I am Really a Superstar

Sunday morning.

While Zhang Ye was still in dreamland, news of A Bite of China kept bombarding the public. Since yesterday morning, it has not stopped, and of course the morning newspapers today wouldn\'t either.

"A Bite of China wins the top spot!"

"The contest for viewership ends in a tie with the appearance of an unexpected dark horse!"

"Zhang Ye opens a new era for documentaries!"

"Has spring arrived for the documentary genre?"

"Zhang Ye\'s viewership rating miracle continues on! Praise for A Bite of China!"

"A Bite of China in high definition! Awakening the memories of taste!"

"Breaking down the success of A Bite of China\'s scenes. Detailed explanation of Zhang Ye\'s touch of magic in his filming techniques!"

"The first-ever documentary to be called a classic is born!"

"I have the pleasure of witnessing history, a history belonging to the field of documentaries!"

"After decades of silence, has the documentary genre been awakened by Zhang Ye? Could the waking lion continue its viewership miracle in the coming week? Let us look forward to what happens next!"

On this morning, news and discussions of A Bite of China were at the same level of Rise to the Dance for the first time ever. Yet A Bite of China\'s program team and Central TV Department 14 did not spend any money at all on promotions and news articles!

The netizens were continuing to flood in and contribute to the topic!

"Ahhhh, I am still in disbelief!"

"Of all the entertainment industry\'s celebrities, I only acknowledge Zhang Ye!"

"Me too, I\'m utterly convinced by him this time!"

"That bunch of Rise to the Dance fans who came to criticize A Bite of China and even claimed that Zhang Ye\'s standards were not good enough? I\'m totally laughing at them now, do they know that? This was Zhang Ye\'s directorial debut! This is his first time crossing over to film a documentary!"

"That bunch of brain-dead fans. Big Saber Bro will outscold all of them single-handedly!"

"Zhang Ye\'s fan club leader, Big Saber Bro—always as fearsome as ever!"

"In the past, I didn\'t like Zhang Ye. But after watching A Bite of China, I have turned into a fan without any hesitation! I like this documentary so much! It\'s simply too awesome!"

"Me too!"

"Chen Ye\'s reputation and popularity might be good too, while he\'s also lauded by those who are very supportive of him. But anyone who knows a thing or two about this industry would know that Teacher Zhang\'s abilities are not something that Chen Ye can compete with. They\'re on totally different levels!"

"That\'s of course. Just based on talent alone, who in the entire entertainment industry can compete with Zhang Ye? If Teacher Zhang had half the looks of Sect Leader Huo, he would have already become an A-list celebrity!"

"Agreed!"

"Teacher Zhang isn\'t bad looking. I find him to be quite alright after looking long enough at him. He\'s even getting more and more pleasing to the eye, heehee. I am a brain-dead fan of Zhang Ye!"

...

At home.

Still dreaming, Zhang Ye was pushed awake by someone.

"Zhang Ye, wake up." It was Chenchen.

Zhang Ye impatiently turned his back on her and said,"Don\'t disturb me, go away."

However, a moment later, Chenchen went around him and pushed at him again."Zhang Ye, wake up. Grandma wants me to wake you up. She says that you have to go to work."

His mother also came into his bedroom."Hurry up and get up. Eat breakfast then go to work."

Zhang Ye didn\'t know how to react."What time is it right now? I will go later. There\'s nothing urgent."

"It\'s already past 8 AM, and you still want to go later?" His mother nagged,"Hurry up. Quickly go to your office and do your work. Don\'t laze around at home like this. Your new show is a hit now. Shouldn\'t you be working hard to consolidate the popularity of it? If you let Rise to the Dance surpass your show next week, how shameful would it be? Now that you\'ve managed to make the two shows share the top spot, do you know how many people are waiting to see who becomes the winner? Wake up!"

His father said from the living room,"Your mom was provoked by someone, hur hur. When we went out for a stroll last night, a neighbor from the opposite apartment building said that Rise to the Dance is a better show than A Bite of China. When your mom heard that, she went over impatiently and argued with that person for the longest time. If not for the neighbors who were there to help calm things down and stop them, your mom would have fought with someone already."

Zhang Ye cringed."Mom, you didn\'t need to go that far, did you?"

His mother dismissed,"Why not? They said that my son\'s show is not good? She must be blind!"

But she seemed to have forgotten that she was the one who was most pessimistic about Zhang Ye\'s documentary. However, after the viewership rating for A Bite of China was announced, it had really changed a lot of things, and changed the mindsets of many people when it came to traditional documentaries. The most interesting phenomenon was that those who watched A Bite of China at the beginning all thought that only they themselves liked watching it. They believed that no one else would accept the documentary, only to find out later that that was exactly what everyone else was thinking when they watched it!

Zhang Ye, who was finally made to get out of bed by his mother, went to eat breakfast and reluctantly went to work.

...

Around 9 AM.

Right after he entered the program team office, Zhang Ye was immediately blocked by some people.

"Director Zhang!" It was a middle-aged woman around 30."I\'m the advertising manager of Everyday Eats, Miss Xu. Can I discuss with you A Bite of China\'s—"

Before she could finish, a middle-aged man came up to him. He grabbed hold of Zhang Ye\'s hand to shake it the moment he came up to him."Director Zhang, I\'m Hawthorn Beverage Group\'s Old He. We cooperated previously on The Voice. You still remember that, right? The advertisement this time for A Bite of China, you must definitely leave a spot for us. We\'re old working partners, so you better leave a slice of the pie for us!"

Someone else said,"Director Zhang, can I ask how much the title sponsorship fee costs?"

"Director Zhang, can I have a word with you?"

A group of people from various companies and manufacturers surrounded Zhang Ye!

Zhang Ye couldn\'t manage them all, so he said,"Everyone, please, one by one. You guys are making it impossible for me to answer your questions. There are people responsible for the advertising arrangements, so can we please go by the proper procedures?" Saying that, he called out to Ha Qiqi who was standing next to the group of people."Sister Ha, please arrange a welcome for our guests, or perhaps arrange for a meeting room where we can discuss this further!"

Ha Qiqi and Zhang Zuo immediately went to make the necessary arrangements.

Zhang Ye asked, feeling puzzled,"Why did so many people come here?"

Ha Qiqi smiled wryly."There were already businesses calling up yesterday regarding the ad spots. At that time, they called up Department 14 directly to talk about it, but this morning, Director Yan announced that the advertising deals for A Bite of China are to be handled by our program team itself, so everyone came looking for you instead. I had wanted to make individual appointments for the advertisers at first, so that we could deal with them one by one, but who knew they couldn\'t wait whatsoever and just came rushing over hoping to talk to us directly! After all, our show has started broadcasting, and even two episodes now, so they naturally feel a little anxious about it."

"We couldn\'t stop them from coming in at all," Zhang Zuo added."The earliest to get here arrived at around 5 in the morning. I don\'t know how he managed to get in through the gates and into our office, but I heard that he chatted with our night shift staffer, Little Sun, for over three hours. Little Sun almost passed out from talking." When he related that to them, Zhang Zuo couldn\'t help but laugh as well.

Little Wang came up and whispered,"And a few of the advertisers whom Sister Ha contacted before A Bite of China started its broadcast also came here today. Back then, even after we pestered them and talked until our mouths got tired, that bunch of people still did not want to buy our ad spots, but look how it turned out now! We should just not sell to them!"

Zhang Ye shook his head and laughed."It\'s wrong to say things like that. Before this, there was no viewership rating for them to consider with, so they didn\'t know whether our show would be good or not. There has never been a precedent of any title sponsorship for a documentary before either, so there\'s a huge risk investing into the ad spots. We can\'t possibly request they take on the risk for us, can we? There\'s simply no reason for them to do that. So if anyone wants to buy the ad spots now, we\'ll welcome all of them alike."

Little Wang gave a thumbs up and said,"It\'s still Director Zhang who is the most generous of us."

In the meeting room.

The advertisers were all gathered around a large meeting table. There was a total of more than 20 representatives.

When Zhang Ye came into the office, every one of those people tried to speak. However, Zhang Ye said,"Everyone, please listen to me first. I know your reasons for coming here today, and we\'ll also happily welcome any deals related to advertising on our show. But as A Bite of China is a documentary, it is different from the other variety shows that you\'re all familiar with. That\'s why we have our own set of rules when it comes to advertising as well, so why doesn\'t everyone sit down quietly and listen to my explanation?"

"Please explain."

"Let us know what you mean."

"No matter what the rules are, our company will definitely take an advertisement spot!"

Only then did Zhang Ye say,"First, we won\'t allow any advertisements to be put into the original footage of the documentary that gets broadcast."

Everyone was dismayed.

"Ah?"

"Then how will the advertisements be presented?"

"Why is that so?"

"This…"

Zhang Ye continued explaining,"Second, A Bite of China has already finished filming and we won\'t be doing any more of that either. If any of you had planned to do some product placements of your company\'s products within our show, we definitely can\'t accept that. I have to be responsible for my documentary as well as the arts."

The faces of the representatives of two of the companies immediately darkened.

The other companies\' representatives also forced smiles, thinking how other shows hoped for as many ads as possible, even to the point of finding ways to insert a few more in when the ad spots were filled. Who didn\'t want more money? Who would think that they were earning too much? But it seemed like Zhang Ye and the program team of A Bite of China was exactly like that. A group of them had come to invest their money, and still, the sellers were being picky about things, even going as far as setting rules for them.

But there was nothing they could do!

The show was way too popular! And they had the qualifications to set the rules!

After putting it so bluntly upfront, Zhang Ye changed his tone and began introducing the advertising model for A Bite of China. He talked about the different types of advertising strategies that would help the advertisers maximize their promotions, and also gave a simple introduction of the price points for the different advertising types.

Finally, another group of advertisers shuffled into the meeting room as their numbers went past 40 people. In here were the advertising representatives of over 40 companies and enterprises, which weren\'t just some small businesses. Those who could come to A Bite of China\'s program team to buy an advertising spot were definitely not small businesses. A small company would never be able to afford such prices.

In the end, after a series of bids, all the advertising slots for A Bite of China were sold!

The title sponsorship was not an exclusive one this time and went to two companies instead. However, the title sponsorship fee of the two advertisers totaled 100 million. Three second-tier advertisements were sold, while 13 advertisements spots were sold for advertisements on Department 14, shown before and after the broadcast of A Bite of China! At the end of it all, a few advertisers felt that the prices were too high and were left with no other choice but to just put their money into the reruns of A Bite of China on Saturdays and Sundays. On the issue of the Internet, three online video hosting sites also made contact with the program team. The online exclusive broadcast rights were finally sold to the highest bidder, but with the prerequisite that they would delayed their telecast to two hours after the show was first broadcast on Channel 14—this was to ensure that it wouldn\'t affect the viewership ratings.

After the discussions were done, even though Zhang Ye only made an estimate, it was obvious that they had reached an astronomical figure in the advertising revenue this time. Although the advertisers were all mainly from food and beverage related companies and did not number more than the advertisers of The Voice, A Bite of China was still a rare show about food. This would fit very well with the promotions of these companies, so they naturally were willing to spend more money too.

For example, a beverage company might hesitate if they had to spent 8 million RMB to buy an advertising spot on Rise to the Dance, but on A Bite of China, they would agree to this 8 million RMB price tag in a heartbeat. That was because the style of A Bite of China fit the nature of their business, which would already achieve half the effects of the promotions, so they would naturally be inclined to it. If they chose to look for another show similar to A Bite of China? There was none at all!

Zhang Ye even received a call from a friend.

It was a call from skit actress Ci Xiufang."Little Zhang."

"Hello, Teacher Ci," Zhang Ye said very politely.

Ci Xiufang said:"Someone has asked me for a favor to link them up with you. Can I ask if there are still any advertising slots for A Bite of China? Any second or third-tier advertisements will be fine too, so if there are any, could you leave one for my friend? She\'s a childhood friend of mine and has asked me for my help on this, so I couldn\'t refuse her. Can you check if that will be convenient for you? It\'s fine if it\'s not. I\'ll just let her know."

Zhang Ye touched his nose and answered:"I\'ve just sold all of the advertising spots, but since you\'re asking, I\'ll definitely do my best for you. Alright then, let me work out something for you, so just get your friend to contact me directly."

Ci Xiufang laughed and replied:"Then I must thank you. Consider that I owe you one."

"Don\'t be that courteous with me." Zhang Ye said:"You\'re pulling in advertisers for me. I should be the one thanking you instead."

"Oh, come on." Ci Xiufang giggled."That might be so for other shows, but for a show that\'s directed by Director Little Zhang? It has to be the advertisers fighting to buy a spot from you instead. There won\'t be any spots left if they come too late!"

Negotiating the prices.

Initiating the project.

The contracts were signed.

When everything was done, the program team staff tabulated all the figures and had a great fright!

All the advertisements slots and broadcasting rights for A Bite of China were sold for 197 million RMB, very close to the 200 million RMB mark!!

Ha Qiqi swallowed hard!

Zhang Zuo looked at that long string of numbers in a daze!

The staff who were originally from Department 14 were even more unable to process what they were seeing. When had this group of people, who had always been working with traditional documentaries, ever seen so much money? They were just dumbfounded by it all!

Tong Fu said excitedly,"We have money now, we finally have money now!"

Huang Dandan blinked her eyes and said,"Would the station start having second thoughts when they see that we have so much money? Are they going to funnel our money to Central TV Department 1 again?"

Wu Yi said,"They certainly won\'t do that. The popularity of A Bite of China has already left some executives of Central TV Department 1 with a swollen face. Even if the station couldn\'t be any more shameless than they already are, they wouldn\'t dare do that!"

Little Wang said eagerly,"Who could have expected that our documentary could earn so much money back then? The advertising revenue of Rise to the Dance is also around the same as ours, right?"

Tong Fu said,"200 million! I feel like I\'m in a dream!"

Ha Qiqi said with a laugh,"Now, we can finally run a proper promotional campaign for our documentary! We\'ve been waiting for this amount of money for too long now!"

The news spread like wildfire to every corner!

"A Bite of China scores 200 million in advertising revenue!"

"Title sponsorship for A Bite of China reaches 100 million, with a total of nearly 200 million, matching Rise to the Dance\'s advertising revenues!"

"The miracle brought about by a 10 million yuan low-cost documentary series!"

With the media reporting about this, it suddenly created a stir again!

A Bite of China!

A Bite of China!

A Bite of China!

Countless people went crazy for it!