Chapter 93: Premiere Ratings

"Did you find all seven of these singers yourself?"

Yu Zhile was stunned.

So the guy he had been praising all along was Old Yang after all!

He had never expected Old Yang to have such taste, such musical discernment!

No wonder he had graduated from the music department...

These five men and two women, seven singers in all, were each so formidable that even the singers who had risen to fame on a wave of popularity would be ashamed before them.

Yang Bing replied: "I didn't go home for the New Year at all this Spring Festival. During my holiday, I traveled all over the place just to persuade Teacher Zhou Jian and the other two teachers who had already left the music scene to join the show!"

"Awesome!"

Yu Zhile admired him sincerely. "I think you're wasting your talent doing program planning! With your abilities, you'd be unbeatable in a negotiation job!"

"..."

Yang Bing said awkwardly, "Is that praise or an insult? These big shots agreed to join the show not because I'm good at negotiating, but because my sincerity moved them!"

Yu Zhile asked curiously, "You started out by lining up seven such incredible singers. If the later challengers don't measure up, won't they be embarrassed to come on stage?"

Yang Bing said excitedly, "Don't worry! I've already arranged the later challengers! They're all trump cards! I'll give you a little spoiler in advance: Singing God Chen Xun will join the show as the final challenger! He's a true top-tier legend who has never once appeared on a music program!"

Yu Zhile had heard of Chen Xun. Although his name was one character shorter than Chen Yixun's, his status in the music world was no less impressive, and he had many classic hits to his name.

So when he heard that Yang Bing had invited such a formidable legend, Yu Zhile even began to suspect that the production budget for this show must be absurdly high.

He asked, "Even Singing God got invited—just how much budget does your show have?"

Yang Bing scratched his head. "To tell you the truth, the total production budget this time is only one hundred million yuan. Fifty million was spent on the stage, the band, and the music equipment, and the other fifty million went to singer appearance fees and miscellaneous expenses."

Yu Zhile asked, "Are these singers really that cheap? What about Singing God's appearance fee?"

Yang Bing answered, "For the first episode, these seven singers were all very cheap, after all, none of them have much popularity now. Teacher Zhou Jian, who had the highest appearance fee for this episode, only received five hundred thousand yuan for one recording. Among them, there were even two singers who had practically withdrawn from the industry and were still wondering whether our show even needed to pay them!

"Singing God Chen Xun agreed to participate because he saw the lineup of singers. Since the production budget was limited and most of the money had been spent on the stage and music production, he was quite generous after learning the details and said that it didn't matter whether there was an appearance fee or not, as long as our production team was really making a music program.

"In the end, the production team still offered two million yuan per episode. After all, this is the first music program for Singing God's debut appearance. If nothing unexpected happens, the show is expected to run for four episodes, so his appearance fee will only come to eight million yuan."

"It's going to be huge! With so many masters gathered together, this is the real music program, the real musical gala!"

Yu Zhile was not flattering him; every word came from the heart.

The show he had watched before, I Am a Singer, had mostly featured strong vocalists as well, but little by little the production team had still invited in some utterly ridiculous popularity-driven stars to mix things up.

Whereas the version Yang Bing had planned now, I Am a Singer, truly consisted entirely of powerhouse performers. From the very first broadcast, the lineup conquered him with nothing but talent.

This was the kind of music program that was a joy to watch and a delight to hear.

Yang Bing said with anticipation, "I hope the audience will be like us and fall in love with this show because they love listening to songs!"

"They will!"

Yu Zhile was not trying to encourage him; he said it with certainty. "This show will definitely become a hit! Across the whole country, music programs nowadays are basically all about popularity. Now that a fresh program focused on skill and music has suddenly burst onto the scene, it will absolutely win the audience over."

"Mm-hmm, I'm going to sleep now! Tomorrow morning, when the ratings come out, we'll know roughly how things stand!"

"Good night."

"Good night!"

...

Early the next morning.

The ratings were out, and Yang Bing, with a trembling heart and shaking hands, held the ratings sheet and looked it over again and again.

The premiere of I Am a Singer had earned a 1.21 percent rating. It wasn't outstanding, but it wasn't bad either.

At the very least, it had broken one percent, which meant he now had confidence. He could stand before Director Zhang with his head held high and report the numbers.

He hurried back and told his colleagues about the previous night's premiere ratings.

Sister Li nodded. "Not bad. Without any popularity-based singers, the premiere rating actually broke one percent. That's much better than last year's I Am a Super Star!"

Director Zhang also nodded in satisfaction. "The copycat show Starshine, which followed in I Am a Super Star's footsteps, invited several popularity-based singers and was produced with a huge budget of two hundred million yuan, yet its premiere rating was only 1.3 percent. So our premiere result is much stronger than theirs!"

"Director Zhang, after the show premiered last night, the internet was full of praise! The rating on the video platform actually reached 9.6, while Starshine only has 7.8!"

"I just looked too! The barrage comments from viewers are all praising the singers' strength and the show's stage and audio quality as unbeatable!"

"And that's with us barely doing any promotion or marketing! Once we push this properly, the next episode's ratings will absolutely crush Starshine. They might even climb above 2 percent!"

...

Seeing everyone so optimistic, Yang Bing felt much more at ease. After all, he had planned the show and found the singers himself. If the program became a hit, he would be the greatest contributor.

If it flopped, then he would be the chief culprit.

If Director Zhang had not been persuaded by him and firmly supported his program idea, there would not be such a wonderful I Am a Singer on the air now.

...

In the morning, Yu Zhile and his wife were watching their baby learn to walk. The little one was steadier on her feet now, but she still could not turn corners. Every time she needed to change direction, she would crouch down, then habitually stick up her bottom and crawl back to her feet.

At that moment, Qin Haiyu reminded him, "Honey, your phone is ringing. Someone must have sent you a message!"

Yu Zhile picked up the baby and turned her around in midair. Qin Haiyu shook a rattle, and the baby immediately took tiny steps toward her.

Yu Zhile went to get his phone and checked it. It was a message from Old Yang. He said, "The premiere rating for I Am a Singer was 1.21 percent!"

Qin Haiyu said in surprise, "Only 1.21 percent? I think this show is wonderful! It should at least have a 1.5 percent rating to do justice to its quality!"

Yu Zhile said, "Without any celebrity traffic and without heavy publicity, getting this kind of premiere rating is already very good. At the very least, it's guaranteed not to lose money!"

"Mm-hmm. It's only the premiere now. If the response keeps going well, the ratings should continue to rise!"

Then Qin Haiyu asked, "Honey, how should we celebrate the baby's first birthday tomorrow?"

Yu Zhile said, "Let me think..."