stjorthotic Chapter 228 The Power of Fandoms
Chapter 228 The Power of Fandoms
At nine o'clock the next morning, Lu Ran appeared in Li Mo's office on time.
Li Mo was making tea when he saw him come in. He gestured for him to sit down and said, "I looked into what you mentioned last night."
"What does Mr. Li think?" Lu Ran took the teacup.
"Interesting." Li Mo took a sip of tea. "I've dealt with Zhou Zhixiong from Starlight Entertainment a few times. He's capable, but a bit petty. He was treated like a rag by Weibo this time, so he's probably holding a grudge."
Lu Ran nodded: "He said Xinghua also agreed."
"I know Old Zhang from Xinghua well." Li Mo put down his teacup. "We had a meeting together at the Cultural Bureau back then. He's a shrewd man. If he agrees, this matter has a chance."
Just then, Li Mo's computer beeped—it was an invitation to a video conference.
On the screen, Zhou Zhixiong and another middle-aged man with gray hair were already online. The man was wearing reading glasses and looked more like a university professor than the head of an entertainment company.
"President Li, President Lu," Zhou Zhixiong greeted first. "This is Zhang Lihua, President of Xinghua Entertainment."
Zhang Lihua nodded towards the camera and got straight to the point: "President Lu, I've heard so much about you. President Zhou and I had a long talk last night, about how the three of us could join forces to counter Tencent's encroachment. After listening to him, I think it's a feasible plan."
Lu Ran was taken aback by the other party's directness, paused for a moment, and then smiled: "Mr. Zhang is straightforward."
"We can't afford to be sluggish," Zhang Lihua sighed. "Do you know how much Tencent invested in the entertainment sector this year? Three hundred billion. Three hundred billion! The combined net profit of the three of us is only a little over ten billion a year. They're throwing money around, what are we supposed to do? Follow suit? We can't afford it. Don't invest? We're just waiting to die."
Zhou Zhixiong chimed in, "So I think, instead of each going our own way, we should join forces. The three of us combined might not be inferior to them in terms of artist resources, production capabilities, and distribution networks. The question is, how do we join forces?"
Lu Ran thought for a moment and then said, "I have an idea."
All three eyes were fixed on him.
"Although TUTU's daily active users have been somewhat suppressed by WeChat, they are still around 15 million," Lu Ran said. "But that's not the most important thing. The important thing is that TUTU's user base consists of young people, young people with spending power, and young people with high user stickiness."
"The three of us have artists, content, and production capabilities. But what are we lacking? We lack a platform that can deliver all of this directly to users. Weibo was originally the best choice, but now that Weibo and WeChat are tied together, if we use Weibo, we're just handing it over to them."
Zhang Lihua seemed thoughtful: "You mean, we should turn TUTU into our own platform?"
"Yes," Lu Ran said. "Artists from Xingguang and Xinghua will open accounts on TUTU to post updates and interact with fans. For Xingyao, I'll also have the contestants from 'Super Girl' join. As for content, the three companies will collaborate on productions, with priority given to TUTU for promotion. Fans want to see their idols' updates? Come to TUTU. Want to follow new dramas and songs? Come to TUTU. Want to connect with like-minded people? Come to TUTU."
He paused, then emphasized, "Weibo has 300 million users, right? WeChat has 700 million, right? But their users are scattered. Our users are concentrated. Scattered users are traffic; concentrated users are fans. Which is more valuable, fans or traffic?"
Zhou Zhixiong's eyes lit up: "Fans are valuable."
"That's right," Lu Ran said. "Traffic comes and goes, but fans stay. What we need to do is build TUTU into a fan community. It's not about competing with Weibo for more users, but about competing with Weibo for higher user engagement."
Zhang Lihua adjusted his reading glasses and nodded slowly: "That's an interesting idea. Instead of fighting them hand-to-hand, we'll fight them in a positional war."
Li Mo laughed: "That kid Lu Ran never fights head-on. He prefers to attack from the rear."
Zhou Zhixiong also smiled: "I've experienced this deeply over the past six months."
In the video, everyone laughed, and the atmosphere became much more relaxed than at the beginning.
"So how exactly does it work?" Zhang Lihua asked.
Lu Ran had already planned it out: "First, the three companies will jointly establish a content alliance. In the future, any films, music, or variety shows they produce will be prioritized for promotion on TUTU, and TUTU will provide them with the best resource slots."
"Secondly, artists are flocking to TUTU. Popular artists from Starlight and StarHub, as well as rising stars from StarShining, are all opening accounts on TUTU. They regularly livestream, post updates, and interact with fans. They can even create exclusive content, such as behind-the-scenes footage and unreleased materials, which are only posted on TUTU."
"Third, fan management. TUTU will develop dedicated fan features—ranking, support, fan clubs, and merchandise purchases. This will allow fans to complete all their idol-following activities within TUTU, without having to go to Weibo."
After listening, Zhou Zhixiong couldn't help but ask, "What if Weibo bans us?"
"Ban what?" Lu Ran laughed. "It's an artist's freedom to post updates. Can Weibo stop an artist from posting elsewhere? Besides, we don't rely on Weibo to drive traffic to us. We rely on fans spreading the word spontaneously—fans will take screenshots, forward them, and recommend them. Weibo can't stop this kind of organic growth."
The more Zhang Lihua listened, the more plausible it seemed. He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "President Lu, what's wrong with your brain?"
Lu Ran humbly replied, "Mr. Zhang, you flatter me. I just like to think things through."
Zhou Zhixiong said quietly from the side, "Mr. Zhang, you'll get used to it. I felt the same way when I first faced him as an opponent."
There was another burst of laughter in the video.
After laughing, Zhang Lihua said seriously, "Alright, it's settled then. I'll have my legal department draft a framework agreement, and all three parties will sign it. I'll arrange the artists' onboarding as soon as I get back. Mr. Zhou, are things alright on your end?"
"No problem," Zhou Zhixiong said. "I'll go back and have a meeting with the artist management department to finalize this."
Li Mo also stated, "Lu Ran will be fully in charge of Xingyao. We'll do whatever he says."
Lu Ran paused for a moment and looked at Li Mo. Li Mo winked at him.
That old fox is trying to shift the blame onto himself.
But that's fine too. Being in full charge means he can do whatever he wants.
"Okay." He stood up. "It's settled then. Within a week, turn TUTU into a real fan community."
After the meeting ended, Lu Ran leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.
Starlight, Star Brilliance, and Star Radiance – a three-way collaboration.
Plus his tuk-tuk.
WeChat bloggers, do you think kicking out Starlight Entertainment is like getting rid of a burden?
You don't know, the power of the entertainment industry is far more than you think.
Lu Ran was all too aware of the power of fandom.
Those crazy fans can stay up until 3 a.m. to support their idols, buy out all the products their idols endorse, book dozens of screenings of their idols' movies, and even dump dozens of boxes of milk for their idols.
They're not just traffic stars, they're nuclear bombs.
Although Lu Ran did not approve of using fan circles to wage a propaganda war, at this critical juncture, since Xingguang and Xinghua had stepped forward, he would not say anything.
After all, the ones who are most in need right now are Starlight Entertainment and Star China Entertainment.
WeChat and Weibo are targeting their livelihoods.
"Brother Zhou." He took out his phone and called Zhou Mingzhe. "Notify the tech department to have a meeting. There's a big job coming up."
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