Ch. 53
Chapter 53 - I’m Beating Myself!
Director Zhang had found Chen Ran's proposal stunning when he first saw it.
Now that the final product was out, it had not failed his expectations; it was indeed a good program.
What made him uncertain was whether the program would "explode."
What did it mean to "explode"?
Judging by the current ratings of the Entertainment Channel, a 10% rating was very, very good, and anything above that would be considered an explosion.
As for the premiere ratings, he gave it an expectation of 9%; with such a premiere rating, it could certainly explode.
Director Zhang felt the program's performance was good, but the audience's taste was not for him to decide.
He wasn't part of the Entertainment Channel, and he wasn't clear on the internal survey data, so naturally, he didn't dare to be certain.
Zhang Fanzhi didn't understand these things, but she could hear from her father's words that the results of this program would be very good.
She took out her phone and sent a message to Chen Ran.
Director Zhang saw his daughter's fingers tapping on her phone and roughly knew she was messaging Chen Ran; he felt somewhat speechless. Is it that boring to speak a few more words with me?
Seeing that her father's gaze was a bit strange, Zhang Fanzhi stood up slowly and said, "I'm going back to my room to write a song."
Auntie Yun asked, "Didn't you finish writing the song already?"
Just as Zhang Fanzhi was about to speak, her phone chimed with a ding; she took a look at it and then closed the door.
Director Zhang shook his head and said, "You actually believe her? She's going in to call Chen Ran!"
Auntie Yun, on the other hand, was happy, even wishing her daughter would be more proactive.
……
Chen Ran had just finished watching the program and was looking at several colleagues discussing the premiere situation in a group.
Lin Fan: "Today I made my whole family watch it, and the response was quite good."
"My relatives all know I'm in the program crew, so they followed along and watched; just now they were even praising the show for being interesting."
"I just looked at the forum, and the number of people discussing it is quite high; most of it is positive feedback."
Seeing them discuss, Chen Ran realized it was all relatives and friends, so he felt awkward.
He knew his parents didn't like this type of program, so he hadn't disturbed the two elders.
As for his younger sister, Chen Yao, she was studying away from home and couldn't possibly watch the local station.
However, the discussion on the forum mentioned by a colleague later interested him, and he also wanted to see how the audience evaluated the program.
Back during Zhaonan Focus, Director Liu Bing had shown evaluations from the forum; this place usually had many local netizens, and while it couldn't represent everyone, it could show a microcosm.
Unlike Zhaonan Focus last time, the comments this time had almost flooded the forum.
Many netizens expressed: Is this a program made by our local Zhaonan station?
– Very interesting!
– Although the lead singers aren't handsome, they really sing well!
– The program segments are quite attractive and look very relaxing!
– What kind of people were selected to go up? They can't even guess such simple lyrics. If I went up, I could do it too!
It was roughly these few types.
Occasionally, there were individual comments saying the program was very good, just that there were no stars.
Below that, someone replied: It would be boring with stars. This program mainly focuses on going up to sing the lyrics; if you let stars come, aside from being lead singers, it doesn't seem very interesting.
There were also those who said that there were stars in every program on Satellite TV, so there was no need to look for them in this program.
An entire page was all about the program I Love Remembering Lyrics.
There was even more discussion than for Zhaonan Focus back then.
This wasn't to say the program was more popular than Zhaonan Focus.
The likely reason was that the show's audience demographic overlapped with the netizens on the forum, which was why there was so much discussion.
"It seems the evaluation is quite good." Chen Ran was relatively satisfied.
There were few people nitpicking, and satisfaction was high.
If they could retain people, the ratings would certainly not be bad.
At this time, Chen Ran received a message from Zhang Fanzhi; he smiled slightly and followed up by replying to the message.
……
The next day was Saturday.
Because the program aired on Friday, there was a meeting on Saturday for a summary, so Chen Ran arrived at the station early in the morning.
He had just seen Director Wu Jin, who was smiling slightly, yet there was still some expectation and nervousness between his brows.
"I've been making programs for so many years, but every time it comes to the premiere, it's like this; my mental state just isn't up to par." Director Wu Jin saw everyone staring at him and couldn't help but give a dry cough.
No one would laugh; for something like a program, ratings determined life or death.
One had expectations for the program, yet feared it was just a case of feeling good about oneself—that you thought it was another Zhaonan Focus, only for it to give you the results of Boundless Joy.
Although, looking at the program, they knew that was impossible, it was still inevitable to feel apprehensive before the ratings came out.
In fact, let alone Director Wu Jin, everyone else in the program crew felt the same.
The program was something everyone had prepared together; if the ratings were good, they would not only have prestige but also bonuses.
When it was past nine o'clock, Director Liu Xianlong came over with a face full of joy.
Seeing his expression, everyone's apprehension eased slightly.
Although Director Liu was usually mild-tempered, he wouldn't normally show his joy so openly; the only thing that could make him this happy at a time like this had to be very good ratings.
"I Love Remembering Lyrics premiered last night, and the performance was excellent—unexpectedly excellent!" Director Liu was quite excited, and as he spoke, quite a few flecks of saliva flew out.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him expectantly, Director Liu didn't keep them in suspense and spoke directly:
"The premiere of I Love Remembering Lyrics had an average rating of 11.05%, breaking the record for premiere ratings set by this channel six years ago! Although this week hasn't ended yet, we can already reserve the spot for the channel's weekly ratings champion!"
"11.05%?!"
Director Wu Jin's heart had been in his throat since Director Liu entered; hearing the result now, he let out a long sigh of relief as his racing heart finally settled back into his chest, and a sense of steadiness washed over him!
Not just him—moments before Director Liu announced the ratings, everyone had been sitting bolt upright, but now they relaxed, and as they looked at one another, they could see the irrepressible joy in each other's eyes.
If they hadn't been in a meeting and Director Liu hadn't been standing right there, they would have definitely shouted out in happiness.
As for the premiere ratings, everyone had thought it would be around 9%, and even 8% would have been acceptable.
This sudden 11.05% truly was beyond everyone's expectations!
Chen Ran was equally happy; the program's rating perfectly met his mental expectations and was even slightly higher!
The ratings for Saturday Lotto were at most around 10%; no matter how popular this episode was, it wouldn't necessarily be able to surpass I Love Remembering Lyrics, so they could directly reserve the weekly channel championship!
Director Liu said with a hint of regret: "Pity, the program didn't break the 11.93% of Zhaonan Focus; that truly is an insurmountable hurdle."
If the premiere had exceeded 11.93%, it wouldn't have just been a channel record, but a record for all local channels of Zhaonan TV Station.
Everyone stole a glance at Chen Ran; Zhaonan Focus was also a program Chen Ran had worked on—could this be considered him beating himself?
Chen Ran smiled and said to everyone: "That's a news program, and this is an entertainment program; there's no conflict."
Director Liu also said: "Chen Ran is right; Zhaonan Focus cannot be viewed with common logic. Although it didn't surpass it, the performance of I Love Remembering Lyrics was excellent, and the ratings curve is very beautiful—it showed a linear rise from the moment it started at eight o'clock, and that momentum didn't stop until the very end of the program."
Although Director Liu didn't say it, everyone was a program maker and knew what this meant—the program's potential was massive.
One could even say that the broadcast of the second episode next Friday will be another beginning.
11.05% was only the beginning!