Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 1354 - 1077: Amazing Popularity

Chapter 1354: Chapter 1077: Amazing Popularity

"Hmm, we just wrapped up the filming the day before yesterday, and finally managed to produce the first season.

Originally, we planned to film and broadcast it simultaneously so it could be released earlier, but then Gavriil and I discussed and decided it would be better to finish filming everything before broadcasting.

Because of the high standards for this drama, almost every shot needs to be meticulously refined, so the filming process was incredibly slow.

As a result, it was simply impossible to film and broadcast simultaneously—we couldn’t have an episode out every half a month, that would surely have the viewers cursing us."

Xie Liaofu earnestly explained to Wang Ye.

Wang Ye could understand this point; one could not rush to produce quality work, but needed to patiently focus on the details to produce something truly appealing.

Moreover, with such a large investment in the drama, Xie Liaofu and his team were genuinely afraid of messing it up.

Putting himself in Xie Liaofu’s shoes, Wang Ye figured he would probably be even more cautious than him.

So, Wang Ye nodded with a smile, "As long as it’s completed, that’s great. Just arrange the broadcast then. I guess many viewers are getting impatient. I’ve noticed the series has consistently been very popular on the Internet."

Wang Ye, in his free time, would occasionally surf the Internet too, checking Facebook and the like.

After all, he was also a politician of the younger generation, not disconnected from the Internet age like the "old timers" such as Grezlov, Rilinov, and Gavriil.

Wang Ye even had his personal account on Facebook, and he was a super V there!

However, the content on his Facebook was mostly managed and posted by Nova, varying from photos of Wang Ye focused at work, sitting at the Duma president’s desk during meetings, to leisure activities like swimming, bowling, off-roading through primal forests for hunting, as well as practicing shooting, driving armored vehicles and even flying armed helicopters at the Wagener Training Base.

In short, it emphasized his versatility!

Moreover, the photos were very professionally taken, with good angles, making the already handsome Wang Ye look even more distinguished—a sight more dazzling than any celebrity.

In terms of personal "marketing," Wang Ye was definitely ahead of everyone in the Moscow political arena by an era!

He put effort into managing his personal Facebook account to let the younger generation of Internet users get to know him better, feel closer to him rather than seeing him as just a cold name on TV or in the news, distant and remote.

Perhaps it might not be immediately apparent what benefits this approach had, but over time, subtly, as long as Wang Ye didn’t get exposed in any major scandals, these young voters would develop a deep favorable impression of him.

If there came a time when Wang Ye needed their support, it would be an overwhelming response, bursting with astounding energy!

Or to say, votes...

...

Therefore, Wang Ye was very clear about the Internet trends. When he said that "Empress Yekaterina" was very hot online, he wasn’t joking; the drama had been topping Facebook’s hot lists intermittently throughout the year.

Speaking of Facebook’s hot list, this was an initiative that came about with Wang Ye’s suggestion.

It was a special column that displayed the topics with the highest discussion volume of the day, so people could easily keep abreast of the current issues.

Of course, Facebook Inc. was very conscientious, not engaging in any "paid rankings"—meaning you couldn’t just spend money to get on the hot list even if you wanted to.

The high-heat topics shown on the hot list were indeed genuine, with no possibility of getting there by paying off.

On this hot list on Facebook, Wang Ye would occasionally see topics related to "Empress Yekaterina."

For instance, there would be topics like "Catherine Film Crew Eructs Conflict, Director Publicly Berates Actor," "A certain actress privately expresses dissatisfaction with the female lead to a friend," "Catherine Film Crew’s director tells journalists despondently that filming is not going smoothly," and so on.

But Wang Ye couldn’t be bothered to click in to find out the details, assuming it was either the paparazzi making things up or the crew deliberately releasing rumors to generate hype and draw attention.

...

Hearing Wang Ye say that the series was hot on the Internet, a smile of joy appeared on Xie Liaofu’s face.

He quickly said, "There’s a reason for that. I believe the Internet’s influence is growing stronger and may even surpass traditional media in the future, so the TV station has also established a department specifically to handle the Internet sector.

On the Catherine series, the Internet Department is making its debut, by releasing some eye-catching so-called breaking news on the Internet to create hot topics and draw everyone’s attention to the drama.

After trying it out, I feel the effect of this soft propaganda is very good, and it’s more easily accepted by the young people because they engage with it more.

Traditional media is at a disadvantage in this respect, as no matter how exquisitely you produce a commercial, there’s only so many people who will see it, and you can’t just play one advertisement 24 hours non-stop; therefore, the audience is limited.

So, I think in the future, TV stations could consider how to transition to the Internet..."

This made Wang Ye see Xie Liaofu in a new light.

Being able to see, as early as 2007, that traditional media would decline while Internet media would rise was indeed visionary.

It was even more admirable that this guy had figured out a set of Internet Self Media tactics that would only gradually become popular several years later...