Countdown to the broadcast of The Voice of China: 20 days to the broadcast.
When he arrived at the office in the morning, Zhang Ye sat in his office and calculated the time. He still had plenty of time and was still making preparations in all aspects. In just a few more days, he would be able to officially start recording. Other than waiting for a piece of equipment to be ordered, which delayed him by seven to eight days, he did not waste much time and everything was going according to plan. The stage renovations were almost complete, and the auditions in the various cities were also coming to an end. The contestants were rehearsing, the coaches were rehearsing, and the staff were learning how to operate the new equipment. Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.
Knock knock.
There was a knock on the door from outside.
"Come in." Zhang Ye looked up.
Little Wang pushed the door open and came in. "Director Zhang, they're here."
Zhang Ye acknowledged her and stood up to welcome her.
Four people, both men and women, came in from outside. Some were in their thirties, while others were in their forties. All of them were either dressed in suits or professional attire. They were the representatives of the various advertising agencies and were here to discuss the licensing fees. As they did not manage to come to an agreement earlier, Zhang Ye had arranged for them to meet up and discuss it again.
"Teacher Zhang, we meet again."
"Minister Li, please come in."
"Hello, Teacher Zhang."
"CEO Xu, please have a seat."
Zhang Ye invited the four of them to sit down and got Little Wang to pour them a glass of water. Then he said to them, "The countdown to the broadcast of the show is in 20 days. The recording will definitely have to be brought forward by a few more days, so I hope that everyone will reconsider."
The woman from Plum Soy Milk Company said, "The price that you're asking for is too high."
Zhang Ye shook his head. "To be honest, we really did not ask for too much. A licensing fee of 3 million RMB is nothing compared to the 100 million RMB Brain Gold Corporation's title sponsorship fee. If we go by the usual ratio of title sponsorship fees to licensing fees, 5 million RMB per advertisement isn't considered much. But according to the market situation, we deliberately took a step back and reduced the original price by half. Furthermore, the advertising slots and the number of repetitions of our show's advertisements are all second only to the title sponsorship fees. For example, the host's lines, the lines after the commercials, and the special explanation at the end of the show are all very good."
But the middle-aged man from Red and Blue Pharmaceutical Company said, "A title sponsorship fee of 100 million RMB is actually unreasonable in itself. It's way beyond the standards of the industry, and it's too much of a bubble. I'll just say this, Teacher Zhang. For other singing talent shows in the industry, the title sponsorship fee for a show is only around 10 to 20 million RMB, while the licensing fees are at most a million RMB or so. Some of these shows can even get 700,000 to 800,000 RMB, but you're asking for 3 million RMB right off the bat, and there's no bargaining at all. That's something we can't accept. My bottom line is 1.5 million RMB."
Zhang Ye looked at him. "If you really want to compare us to the other shows, that's fine too. We managed to invite Grandma Zhang Xia, but what about the other shows? We have the Chen Guang and Fan Wenli couple, but what about the other shows? We have the Heavenly Queen Zhang Yuanqi, but what about the other shows? I'm not saying all this to show off. What I'm trying to say is that we've spent a lot of money to invite four big name coaches, so we're also facing some financial pressure. These four coaches can bring great publicity and viewership ratings to the show, so the advertising effects will be better. That's also why our advertising fees are higher than the other shows. "
Another manager from Heehee Dairy Company said, "It's precisely because of this that we've relented and raised the price a little. Teacher Zhang, let me be frank with you as well. No matter how much the other companies are willing to pay, our Heehee Dairy Company is willing to pay up to 1.8 million RMB. I've already drafted the contract, so if you think it's fine, we can sign it right now."
Zhang Ye waved it off and said, "No."
The woman from Plum Soy Milk Company said, "Teacher Zhang, I heard that your show has only managed to sell one of its advertising slots. If you insist on not lowering the price by 3 million, it'll be very difficult to sell it. In the end, it'll just be a waste of your resources and a loss."
The manager from Heehee Dairy Company added, "If it's 3 million, we definitely won't buy it. There aren't many other companies that have the ability or desire to buy the first-tier advertising slots. At most, they'll buy a second-tier or third-tier advertising slot and leave a few first-tier advertising slots empty. If that's not a waste, then what is? If we lower the price to below 2 million, your show can immediately earn a large sum of advertising fees. But if you insist on such an unreasonable price of 3 million, then it'll be very difficult for us to negotiate. In the end, your show will end up losing nearly 10 million RMB for the first-tier advertising slots for no reason at all, so why bother? "
The other advertisers were also of the same opinion. They were all waiting for The Voice's program team to lose their patience and lower the price on their own. Otherwise, the show would only be broadcasting for a few more days. At that time, even if they wanted to sell their advertising slots, they wouldn't be able to. The ones who would lose the most would be them.
However, Zhang Ye did not see it that way. This bunch of people might seem to be right, but it was all nonsense. "I still stand by what I said. The lowest price is 3 million RMB. Our production costs are there for all to see."
The manager from Heehee Dairy Company frowned and said, "Taking 10,000 steps back, The Voice has not been broadcast yet, so no one knows what the viewership ratings will be like. Besides, looking at the comments from the public and the media, it doesn't seem like everyone is optimistic about it. We're also taking a risk by buying the advertising slots. We also have our own costs."
"Teacher Zhang, let's go with 2 million RMB. I'll take another step back."
"OK, the highest we can offer is 2 million RMB. I'll discuss it with the company and we should be able to accept it."
The two people who had not spoken all this while finally spoke up.
Actually, before coming here, the few of them had already communicated with each other and had already thought of what to say. Zhang Ye was actually right. The Voice was the first variety show in the industry to have a production cost of over a hundred million RMB. With the addition of Zhang Yuanqi, Chen Guang, and other heavyweight coaches, it could really be said to be an unprecedented lineup. Even if many people and industry insiders were not optimistic about it, they were still willing to buy the advertising slots for The Voice. For this reason, they were even willing to accept a price that was twice the industry average of 1 million RMB. 2 million RMB was their bottom line, but if they were to accept a price that was three times the industry average, they would not be able to accept it.
The four of them looked at Zhang Ye, waiting for him to back down.
Zhang Ye also looked at them, then picked up the phone on the table and called the office outside. "Hello, Little Wang, come to my office for a while. Yes, right now."
Knock knock.
Little Wang knocked on the door first before pushing it open and coming in. "Director Zhang."
Zhang Ye directly said, "Help me send some of my friends off."
The four of them were stunned. Send them off?
Little Wang was taken aback. She looked at the four of them and said, "Everyone, this way please."
One of them said, "I advise you to reconsider."
Another person said, "3 million RMB, no one will buy it!"
Zhang Ye said, "Please go back. Our advertisements are clearly priced. Even if no one wants to buy it, we'll still sell it at that price."
"Then forget it."
"Goodbye!"
"Goodbye!"
The four of them were fuming as they left. They thought to themselves that Zhang Ye was being too arrogant. For such a lousy show, the viewership ratings might not even reach 0.5% in the end, so what right did he have to demand a 3 million RMB licensing fee? Only an idiot would buy it! Just wait until you get all the advertising slots for yourself! When that time comes, you'll be the ones suffering a huge loss!
When they left, Zhang Ye called Zhang Zuo and Ha Qiqi over. More than half of the work that they were in charge of had been completed, so the two of them had a lot more time on their hands.
"Director Zhang, you were looking for us?" Zhang Zuo asked.
Ha Qiqi blinked. "I saw that the advertisers just left? How many more advertising fees did we earn? "
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "No, we didn't manage to get anything done. They couldn't accept the first-tier licensing fee, and they wouldn't be interested in the second-tier and third-tier advertisements either."
Ha Qiqi said, "We didn't lower the price? It was still 3 million RMB? "
Zhang Ye asked, "Why did we lower the price?"
Ha Qiqi was speechless.
Zhang Ye said, "In the future, the two of you can help me split the cost of the advertising contracts. If there are any more advertisers who come to talk about advertising slots, you guys can negotiate with them. The first-tier licensing fee will be 3 million RMB, not a single cent less. Just go with that. If you can't get anything done, then forget it." He was annoyed by these advertisers and couldn't be bothered to argue with them. So he just left the matter to Zhang Zuo and Ha Qiqi.
Ha Qiqi said, "If we don't lower the price, based on my understanding, it might be very difficult. After all, the advertising fees in the industry … If we don't sell them, our losses …"
Zhang Ye said, "It's not that I don't want to sell the advertising slots, nor that I don't want to lower the price. It's just that we can't lower the price. We've already sold one of the first-tier licensing fees, and there's also the 100 million RMB title sponsorship from Brain Gold. If we lower the price and give the advertising fees to the other companies, what will the companies that bought the advertising slots think? What will the Brain Gold company, who supported us when we had no funding, think? They helped us in our time of need, so how can we take them for fools? "
Zhang Zuo nodded. "That's true."
Ha Qiqi sighed. "But if we leave the advertising slots empty, then the losses …"
Zhang Ye said, "At most, we'll lose two advertising slots, so what's the big deal? Besides, let me tell you, we won't be the ones to lose. Those four companies will definitely regret it in the future. But that's all for the future. "
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