10 AM.

Zhang Ye’s throat was dry from all the talking. He asked in a hoarse voice, “Do you have a drink?”

“Yes, of course.” Xiao Lu immediately ran to get a bottle of mineral water. “Here, Teacher Zhang.”

“Thanks.” Zhang Ye took it and chugged half the bottle immediately. When he saw the others in a state of pondering, he said, “That is the general concept of it. If I did not forget anything, that should be all of it, so if there’s any questions, you may bring them up now and I will address them.”

The manager of Hu Fei’s program asked a critical question that would be put across to all new programs, “What is your estimation of the viewership ratings?”

Zhang Ye laughed, “Which type of viewership rating?”

There were many types of ratings, like the 50 cities viewership ratings, the local viewership ratings, as well as nationwide viewership ratings.

Local viewership ratings only measured the total viewership of a single city. For example, when Zhang Ye was hosting Lecture Room at BTV-Arts Channel, the ratings of 7% or 8% were all local viewership ratings and only reported on the statistics within Beijing city itself. As BTV-Arts Channel only broadcasted in the region of Beijing, that was the reason why such ratings were used, and because it was a locally broadcasted channel dedicated to an audience who belonged to the same area, the viewership ratings for a local channel would definitely be high.

For the 50 cities viewership rating, it basically meant the top 50 cities’ viewership rating, not including the rural areas. This was the most commonly used statistic.

The most objective statistic would be the nationwide viewership ratings as this had the largest sample size and so would give a smaller percentage rating. But if a program could hit 1% viewership ratings nationwide, then it would still be considered a very popular program since 1% would mean that one out of a hundred persons in the country were watching the program. With the total population of China, one could only imagine the total viewership numbers!

The manager said, “The nationwide viewership ratings.”

One of the others also looked at Zhang Ye, waiting for his response to the question.

Zhang Ye thought about it for a moment, and then answered, “I can’t give you an estimation for the first episode as it depends on the promotions and other factors and that would leave too much to chance. If we’re talking about the average ratings after enough episodes, then my estimate for Do You Remember would be at least 0.6% for the nationwide viewership ratings to 1% tops.”

An employee immediately said, “That’s impossible!”

Xiao Lu’s jaw had dropped. She said, “It would be that high?”

Hou Ge said in surprise, “Reality television singing programs these days at other television stations have at most ratings of 0.5%. If it’s low, it can even be around 0.3%. This is because these programs’ broadcasts have cannibalized each others’ viewership ratings as there isn’t any particularly outstanding one. If Do You Remember can really hit 1% viewership ratings nationally, then it would be too awesome!”

Zhang Ye categorically stated, “It would only be more and not less than what I said, but of course, that is based on my point of view. Since it is just an estimation, everyone has their own opinions on this.”

Do You Remember was a very popular program some years back in Zhang Ye’s previous world. It was not the type of program that experienced overnight success but one that slowly climbed up to become a popular one. At that time, Zhang Ye was just like them and could not understand how a program that used remembering lyrics as its selling point and felt so inadequate could have a viewership rating that wasn’t too bad. Only after he had watched a few episodes of it did he finally understand that every program that was successful would have its own reasons. Yes, even though this evergreen program had suffered a viewership ratings drop in its later years, at the beginning, Do You Remember had still done brilliantly, although its viewership ratings weren’t exactly that outstanding or mind-blowing. But it could still be considered successful. In the nationwide viewership ratings for the same time slots, it was a common occurrence to be placed first or second. This was an extremely worthy and valuable program.

Why did he choose it?

Because Zhang Ye had his own considerations as well.

First, Do You Remember had very good viewership ratings.

Second, this program was of no use to Zhang Ye. Not only did the style of the program not fit Zhang Ye’s development path, even if the others felt that its viewership ratings were good, Zhang Ye was still not too interested in it. What Zhang Ye needed was not just success, but to be the best in the industry. And so, these were the reasons why this program did not matter much to him since he had no intentions of hosting it. If he wanted to host a similar program, there were much more and much better programs for him to choose from. But if he just left this program unused, it would really be a waste. The originality and style of this program was still very worthwhile, especially at a time when reality television singing programs were at a developmental bottleneck.

He had already explained all that he could. Zhang Ye was only waiting for their reply now

The manager, along with Hu Fei and a few of the program planners, began discussing, at times whispering, at times nodding and shaking their heads. They were discussing intensely about the whole proposal.

A while later.

Zhang Ye could not wait any longer and said, “The program rundown is as what I have explained. I have already given the proposal to you all, with in-depth details up to a few years ahead in the program’s lifespan. If all of you think that it is OK, use it. But like I’ve said, I only have a small request and that is for Dong Shanshan to be the designated female host. I don’t care who the male host is.”

The manager fell silent.

Another station leader made no sound.

Zhang Ye continued to say, “If you think that it would not be good or the viewership ratings might not hit everyone’s estimates, then just take it like I hadn’t said anything. I’ll be leaving then?” He stood up and prepared to leave.

When the satellite channel’s manager heard this, he quickly stopped him. “Hey, hey, hey, Little Zhang, don’t go yet. Aren’t we all discussing right now? It’s not that we think the program is not good!”

“Don’t go, don’t go. Take a seat first. We did not say we did not want it,” another deputy director said.

The manager looked at Xu Yuhong and said, “Station Head, what’s your opinion?”

Xu Yuhong waved him off and said, “I won’t interfere with your department’s matters. Make the decision on your own.” She did not say much since the beginning and was more of an observer.

The manager understood and then looked over to Hu Fei. “Old Hu?”

Hu Fei revealed a wide smile and said, “I feel that it is a very good proposal and different from the rest of the programs out there recently, so it should definitely stand out from the rest. For us, I do not think that there will be any better programs. We can save a lot of money this way since we no longer have to invite any big name celebrities as guests. With this out of the budget, we can use the money in other ways to raise the overall standard of the program.” The reality television singing programs these days were all about inviting big names or S-list singers which sometimes could command appearance fees of up to tens of millions. Compared to all the other required costs, this was the main bulk of it!

But this requirement was not needed for Do You Remember! All that money would be saved!

It was good since there wasn’t really much of a budget for their program!

The manager nodded and laughed. “I feel the same as you. This program is really fitting for our satellite channel’s Friday primetime slot. I have finally seen for myself just how good Teacher Little Zhang’s program planning abilities are. Whether it is Lecture Room or Zhang Ye’s Talk Show, your reputation is fully justified. So many of the program planners and staff in our television station had been meeting for many days and still could not come up with something, but just a short while with you has already provided us with such a perfect program proposal. You’ve really helped us out when we needed it the most.”

Behind him, one of the program planners was also utterly convinced and said, “Teacher Zhang, why don’t you come back? If this program is hosted by you as well, then it would be perfect!”

The manager immediately said, “Yes, Little Zhang, come back and join us.”

Zhang Ye said, “Let’s talk again in the future when we get a chance.”

The manager said regretfully, “Alright then, we won’t ask any further. Let’s just settle this program first. Teacher Little Zhang, we are going to go ahead and take this Do You Remember. As for the price…Are you OK with 3 million RMB?”

Zhang Ye shrugged and said, “I’ve already said that I have no requests for the price.”

The manager hesitated a little and then turned to a staff member behind him and said, “Tell Old Wang from the HR Department to contact Teacher Dong Shanshan. He must definitely get her to join us! We will pay for her contract to be voided as well!”

Zhang Ye interrupted and said, “There’s no need to pay the compensation since Teacher Shanshan is currently without a job. She is not contracted to any television station currently as she left her last job two days ago.”

The manager said, “Then that’s even more convenient.”

Zhang Ye sincerely said, “Thank you very much.”

The manager raised a hand and just said, “Don’t say that. If there’s any thanking to be done here, it should be us thanking you.”

A good program was much more valuable than a good host. With his proposed program, Zhang Ye had already completely impressed all of Beijing Television Station!

At some point in time, Xu Yuhong had disappeared and left the meeting.

With the station head gone, the atmosphere had also become much more relaxed.

The manager and Hu Fei continued raising quite a few more questions and program details. Since Zhang Ye had already accepted the role of the program planner for this, he would surely have to do his part. But he probably only had to do this today, for once the program begins production, Zhang Ye would no longer need to do much more. All of the issues should be handled by Hu Fei’s team from there and because Zhang Ye had no plans of returning to Beijing Television Station to work, he could only do the program planning without joining in the actual production work.

Soon after, the manager left with his team.

Hu Fei then started delegating the tasks. The new program team no longer only consisted of Xiao Lu and the others; it had expanded to include quite a number of other employees as well. He said, “Starting from today, the program for Do You Remember is officially launched. Xiao Lu, go and mock up a promotion proposal. Dafei, the stage layout will need to undergo some changes. A lot it will need to be modified to follow Teacher Little Zhang’s design for the stage, so please go and coordinate this with the recording studios…”

Translator’s note: Some news update for everyone, I’ve started my Patreon, so you can check it out here

For every $50 increment in total pledges, there will be 1 chapter accumulated for release in the following month. Thank you for your support!

On top of this, until the end of April, for every increase of 10 patrons, up to 80 patrons, regardless of amount pledged, 1 chapter will be released within the day of hitting the milestones. This will run concurrent to item 1. (The next is the 30 patrons milestone/7 more to go!)

There are plans for advanced chapters sometime next month, so watch out for the announcement!