It's mid-September, and the autumn TV season in North America has begun. Many popular projects are returning one after another, and some heavyweight new dramas are also online.
Simon is paying close attention to DHO's two new dramas this fall, "The Sopranos" and "House of Cards."
First up is The Sopranos.
This gangster drama, which once made an indelible contribution to the rise of HBO in the late 1990s, will be located on DHO this time and will be broadcast on September 15th.
As DHO's first batch of self-produced dramas, it was an idea personally given by the big boss. The TV business department showed great importance to it, much more than the previous "Dragon Movie" which was a bit of a toy.
Therefore, when it premiered during prime time on Wednesday, September 15, "The Sopranos" received an average of 6.25 million viewers and a maximum of 6.71 million.
DHO currently has a total of 9.3 million subscribers. According to the survey, the average household size of each subscriber is 2.6 people, which actually means that it has a total audience of 24 million in the United States.
For a new drama, it can win more than a quarter of the total audience at its launch. It can only be said that DHO has ignored the cost in order to promote this new drama, and even further to promote DHO TV station.
This is actually true.
In the year that is about to pass, although DHO's various data have soared, HBO, the largest competitor in the industry, is facing a formidable enemy and has to increase investment. However, in fact, in the first year of DHO, financially, because Huge marketing and copyright purchase expenses and other expenses are expected to cause a loss of about US$160 million.
US$160 million may not seem like much for Daenerys Entertainment, but if it were placed on other small TV stations, it would definitely not be able to afford the loss.
Not only that, Simon has set a goal for DHO. The number of local subscribers next year will at least equal that of HBO. At the same time as it starts to expand overseas, this paid cable station will also increase its money burning next year. It will lose at least 200 million US dollars before it can... It can be regarded as meeting Simon's requirements.
That’s right, it’s hard work!
In fact, compared to the billions of dollars burned every year by those technology giants in Simon's memory, DHO's current investment is nothing at all.
The problem is, in this day and age, many people have never seen it.
So I can only make all kinds of slander.
If they want to follow up, even Warner is just on the defensive at the moment and cannot afford to follow up.
Of course, Simon didn't spend money randomly without planning.
There is a detailed plan for how much money to burn and what performance data needs to be achieved. If the team only knows how to burn money but cannot meet the performance standards, I'm sorry, there is only one way out.
Let’s talk about “The Sopranos.”
While the ratings of this gangster drama exceeded expectations when it first aired, its reputation also did not disappoint.
In fact, this is what Simon values most.
If the reputation of the new version of "The Sopranos" fails this time and cannot reach the level of widespread word-of-mouth spread and even many potential consumers subscribing to HBO just to watch this TV series, this project still cannot be considered a success. .
The fact is that because they invested enough and even invited Martin Scorsese to be the director of the first episode, the critics gave very positive reviews when the first episode was aired. According to Daenerys’ internal statistics, it was still On a ten-point scale, the first episode of "The Sopranos" received a comprehensive media score of 8.6.
Coupled with Daenerys's contribution, the media hot discussion index quickly became the highest among the recent autumn dramas.
To put it bluntly, Daenerys still seems strong enough in terms of marketing resources.
When the time came to a new Wednesday and the second episode aired, the highest number of viewers of "The Sopranos" exceeded 7 million, reaching 7.34 million, and the average number of viewers per episode also reached 6.79 million.
Obviously, after the 13 episodes of the complete first season have been aired, it is no problem that this TV series, which has a very high reputation and popularity, has an average viewing figure of more than 7 million viewers.
Then, on Thursday, September 24, the day after the second episode of "The Sopranos" aired, "House of Cards" started airing.
This time, under Simon's arrangement, the leading actor is still Kevin Spacey.
After all, the impression was too deep.
Kevin Spacey has already established a firm foothold in the film industry, but this era is far from what it was later. It is far from easy for a film actor to act in a very despised TV series.
Therefore, in order to get the other party to participate in the film, Daenerys not only gave enough money, but also spent some extra thought, mainly providing resources to ensure that the other party's movie star status would not decline.
Simon even quietly dropped a project, "American Beauty."
Historically, this was the movie that pushed Kevin Spacey further to the Oscar winner throne in 2000 after "The Usual Suspects" won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1996.
Since such a movie that is both a hit and has excellent reputation has broken through the butterfly effect and reappeared, Simon will certainly not let it disappear completely. Moreover, it is planned to leave it to Spacey, provided that the actor first settles down and plays a few seasons of "House of Cards".
In the new version of "House of Cards", although the settings of the male and female protagonists no longer reflect the Clintons, the scale of the plot is as large as ever.
Not only that, the plot of the film also adopts an overhead mode that is synchronized with the current time and space, but of course, it still slightly avoids the Clintons. Anyway, there is absolutely no shortage of material in Washington. What's more, there are still materials from the past that can be used.
In addition, the series also uses the technique of breaking the fourth wall.
As a result, Simon was initially worried that the series would be acclimated many years in advance. As a result, it turned out to be a stunning first episode, coupled with Kevin Spacey's wonderful performance, this TV series The reputation of "The Sopranos" directly surpassed that of "The Sopranos" which was launched last week. The comprehensive media score of the first episode reached a classic level of 9.5 points out of 10.
Moreover, although the couple in the current White House are avoided as much as possible, the composition of the previous protagonists is still used, just to distinguish. This time the heroine no longer has the kind of political ambition that is too easily associated with Hillary. , and is more inclined to the kind of Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of John F. Kennedy, who only hopes to be a perfect politician's wife, or even a perfect first lady. While she has a dark side, she also tries her best to accommodate her husband's various dark side designs. Certainly.
All in all, neither of them are fuel-efficient lamps.
Therefore, Simon put a lot of thought into the role and invited Sela Ward, who had had a romantic affair with him, as the heroine. Of course, the key was not the affair, but Sela Ward's temperament, which was just right for this. A role, because in "Desperate Housewives" which just ended last year, Sela Ward replaced the perfect housewife Bree Van Dikan, who was once played by Maria Cross, is such a role.
This time, the new Mrs. Shimogi is a darker and more obsessive 'perfect housewife'.
Actually, as far as Simon knows, there are definitely few politicians’ wives in Washington who have political ambitions like the original Mrs. Shimoki or Hillary.
But this time, the new Mrs. Shimogi created by Sheila Ward is the most common majority in the political circle. Jacqueline Kennedy, who tolerates her husband's numerous affairs and still tries her best to maintain the image of a perfect first lady, is just the most common figure among these big people. The most famous of the many.
For example, this is actually the case with Vice President Al Gore, whom Simon had just dealt with at the beginning of the month.
The current Gores are definitely a model of a fairy-tale Washington couple. Compared to the Clintons who have a lot of troubles, the Gores don't even have scandals at all. However, in the past, when they failed to run for president several times in a row, which probably confirmed that their political careers were completely hopeless, this perfect couple quickly chose to divorce.
Publicly, they have irreconcilable conflicts and say they still love each other.
However, according to unknown rumors, the actual reason was that Mrs. Gore could no longer tolerate her husband's affair with the office secretary.
All right.
All in all, both the media and the public seem to like "House of Cards" more than "The Sopranos."
Therefore, although the average number of viewers of the first episode of "House of Cards" of 6.45 million and the highest number of 7.06 million was comparable to that of "The Sopranos", the distance will definitely widen thereafter.
Simon personally feels that the popularity of "House of Cards" is largely due to the fact that the White House scandal that has entangled the president and even the American media for several years at the beginning of the year has finally come to an end. The public is forgetful, so they forget the excitement of the past. I started to feel that this TV series was very exciting.
It is not difficult to imagine that if the Clinton scandal continues, this new drama may not arouse so much heated discussion, and may still be ridiculed by the media as reality is more exciting than the story. In that case, the story will naturally have to be pushed aside. .
In short, whether it is "The Sopranos" or "House of Cards", both new dramas have achieved the expected success. They have discussed a wide range of social topics. The most direct benefit is that more and more users have chosen to subscribe. DHO.
And then, on September 25, the day after the premiere of "House of Cards", another Friday, the Sino-US co-production of Journey to the West... Oh, I'm sorry, it's a sideshow. It's the Sino-US co-production of the adventure documentary "Mount Everest". It is fully open on 139 IMAX screens in North America.
A very small premiere was held in advance, in the IMAX hall of Universal Studios, so the word-of-mouth ban was lifted in advance.
Regarding the third-level canopy scenery in the world, the feedback given by film critics is basically one word: shocking.
In addition, the episode in the film, "Life is Like a Summer Flower", also unexpectedly became the highlight.
Not only the full version of the song at the end, Simon also made the chant in the song, which fans once nicknamed "Park Call", run through the entire 70-minute documentary, similar to "Titanic" to "My Heart Will Go On" .
The distant sky plateau and the mysterious singing are like hypnosis with some kind of magical power. The two combined perfectly achieve the effect of one plus one being far greater than two. Even Rolling Stone magazine wrote an article specifically about this. , analyzed and recommended the Chinese song "Life is Like a Summer Flower" to fans, and also recommended the documentary "Mount Everest" to movie fans.
The documentary's comprehensive media score reached a classic level of 9.1.
Mexico.
Inside the seaside estate in San Lucas.
In a blink of an eye, it was the weekend at the end of September, and Simon came here again to have fun, and, well, it was still a themed weekend.
Jianghu Heroine themed weekend.
In the past month, the autumn season of TV has started. Although the two popular dramas of DHO are undoubtedly attracting the most attention, at the same time, "Dragon", which has been steadily playing in DHO's late-night theater, is definitely not so silent. interest.
After it was first aired, both Simon and the DHO team expected that the show's performance would be able to maintain the average million-level ratings when it first aired, which would make people very satisfied.
After all, Chinese-language dramas are definitely the most niche in the United States compared to Spanish, Italian or Portuguese.
However, the fact is that "Dragon Movie" gave a quite unexpected result.
Just talking about the two recent episodes on the evening of September 23, the highest ratings of the first season before the early morning of that night have exceeded 2 million, reaching 2.27 million viewers. This result, let alone late at night, even if it is placed in other normal DHO time period, it can be considered as good.
Not only that, on many film and television forums, the popularity of "Dragon" has even entered the top ten discussion lists in September, which is comparable to many new autumn dramas.
Of course, those who don’t like it still don’t like it, but viewers who like this Chinese martial arts drama have expressed their strong wishes that DHO can rebroadcast it, because many people regret not being able to watch some of the original episodes, and when Blockbuster The official Facebook page said that the DVD will be released immediately after the series is completed, and a lot of fans immediately flocked to the message board on Blockbuster's official website.