "The Legend of Yun Qing" ushered in a new era for Chinese palace dramas, "Tian Ban" will also usher in a new era for Chinese spy dramas.
[Was Shi Shan suppressed? Was Ye Chu a crony? It turns out there's a reason! Click the link to read the full interview →]
Shang Yechu was already under a lot of pressure, busy preparing for "Rules Street". Ru Guan TV turned a drama into a show with the style of the evening news, which made things even more chaotic for Shang Yechu.
Shang Yechu is having trouble sleeping again. Not only is she having trouble sleeping, but her binge eating symptoms have also worsened.
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