Yao Libei actually doesn’t have many fans on Weibo.
Logically speaking, even if his complaint attracted some attention, it would not have caused much of a response - but Yao Libei did not have many fans, and there were many companies secretly trying to take advantage of the situation and hope that Huaying would get into trouble.
Therefore, after accidentally discovering Yao Libei's Weibo post, a company quickly bought it to be on the hot search list, and also hired a lot of Internet trolls to set the pace on all Weibo posts where "The Prince of Tennis" could be seen:
"After watching the first two episodes, to be honest, I now feel a bit like watching "The Little Prince" first and then "IS". This tennis animation feels too straightforward and exaggerated. It is not at the same level as the previous Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes. It's really embarrassing..."
"It's OK if I don't know tennis. As a tennis fan, I felt so embarrassed watching this animation. It felt to me that the creators didn't have a deep understanding of tennis at all. They just did some random research and started to act like they knew nothing. I couldn't stand watching it if I knew a little bit about tennis."
"Based on the main creator's tennis skills, I thought that people who are good at tennis should be more emotional when making an animation with the same theme. But emmmmm, I was wrong. In the end, for some companies, our beliefs are just a tool to make money."
"It's really a shame. Please show some people a little more respect for tennis. Professional players train so hard every year, don't they just want more people to understand and love tennis? Some unscrupulous companies, on the other hand, just make an animation to bring everyone's efforts back to square one. I'm convinced."
…
When Luo Gaofeng finished watching the animation as usual and opened Weibo to check out other people's discussions, he was stunned by the words "Professional tennis players criticize Prince of Tennis" clearly visible on the hot search list.
He clicked on the trending search list and quickly understood the whole story based on many people's complaints.
This... is just an animation, why make such a big deal about it
Luo Gaofeng was a little confused.
If only some tennis fans were dissatisfied, that would be understandable, but the problem is...
Luo Gaofeng turned his eyes to the hot search that always topped the list, and felt confused. Isn't tennis on Blue Star always unpopular? I haven't heard of many people being tennis fans, so how come Huaying's animation has attracted so many tennis fans
In the Huaying fan group, many fans are also discussing this issue:
Tornado: Did you see that
I said: I saw it. This time it was too exaggerated. I was afraid to speak for Huaying, for fear of being labeled as a bastard who insulted their tennis beliefs [shivering]
There is a beautiful woman in the house: I have seen it. The professional player himself is not very famous. It is impossible for a Weibo post of his to attract so much attention, let alone become a hot search in half an hour. Huaying must have been tricked.
Tornado: Now the question is, it’s already on the headlines, why hasn’t Huaying come out to clarify? Where are the people in the PR department
I am free to say: Don’t ask, if you do, the answer is no.
There is a beautiful woman in the house: Don’t ask, asking is suicide.
Luo Gaofeng was originally quite nervous, but he found it funny when he saw this, and followed suit and replied: "It seems that I still have to pray that Huaying's PR will not be ruined. Reverse PR is the most fatal. Don't let that happen and no one can save them."
Tornado: Are we just going to sit there and do nothing? Damn, why do I feel like we are eunuchs? Huaying is not in a hurry, but we are already worrying about whether it will affect the ratings.
Fans of Huaying are worried.
Luo Gaofeng was also helpless. He had no other choice but to deal with such a Buddhist company. "Don't worry about it for now. Let's wait until the ratings come out tomorrow. It's useless to worry now."
In reality, the Huaying Public Relations Department is certainly not really committing suicide.
Before Yao Libei's Weibo was bought to be on the top of the hot search list, an employee of Huaying's Public Relations Department noticed it at the first time. Realizing that this Weibo post might have an adverse impact on "The Prince of Tennis", the head of the Public Relations Department quickly notified Mu Suxing, and briefly explained the plan discussed by the Public Relations Department and made a final request to Mu Suxing.
This is just a process.
The PR department thought that their PR plan was pretty good this time, and they were already full of confidence to prove the strength of Huaying PR department, but they couldn't stand their top BSS saying slowly: "Oh, you mean that? No need."
Um
Although everyone in Huaying was convinced by their BSS, the PR manager was still a little confused when he heard this answer. Was this opinion also within the boss's expectations
Muxuxing didn't know that a manager of a competing company next door had already praised him as a master strategist who could plan everything. Of course, even if he knew, he wouldn't care, and might even give an extra explanation:
"No matter how far-sighted I am, I could never have predicted that a professional player would come out to mess things up." Mu Suxing didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but his expression was very relaxed: "But this matter doesn't have any impact, you don't have to worry about it. You don't have to be on standby, the work this time is almost done, go home after get off work."
The PR employee was still a little hesitant: "This... isn't good, right?"
As a member of Huaying, they will of course pay attention to netizens' comments on Huaying, such as the "self-entertainment production, autistic marketing, and suicidal public relations" that is about to go viral. Although Mu Suxing has never said anything to blame them, but... they have to save face, okay!
Muxuxing glanced at them.
He said generously: "Sure."
"If you really want to do something, that's fine, but there's one thing—" Facing everyone's expectant gazes, Mu Suxing said casually: "You are not allowed to use the company's funds."
He has been budgeting carefully recently, and he is only willing to spend every penny he has. Knowing that he has a sure win, he certainly doesn't want to waste money.
When the PR manager went back and told everyone about Mu Suxing's instructions, everyone looked at each other in confusion, speechless.
The deputy manager said solemnly: "It looks like we're going to be scolded again this time."
"There's nothing we can do about it," another person sighed. "It's just that Boss Mu is too awesome. He carries the whole game by himself. We have no place to use our skills at all."
“So,” the manager concluded, “Everyone go back and eat what you need to eat, sleep what you need to sleep, be prepared to be scolded or win without doing anything, and adjourn the meeting.”
In the end, I didn't get scolded.
Everyone just thought that the fans were trying every possible way to save the situation and didn't have the energy to take out the time to criticize Huaying's PR department. However, until the next day, the one-sided public opinion on the Internet intensified, and no fan criticized Huaying's PR department.
Luo Gaofeng no longer has time to greet the public relations department on a daily basis.
He looked at the TV station's happily released audience ratings and began to question his life.
He had thought that under the influence of online public opinion, the ratings of "Prince of Tennis" would be more or less negatively affected. However, the ratings did not show any sign of decline. The ratings of the first episode of the animation were as high as 2.86%. By the end of the second episode, the ratings had exceeded 3%!
In today's world where computer video sites are prevalent and television stations are gradually declining, this viewership rate can only be described as horrifying.
Tornado: This… Could it be that it was only the first day yesterday and no one had time to watch it online, so the ratings were so good? Maybe they will plummet tomorrow
the next day.
There was silence among Huaying's fans.
Luo Gaofeng: "Did you guys refresh it? Damn, I'm stuck here, the page hasn't been displayed for a long time. How are the ratings of Prince of Tennis? How much has it dropped?"
Tornado: 0.5%
Luo Gaofeng: …
Sure enough, it still dropped by 0.5%.
Luo Gaofeng sighed and forced a smile: "It's not bad. I saw that the Internet trolls worked so hard to slander it, and many passers-by were also led by it. Even so, it still has about 2.5%, which is already very good. It's worthy of being Huaying. Even in this situation, it still beats the TV programs of other channels."
Tornado: It didn’t drop by 0.5%, it increased by 0.5%
ah
Luo Gaofeng was really confused this time.
He couldn't help but switch to Weibo and took another look at the hot search list which couldn't be more conspicuous. Yes, the first on the hot search list was still the familiar "Professional players criticize tennis". At the same time, there were several related topics such as "Huaying animation misleads the audience" ranked in the top ten hot searches. Many people wrote long Weibo essays criticizing Huaying, and each essay was followed by a large number of people.
You read it right. The internet trolls are still occupying the moral high ground and making sarcastic remarks in various ways.
Why are the ratings so unpredictable
Huaying's fans are very confused, but some company executives who paid money to hire Internet trolls to discredit Huaying are even more confused than them.
"So, can anyone explain to me what's going on?"
In an office, a man sitting behind a desk had a gloomy face: "Didn't someone tell me that using this topic can hurt Huaying's ratings? I paid the money, hired Internet trolls, and bought hot searches. Why is Huaying's ratings ranked first?"
"Did I spend money to buy trending searches just to get Huaying's work to the top of the ratings?"
Seeing their boss getting angry, the employees below felt speechless and dared not even to breathe.
Not to mention the boss, even the employees who personally participated in every process were no less confused than him. This Huaying was really weird. No marketing before the premiere, no public relations after the incident. Was it really a self-enclosed marketing suicide public relations
They had even planned a response plan after Huaying's public relations incident, but who would have thought that Huaying wouldn't even look at them
After a long silence, someone tentatively asked, "Could it be because of Shege?"
Xie Ge didn't see Yao Libei's Weibo until the next day.
Because of his fondness for Huaying animation and his love for animation itself, this professional tennis player also came out to speak for Huaying on the court. Some tennis fans also calmed down because of his words. Even if they were not relieved about Huaying, at least they stopped following the internet trolls to discredit Huaying.
But this is only a change of attitude within the tennis community.
Netizens are easily instigated by public opinion, and the internet trolls have deliberately occupied the moral high ground this time. The tennis circle itself is cold, so even if some people change their attitudes, it will not have any impact on the situation.
The man seemed to be so angry that he laughed. He said coldly, "How powerful Xie Ge is, don't I know better than you? Why don't you just tell me that the people watching TV and the netizens online are two different groups of people?"
While everyone was discussing the reason why the ratings of "Prince of Tennis" were not affected, the same issue was also being discussed at the headquarters of Huaying at the same time.
“It’s really two groups of people.”
Facing the surprised looks of the crowd, Mu Suxing smiled slightly: "So didn't I say it at the beginning? The Prince of Tennis is a children's animation - the main audience it targets are elementary and junior high school students from the beginning."
Netizens are easily influenced by public opinion and habitually like to occupy the moral high ground, and then criticize some current hot topics. However, the world of young people is not that complicated.
To them, the only difference between animations is whether they are good-looking or not. As for "tarnishing tennis" or "using other people's beliefs as a tool for profit", regardless of whether they will pay attention to online public opinion, if they really see it by chance, most of them will not understand what these disputes are about.
The navy is very busy, but what about the reality
There is no way these remarks will reach the mainstream audience of "Prince of Tennis". Even if some of them slip through the net, they will not achieve the effect that those behind the scenes want to achieve.
Perhaps the parents of young viewers will notice the news, but will they forbid their children from watching "The Prince of Tennis" because of this
The answer is of course no.
Parents don't have high requirements for TV animations, as long as there are no plots or scenes that teach children bad things. However, "The Prince of Tennis" is just the opposite. It has neither a distorted outlook nor bloody scenes that are not suitable for children. The whole animation tells the story of a group of teenagers pursuing their dreams. The plot is bright and positive, and it even indirectly guides children to play tennis and exercise.
They can't wait to have more animations like this on the market, so how can they stop them
"As for whether the company will lose money," Mu Suxing shrugged, "I don't need to say more about the money-making power of children's animation, right?"
Everyone nodded in understanding.
really.
Compared with animations whose main audience is teenagers, a popular children's animation will perform even more terrifyingly in terms of peripheral profits. This is also the most common way for children's animations on the market to make profits: the subscription amount of the animation itself may not be very high, but the profits of its peripheral industries will be ridiculously high.
For example, a certain children's animation film that was released at this time last year only made about 80 million yuan at the box office until the animation film was released, which just barely recovered its cost. But this animation is a typical princess animation. In the past year, the sales of dolls based on this animation alone reached 500 million yuan!
The only drawback is that, except for companies like Huaying that have a complete industrial chain, most animation companies are only responsible for the production of animation. No matter how high the sales of animation peripherals are, it cannot bring them much actual benefits.
In this regard, Huaying and "The Prince of Tennis" undoubtedly have more advantages.
Firstly, Huaying has its own toy factory and has good sales channels. Secondly, "The Prince of Tennis" undoubtedly has more advantages than other animations in terms of subject matter.
If it were an expensive toy, parents might still hesitate, or simply promise it as a prize for good grades in the exam, but there is no such worry for "The Prince of Tennis". In Mu Xiuxing's vision, the peripheral products of "The Prince of Tennis" will be mainly tennis balls, tennis rackets and sportswear of various schools in the animation.
For parents, buying a set of tennis equipment and playing tennis with their children is a parent-child activity.
"But..." Wen Feihang was still a little confused: "How do you know that younger audiences will definitely like this animation? Take me for example, I'm already in my twenties, but I still think The Prince of Tennis is really good."
Although the others didn't say anything, it seemed from their expressions that they had the same confusion in their hearts.
Muxuxing did not answer this question immediately.
He considered his words for a moment before explaining, "Let me put it this way - you think The Prince of Tennis is good because it is indeed an above-average animation. As for why I am so sure that it will please children -"
Everyone subconsciously raised their eyes and looked over here in unison.
… Why is it that I feel like I’m teaching a class to children
Mu Suxing felt a little amused, but still answered the student's question like a competent teacher: "Because in my opinion, The Prince of Tennis is a very suitable animation to be used as an introduction to animation."
It’s just that this enlightenment is not that enlightenment.
It is not a conventional enlightenment animation that achieves the purpose of educating and entertaining through the form of animation, but the key to open the door to another world called "second dimension" in the hearts of boys and girls.
This is also commonly known as entering the house.
In the youth of most people, there is always an animation that may have some shortcomings, but it brings people warmth and comfort in their ordinary or lonely life; there are also always a few boys and girls who, although they do not exist in this real world, have once truly amazed your youth.
In Mu Suxing's opinion, "The Prince of Tennis" is an animation that can become such an existence.
It may not be perfect and have various problems, big and small, but for children, it represents another world that belongs only to them.
There are exciting tennis matches and daily training. There are like-minded friendships and the purest and most determined dreams. There is Fuji who uses laughter as a sword but cares most about his family and friends, and there is also a captain who is willing to make sacrifices for the future of Seigaku.
Perhaps in the years to come, they will watch animations that are more profound than "The Prince of Tennis", visit worlds that are more colorful than a simple tennis campus, and meet other characters in those animations who are just as gentle or tough as the "princes", but the shadows of the boys who accompanied them through their youth will never fade away.
First love is always the most touching thing. This is also true in animation.
From the first broadcast of "Prince of Tennis" online, to its being blacklisted by the entire network due to the instigation of some people with ulterior motives, to its undisputed top spot in the ratings.
Everything was presented as if it were a grand farce.
Some people saw Yao Libei's malicious criticism of "The Prince of Tennis" in it; some people saw the terrifying ratings of "The Prince of Tennis" and the consistent dominance of the animation; some people also saw the huge and enviable interests behind "The Prince of Tennis"...
So what do you see? the system asks.
Mu Suxing thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Perhaps it will be the future of Huaying that will always accompany this generation of viewers as they grow up in a few years."
Although the die-hard fans of Huaying, led by Luo Gaofeng, still don't quite understand why "The Prince of Tennis" has achieved such a terrifying viewership rating despite the entire network's blackening, they gave up the idea of continuing the study after they found that such viewership ratings were not a flash in the pan but a normal and lasting daily occurrence.
Why think so much? If they have that free time, they might as well watch two more episodes of "The Prince of Tennis". Anyway, they just need to know that Huaying still did not fail this time, and that's enough.
After figuring this out, Luo Gaofeng stopped worrying about it and instead focused on following the animation.
Luo Gaofeng has always had the habit of communicating with other like-minded people in the Huaying fan group while following the anime. Now that they see that the black fans have not caused any meaningful waves, everyone is no longer bothered by the black fans, and the topic of discussion in the group quickly returned to the discussion of the plot and characters related to "Prince of Tennis".
However-
First day.
"Wow! I really like this protagonist! Why is he so damn cute even when he's arrogant 5555555, I will always like Echizen Ryoma! [Very loud]"
Luo Gaofeng glanced at the female fans who were frantically swiping the screen in the group, and finally closed the group chat silently.
Forget it, I'll discuss the characters and tennis prowess of "The Prince of Tennis" with my fellow enthusiasts some other day.
the next day.
"Wow wow wow, I'm going to blow up Kikumaru Eiji today! How can there be such a cute boy in this world! Who wouldn't want to have a Kikumaru cat? [Tiger tears]"
Luo Gaofeng glanced at another name that appeared frequently in the group, which was completely different from yesterday, and calmly looked away.
Isn't it just climbing a wall? Isn't it just climbing a wall every day? For fans of Huaying, this is simply a routine operation.
Day 3.
"Too fucking crazy, Fuji really makes me dizzy! I really have no resistance to this kind of man who uses smile as a knife, looks gentle but is actually very sharp, but also pays special attention to friends and family!"
Luo Gaofeng: …
Day 4, Day 5, Day 6…
Tezuka Kunimitsu, Atobe Keigo, Yukimura Seiichi…
When the fans in the group began to seriously consider whether to choose Fuji male god or marry Atobe-dono, Luo Gaofeng finally couldn't help it.
He asked sincerely, "Why don't you just do the splits on the wall?"