124. Such a Good Thing?
As mentioned before regarding the revenue from exclusive streaming on the website and across all platforms, for Lu Ban, since the performance of Hammer and others has shown him that this film possesses some kind of extraordinary power, he no longer needs to worry about whether the film will flop.
All you need to do is upload it and you're done.
Therefore, Lu Ban chose to play the video on all platforms.
These parent-child video websites all adopt a combination of membership-based playback and single purchase. That is, paid members can watch these movies for free, while a few movies require additional payment, and non-members can only watch them by paying.
Therefore, the number of effective clicks, that is, the number of viewers who watch for six minutes, is a crucial factor in determining Lu Ban's revenue.
As soon as Lu Ban opened the website backend and added the WeChat account responsible for operations in this area, he heard a notification sound.
[Mahua]: Are you the one from the Old Days Video Network who was "Motionless"? Is that you?
[Motionless]: That refers to myself.
Lu Ban exchanged a few words with the other party and told him his thoughts.
[Mahua]: Are you referring to online movies on all platforms? Actually, I suggest you sign an exclusive streaming agreement. With all platforms, your movies will just be added to our movie library, and viewers will have to search precisely or rely on intelligent recommendations to see what they want. But with exclusive streaming, our website will have corresponding promotional partnerships.
That's what the operations team advised.
Although he hadn't watched Lu Ban's videos, considering that he was a popular content creator whose videos were all quite hits, he was naturally a target for video websites.
Now, Lu Ban is even coming to Lovecraft Video Network to submit his videos, which suggests that he may have a conflict with Old Days Video Network!
After all, if this movie becomes a hit, the traffic brought by the entire platform and the exclusive broadcast will be incomparable.
[Motionless]: No need for that. I think each video website has a different audience, and a multi-platform approach can reach a wider audience.
[Mahua]: Do you have any intention of signing a guaranteed minimum exclusive broadcasting agreement? That is, we will offer you a guaranteed minimum price, and the excess will be settled according to the revenue sharing.
The operations team persisted and even offered a guaranteed minimum return agreement.
The so-called guaranteed minimum is actually similar to a betting agreement. The video website will pay Lu Ban a certain amount of money directly, and no matter how many views his movie gets, the money will go into his pocket.
If the movie flops and the revenue from effective clicks doesn't exceed the pre-paid amount, then Lu Ban's earnings will come to an end.
If the movie becomes a huge hit, the excess revenue will be paid to Lu Ban based on the normal number of views.
Not many production companies can secure such agreements. After all, the success or failure of online dramas and movies can hinge on a single moment. Unless they have endorsements from famous figures or have produced a number of high-quality works, video websites will not easily offer guaranteed minimum agreements.
[Motionless]: Is there really such a good thing? How much money do you guarantee?
Lu Ban thought for a moment and realized that if the other party could guarantee a minimum of one million, then whether it was an exclusive broadcast or not wouldn't matter.
"Hmm? Now that I think about it, I could just have Ms. Song buy my movie for one million!"
Lu Ban realized this too late.
However, thinking that he couldn't keep taking advantage of the same person forever, or rather, he couldn't keep troubling Song Yunyan, Lu Ban decided to rely on himself.
Moreover, he also wanted more people to see the film and remember Momiji.
This can be considered a small consolation for the priestess who tried to become a guardian of ordinary people.
"If all else fails and the box office isn't enough, we'll ask Ms. Song to make up the difference!"
Lu Ban felt that he hadn't fallen to such a state.
While I was thinking, the other party's operations team responded again.
[Mahua]: Our guaranteed minimum is generally based on the quality of the finished product, mostly between 200,000 and 300,000.
Online movies have very low production costs. Anything over a million is considered a big production, and a minimum guarantee of two or three hundred thousand can basically recoup most of the costs. In the words of the operators, it's no different from doing charity.
[Motionless]: What kind of quality do you expect for that one million guarantee?
On the other side of the computer, the operations team member was stunned when they saw this sentence.
"A minimum guarantee of one million? Is this an attempt to discourage me?"
It's worth noting that the most popular online movie last year earned around 20 million yuan in revenue sharing. That was a spin-off series starring big IPs and proper movie actors. While Lu Ban's videos all have high viewership, with the most interactive video exceeding 10 million views, those are all short videos, which are different from movies.
There have been examples in the past where a series of videos that circulated online received high views and widespread praise, but when made into a movie, they were poorly received and criticized.
Most importantly, if such a minimum guarantee is offered, the person in charge will bear the cost responsibility. If Lu Ban's movie flops and doesn't earn that much money, then he will be the one who suffers in the final year-end accounting.
[Twisted Doughnuts]: Well, if the quality is acceptable, we can discuss it.
He decided to stabilize Lu Ban first.
[Motionless]: Forget it, I'll just stick to all platforms. I'm confident in the quality of my work.
Lu Ban felt that the other party probably didn't really want to give him this million for nothing. Besides, he was someone who had risked his life in a foreign land, witnessed the descent of an evil god, burned an entire island, and even had grass growing on his body. Why would he be so conflicted about a million?
One million yuan is only enough for a down payment in Jiangcheng; you still have to pay off the loan!
It would take at least ten million to make him hesitate.
"With ten million, can I buy a villa? The one I stayed at last time was pretty nice, quiet, but the surrounding area was too desolate. It's better to live near a university. Or I could just buy the one I live in now, and I wouldn't even have to move. That's so cool of me!"
Lu Ban has already begun to consider how to spend the ten million he has acquired.
He spent an entire afternoon contacting the operations teams of several video websites, and finally decided to release the content on all platforms, thus finalizing the launch date.
According to the revenue sharing price, he can earn 1.5 yuan for each valid click, which means that he needs more than 600,000 valid views to complete the task.
On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lu Ban's film "Hyakunin Isshu" was quietly released online.
As expected, neither Lovecraft Video Network nor Scarecrow Video Network did much promotion, only releasing trailers for new movies. Tomorrow Online mainly focuses on short videos, the movie section was deserted.
Only the Old Days Video Network, because it was considered Lu Ban's main battlefield, received an immediate response after he posted an update.
Wow, this time it's going straight to the movie?!
[Has my family's membership finally come in handy?]
[This length is impressive, it shows a lot of conscience!]
[I checked the description, and what?! There's a woman in the uploader's video, and she's not even a monster! My youth is over!]
[Wow, it's a movie! And this time it's a big production!]
[Will this three-click combo result in a new episode within a week?]
[It's decided, this will be today's video to watch while eating!]
Looking at these comments, Lu Ban picked up the mooncakes he had bought from the cake shop outside the residential area.
Today, with the flowers in full bloom and the moon shining brightly, it's a perfect day for families to reunite and enjoy a movie together.
Thank you to "Cold Water with Sugar Cubes" and "Mysterious Disaster" for the 100-coin donation!