Unlike the ratings situation on Guangying.net, praise for 'Vast Seas of Love' could be seen everywhere on Langchao Blog.
In fact, 'Full House''s premiere performance was already very strong. With a combined average rating of 1.13%, it left the vast majority of dramas in the same genre far behind. Calling it an auspicious opening was no exaggeration; it was absolutely worth celebrating.
The problem was that the fierce pre-release publicity battle had deliberately framed 'Full House' and 'Vast Seas of Love' as opposing camps. Xiangnan Satellite TV's head-on broadcast strategy further filled the competition between the two dramas with gunpowder, making comparisons inevitable.
With 'Full House' losing to 'Vast Seas of Love' by 0.32% in ratings, certain people naturally found the perfect talking point.
On his own blog, Hu Yang smugly posted a new entry titled "1.50%."
Although he didn't name anyone directly, everyone understood what he was doing, showing off 'Vast Seas of Love''s results and openly posturing at Lu Chen: I can carry a drama as the male lead just fine, and not just fine, extremely well!
Compared with the other lead of 'Vast Seas of Love', the actress playing the heroine, Zhang Liwei, Hu Yang, was far more high-profile. He hogged the spotlight on his blog and, as a result, drew intense resentment from Lu Chen's fans.
Zhang Liwei had also risen to fame through 'Autumn in My Heart', but unlike Hu Yang, she hadn't dumped her agency after becoming popular and had instead chosen to stay on.
After taking on the heroine role in 'Vast Seas of Love', Zhang Liwei did post promotional content on her blog as well, behind-the-scenes snippets, filming photos, and the like.
However, her promotion focused solely on the drama itself and never involved 'Full House'. Even when reporters asked sensitive questions, she always deftly redirected the topic.
Compared to Zhang Liwei's modesty and caution, Hu Yang came across as far too arrogant.
This left many people astonished. As a young artist who had only recently risen to fame, Hu Yang's flamboyance, even outright provocation, by openly clashing with Lu Chen felt excessive.
As a person and as an artist, it was usually better to remain low-key and humble. Was Hu Yang being foolish?
In fact, Hu Yang wasn't foolish at all, on the contrary, he was extremely smart, perhaps too smart for his own good.
First of all, he knew exactly what he was relying on: Juxing Agency and Xiangnan Satellite TV. With the backing of both, he could stand firmly in the entertainment industry and weather ordinary storms without fear.
Secondly, this approach brought him massive attention. His blog follower count kept climbing steadily.
Yes, he also attracted a large number of haters, but who didn't have haters? Lu Chen had them. Chen Fei'er had them too!
Having haters wasn't scary. What was truly terrifying was being ignored. The louder the buzz, the higher the commercial value. Even if people cursed him, endorsement money would still roll in. If he didn't seize the moment to hype himself now, then when?
So not only did Hu Yang have no intention of restraining himself, he planned to continue flaunting the ratings. Today it was 1.50%; tomorrow it might be 1.70%; the day after, it could even hit 2%.
Every time he showed off, it was like slapping Lu Chen across the face, how could that not feel exhilarating?
After all, Lu Chen's stated ratings target for 'Full House' was a peak of 4%!
There were plenty of chances to humiliate him.
With results, attention, satisfaction, and money all in hand, why wouldn't Hu Yang do it? He wished for the hype to grow even hotter. If Lu Chen openly clashed with him, that would be even better.
Public mudslinging was something Lu Chen would never stoop to, but that didn't mean he wouldn't strike back.
And just now, Lu Chen had obtained a powerful new weapon.
Less than ten minutes after Hu Yang updated his blog, Lu Chen posted a new entry as well.
In this post, titled "Thanks," he first thanked the fans for their support of the new drama 'Full House', which had helped the show achieve a 1%+ premiere rating, successfully reaching its first milestone.
Then Lu Chen shared another piece of good news with everyone: 'Full House''s peak premiere rating in South Korea exceeded 15%, reaching 15.21%!
This rating not only set an all-time record for the premiere of a Chinese drama in South Korea, but it also ranked second among all TV dramas of the same genre airing on Korean television this year, trailing the top spot by just 1.5%!
If not for the inherent disadvantage of being an imported series, or if it had aired on more powerful Korean networks like KBS or MBC, there would have been no suspense at all about who would take first place.
As soon as Lu Chen's post went live, it triggered a wave of cheers and celebration among fans. At the same time, it delivered a heavy blow to those who had been openly or subtly belittling 'Full House' on blogs, Hu Yang included.
Is 1.50% impressive? Then try 15%!
Only then did those who had been struck dumb remember that 'Full House' was the very first Chinese-produced TV drama to premiere simultaneously in South Korea, and its opening performance there was nothing short of perfect.
Even though South Korea's market was much smaller than China's, one couldn't forget that Korean television variety and drama production had long been ahead of the domestic industry. After 'Autumn in My Heart', 'Full House' once again made a powerful impact in Korea. Was that something 'Vast Seas of Love' could even compare to?
No matter how stubborn one tried to be, facts were facts and could not be erased.
Hu Yang had tried to use ratings to slap Lu Chen in the face, only to end up getting slapped back even harder.
Enough talk. If you've got the guts, go compete overseas!
In fact, following the success of 'Autumn in My Heart', Xiangnan Satellite TV had also intended to export 'Vast Seas of Love' to South Korea through MBC, hoping to replicate the same path.
But negotiations were far from easy. MBC was far more conservative and exclusionary than KGS, and unless Xiangnan Satellite TV was willing to pay a steep price, that ambition would be hard to realize.
And even if 'Vast Seas of Love' did eventually air in South Korea, so what? At this moment, it had already completely lost to its rival.
Lu Chen's "Thanks" post not only garnered massive shares and likes, but also prompted many industry peers to repost it with congratulatory messages. SPG's official account even shared photos of large outdoor screens in bustling downtown Seoul, displaying advertisements for 'Full House'.
Numerous media outlets also released news bulletins on their websites announcing 'Full House''s major success in South Korea, speculating that the drama might set a new record for Chinese TV series broadcast overseas.
As a result, many people developed a strong interest in 'Full House', using digital TV replay functions to rewatch the first and second episodes that had aired the previous night.
And later tonight, 'Full House' would continue with the broadcast of episodes three and four.
This naturally led people to wonder, what would happen in the next head-on collision between the two dramas? Could 'Vast Seas of Love' still maintain its ratings advantage over 'Full House'?
Let's wait and see!
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 60 chapters on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395