"Eastern Palace" was first aired in mid-February, with a total of 50 episodes. At the frequency of two episodes per day, the last few episodes coincided with the Spring Festival Gala.

Netizens are clamoring for "Eastern Palace" to compete with the Spring Festival Gala to see who is the ratings king.

But neither Wei Yang nor Shanghai TV wanted to be in the spotlight.

Besides, Wei Yang himself is going to participate in the Spring Festival Gala, so how could he possibly make things difficult for himself? As a local satellite TV station, Shanghai TV also has to cooperate with CCTV in the Spring Festival Gala broadcast on New Year's Eve.

In addition, the last few episodes of "Eastern Palace" are more heartbreaking, and it's not good to make everyone cry on New Year's Eve.

Therefore, as the Spring Festival approached, Blue Whale, Shanghai TV, and Sohu Video issued a statement that "Eastern Palace" would be suspended on New Year's Eve and would resume normal operation on New Year's Day.

Many viewers were dissatisfied and denounced Wei Yang and the two platforms. They asked that the broadcast be suspended on New Year's Eve and that the update of the day be moved to the previous day or New Year's Day as required.

For example, four episodes can be broadcast consecutively on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month or the first day of the Lunar New Year, or three episodes can be broadcast on each of the two days.

The suggestion was very good, but it was not adopted.

TV dramas are not like online novels where you can take time off to make up for the missed episodes. Advertisements, programmes and subsequent dramas are all arranged. Moreover, it is the New Year holiday, there is a shortage of staff and the time frame is special, so we have to be cautious in everything. How can we change at any time?

Netizens and viewers complained that the platform did not take "The East Palace" seriously, but little did they know that Shanghai TV felt very aggrieved when they heard this.

The average viewership rating of "Eastern Palace" is now approaching 4.

Since the calculation method of ratings was changed, this drama has been the highest-rated and most influential drama on Shanghai Satellite TV.

It is worth mentioning that the current Shanghai TV is still in its growth stage and is not the Tomato TV that can even compete with Mango TV in later generations.

Although Shanghai TV has always been considered a first-tier TV station in China, it ranks at the bottom. Some strong second-tier TV stations, such as Anhui Province and Shandong Province, may sometimes have a stronger presence than Shanghai TV. The reason why Shanghai TV can still hold its position as a first-tier TV station is very simple, its own political uniqueness + financial strength, as well as its two strengths of news and variety shows.

Especially for news, Shanghai TV is not only the best among provincial TV stations, but also ranks among the top three. This value is crucial in this era when the focus of propaganda and public opinion has not yet shifted to the Internet.

However, in terms of TV dramas, Shanghai TV is not good enough, even a bit disappointing.

Taking last year as an example, the average annual ratings of Shanghai TV's prime-time TV dramas were just about to break 0.3, with only two dramas breaking 1.

The major provincial TV stations ranked seventh in the overall TV drama ratings throughout the year. If the major channels of CCTV are included, they will fall out of the top ten.

If "Hello, Old Times" hadn't won the second place in the annual ratings of satellite TV stations, Shanghai Satellite TV would be embarrassed to show up in the public eye.

So it can be said that Shanghai TV loves Wei Yang so much.

Not only did the Zhenhua trilogy and "The East Palace" bring them ratings exposure and advertising revenue, but it also made up for their shortcomings to some extent and saved their face.

Although the overall ratings are still slightly lower, at least it has a hit brand that can be shown off. This year, "Eastern Palace" may even be expected to compete for the annual satellite TV ratings championship.

Therefore, everyone at Shanghai TV treats "The East Palace" as their treasure and would not be willing to neglect it.

If possible, they would never stop updating "The East Palace" before the finale. After all, this is likely to affect the original hot momentum.

But there is no way, this is force majeure.

For the sake of "Eastern Palace", Shanghai TV even changed the broadcast time of its own Spring Festival Gala from the original first day of the Lunar New Year to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

It is not unprecedented for a satellite TV station’s Spring Festival Gala to give way to a TV drama, but it is extremely rare, which shows the sincerity of Shanghai Satellite TV.

Even Wei Yang couldn't stand it anymore, and made a special explanation to Shanghai TV on Weibo. After all, this was his most loyal cooperation platform and he had to maintain it.

Of course, in order to appease the grievances of fans and viewers, Wei Yang decided to update his [Spring Festival Gala Personal Vlog] on Weibo to reveal the interesting daily life in front of and behind the scenes of the Spring Festival Gala live broadcast.

Yes, that’s right, it’s Wei Yang’s marketing hype again!

It was a rare Spring Festival Gala, and Wei Yang’s spirit of making trouble could not be restrained again. He wanted to do something fancy to increase his exposure, so he resorted to the Vlog method.

Vlog, to put it simply, is a video blog, which means posting on Weibo in the form of video images. It can also be regarded as a pseudo-documentary from a personal perspective.

Video self-media is still in its wild stage these days. Even the word Vlog was only included in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2009. The rise of domestic celebrities and personal Vlogs did not occur until after 2018.

Let alone Vlog, even reality shows have not yet been figured out in China.

At this time, when a top star records his daily life behind the scenes of the Spring Festival Gala, the country's largest stage, in a video, one can imagine the impact it will have on netizens and audiences.

Wei Yang personally made the connection, and Weibo, as the platform, agreed without hesitation. After much discussion, the Spring Festival Gala program team finally nodded in agreement.

After all, this is also a huge publicity and promotion for the Spring Festival Gala. CCTV itself takes the lead in live broadcasting backstage, so it doesn’t matter if Wei Yang is added.

However, Wei Yang still made a guarantee that he would never leak the program content, and the uploaded video content must be reviewed and approved by the Spring Festival Gala program team.

On the morning of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, Wei Yang’s first Vlog was released on Weibo. It became extremely popular and was quickly reposted across the entire Internet.

To be honest, at first no one understood what Wei Yang meant by "Vlog" or "video blog".

But after watching the feature film, it really opened the door to a new world.

The video was obviously carefully produced, and the subtitles, special effects, editing, and music all impressed many netizens.

The first shot of the vlog is the street scene in Beijing where the festive atmosphere is getting stronger, and then the time is indicated: 6 o'clock in the morning.

Then the camera appeared in a hotel room. The camera was held by someone and simply recorded the room. There was also a narration commentary. Anyone who was familiar with it would know it was Wei Yang's voice.

"This is the hotel room I stayed in Beijing. The configuration is not particularly good, but the advantage is that it is very close to the CCTV building and is relatively clean and sanitary."

"…This is my desk and my laptop. I usually do my work here. Let me show you. This document contains the script of the next new drama. You can guess it…"

"I usually watch TV for entertainment. The TV in my room is equipped with cable, and it can receive most satellite TV channels. Well, here is an advertisement. The TV series "Eastern Palace" starring me will be broadcast on Shanghai Satellite TV at 8 o'clock in the evening on the first day of the Lunar New Year..."

"There's nothing to see anywhere else. Let's go directly to the CCTV building and watch the Spring Festival Gala crew's breakfast."

Read the original text at Liu#9@书/吧!

The camera turned again and arrived at the CCTV building. The camera was held by another person and Wei Yang's face appeared in front of the camera.

He appeared without any makeup and wore a long down jacket, but he was still very handsome.

After asking the staff for breakfast, Wei Yang introduced today's meals.

Two buns, an egg, and a box of milk or soy milk.

In this regard, CCTV treats everyone equally, whether they are big names or ordinary actors, they are all treated equally. Of course, you can also go out to eat by yourself.

"This amount is basically enough. Of course, if someone is not full, they can ask for another portion. As long as there is no waste, it's fine."

Wei Yang made a special explanation. After all, although CCTV is not generous, it is not that stingy. The food is not good enough, but the portion will not be small.

At the same time, Wei Yang also stated that he had eaten the boxed lunches of the Spring Festival Gala, but he basically ate breakfast outside. Today was the first time he ate it, and he specially took a photo of the Spring Festival Gala breakfast for everyone.

In front of the camera, Wei Yang peeled an egg and ate it, then drank a few sips of soy milk and then commented.

"Just normal boiled eggs and soy milk, a little cold."

After eating a few more bites of the bun, Wei Yang was silent for two seconds. Wei Fei, who had been taking pictures with the camera, asked curiously.

“Not tasty?”

Wei Yang answered the question irrelevantly: "The buns have both meat and vegetables, as well as eggs, milk and soy products. The nutritional balance of breakfast is quite good."

After breakfast, Wei Yang came to the dressing room. As a top star and the highlight of this year's Spring Festival Gala, it was rare for him to have a small separate dressing room.

Wei Yang took some photos of the environment and chatted with the makeup artist for a few minutes, then said that the rehearsal makeup and program would be kept confidential and the Vlog would be skipped.

When the next shot appeared, Wei Yang had finished rehearsal, removed his makeup, changed his clothes, and was ready to leave the CCTV building.

"We're lucky tonight, someone's treating us to dinner, let's go wait in the car first."

Wei Yang's car was a Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle with quite a lot of space. After sitting and chatting for a while, there was a knock on the car window, the door opened, and a young man wearing a baseball cap and a fat female assistant came in. It was Wei Yang's new friend Jay Chou.

Obviously, the two had already talked about Vlog before, and it is even possible that they were invited by Wei Yang.

Jay Chou was not panicked when he saw the camera. He greeted them in a cool and arrogant manner, then went straight to the restaurant.

The restaurant they ate at was a relatively famous hot pot restaurant in Beijing. Wei Yang did not advertise it, and the camera went directly to the meal room. Wei Fei held the microphone, and Wei Yang and Jay Chou were talking and laughing. After the meal, they made an appointment to go to the basketball hall.

Interestingly, when checking out, Wei Yang spotted the paparazzi following him and recorded them in the Vlog, but with their faces blurred.

He also joked with Jay Chou: "Looking back, let's see whether their news became more popular or my Vlog video became more popular."

Wei Yang is not good at nor does he like playing basketball, so he was not active in the basketball hall. He just patted Jay Chou and then was busy signing autographs with the onlookers.

Thanks to him, Jay Chou played a friendly match quietly and steadily, and Wei Yang got most of the people's autographs and took individual photos with them.

After the basketball hall, Wei Yang filmed a night run and video conference work in the hotel, but the latter was edited and muted throughout.

At this point, Wei Yang’s first Spring Festival Gala Vlog has come to an end, but the impact and popularity it has caused are rapidly fermenting…

(End of this chapter)