Tang Long's Charm! A Champions League Match Boosts CCTV-5's Ratings for an Underdog Special!
September 29th!
In the second round of the UEFA Champions League group stage, Manchester City traveled to Scotland to play Celtic away.
To Europe audiences, this was just a small UEFA Champions League group stage match, nothing special.
But for China viewers, it was a football feast for fans supporting Tang Long!
This is the first UEFA Champions League match that CCTV has broadcast live since acquiring the broadcasting rights for this season's UEFA Champions League.
The match started at 2:45 AM.
However, starting at 1:45 a. m., the ratings kept climbing!
A small number of fans, afraid of oversleeping, started staying up late after dinner, staying up from six or seven o'clock until after two o'clock!
Of course, most fans still habitually set alarms to wake up.
However, if it were a regular match, I would probably set an alarm for 2:40 AM.
This time, in order to watch Tang Long, many people were afraid of oversleeping, so they set their alarms an hour in advance. As soon as they heard the alarm in their dreams, they would spring out of bed, get dressed, and come to the living room, eagerly turning on CCTV -5.
At that moment, Channel 5 was broadcasting a curling match.
"2.92, 2.97, holy crap, it's already 3.03!"
Curling has set a new record for the highest number of games ever broadcast!
This far exceeds the 1.58% participation rate of the China women's curling team at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
The director, watching the soaring ratings on the screen, exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? What's going on? It's the middle of the night, why are so many people watching curling?"
At the same time.
Li Kai, the newly appointed director of CCTV-5, also noticed something amiss.
For this match between Manchester City and Celtic, his superior, Director Wang Wen, gave him a strict order.
"We must make this UEFA Champions League match the benchmark for CCTV's football ratings this year. In my opinion, it should at least be comparable to this year's Olympic final. Hmm... I'll give you another task: aim for 5.14% to be comparable to the men's table tennis final!"
The newly appointed director, Li Kai, was immediately alarmed!
"Boss, aren't you putting me in a difficult position? A Europe club football match, at 2 a. m., is going to be longer than an Olympic table tennis match? Table tennis is our national sport, even a god couldn't do that!"
"The god of ratings isn't in the heavens, he's in Europe. He plays for Manchester City, you have to have faith!"
Wang Wen had witnessed Tang Long's prowess before.
Last year's Coppa Italia final, Inter Milan vs. Juventus, achieved a viewership rating of 5.02, setting a new high for CCTV-5 in 2015, even surpassing the UEFA Champions League final between Barcelona and Juventus that year.
This time, Tang Long has made a triumphant return, and Director Wang is full of confidence, believing that the ratings will definitely exceed 5.02, and at least be comparable to the men's table tennis final between Ma Long and Zhang Jike at this year's Olympics.
After receiving a direct order from his superior.
Director Li of CCTV-5 was covered in sweat!
He previously worked in the logistics department and had never been involved in football, nor did he watch it.
Therefore, former director Wang Wen did not have a firsthand understanding of the enormous impact Tang Long had on viewership ratings.
There was no other way for Li Kai but to rack his brains and plan meticulously.
To complete the task, he planned ahead, switching to the UEFA Champions League broadcast 45 minutes early. Although the match hadn't started, he had the two hosts liven up the atmosphere, do pre-match analysis, and even launched a prize draw activity that CCTV -5 had discontinued many years ago.
Li Kai himself arrived at the Wutaishan Studio at 1 a. m. to personally oversee the operation.
He originally thought that the viewership ratings would gradually get on track about 10 minutes before the match started, which was supposed to begin at 2:45.
Unexpectedly, it broke 3 an hour early!
The key point is that this is a curling match, and it's a replay.
Li Kai was in close communication with his staff when he learned from the comments backstage that viewers were all urging him to start the UEFA Champions League as soon as possible!
"Director Li, how about we finish curling and move on to the UEFA Champions League early? He Wei has already made all the preparations, and he said it's no problem!"
Li Kai pondered for a moment, then waved his hand and said something that left his subordinates scratching their heads.
"No!"
"You guys do it this way, the original plan was to start the UEFA Champions League broadcast at 2:45 and switch to He Wei's He Wei at 2:00, but the plan has changed, we need to change it to 2:35! It's 1:50 now, there are 45 minutes left, first arrange martial arts, then bowling, then rock climbing, and finally Go, ten minutes each, go through it all!"
Everyone was shocked.
What are they trying to do?
A 45-minute medley of obscure projects? That's ridiculous, isn't it? The audience will all leave.
Someone immediately advised, "Mr. Li, I think the curling ratings are already so high, let's switch to He Wei's side. With his silver tongue, he can recite a few poems, and I reckon the ratings will break 4 before the competition even starts. That would mean we've accomplished more than half of our mission."
Li Kai smiled without saying a word, simply instructing them to do as instructed.
Within Wutai Mountain, Li Kai is the boss; he makes the decisions, and his subordinates have no choice but to obey.
1:52 AM.
As the curling game was being played, Channel 5 suddenly switched to commercials. Viewers who had been waiting in front of their TVs late at night cheered. "Haha, finally we're going to be in the football broadcast room! Tang Long, here we come!"
Unexpectedly, the screen switched to a pre-recorded broadcast of the National Wushu Performance Competition.
Watching an old man practicing Tai Chi slowly and leisurely, a chorus of curses erupted backstage.
Li Kai, however, was cheering in the studio!
"Great! Curling's viewership has broken 3, and martial arts' has broken 3 too! Perfect!"
It wasn't until this point that the other staff members on site realized what was happening.
So, this was all to boost the ratings of various niche projects!
Ten minutes later, the screen showed another advertisement.
The viewers in front of the television cheered, "Tang Long, here we come!"
They were greeted with a pre-recorded broadcast of the World Bowling Championships.
The backstage area is erupting in fury again!
In the studio, Li Kai continued to cheer, surrounded by a crowd!
This time, not only Li Kai, but the entire studio was in an uproar!
"Bowling's viewership ratings have broken 3.3, a new all-time high!"
Ten minutes later, the World Climbing Championships began as scheduled.
The backstage abuse is getting increasingly intense!
Someone threatened to storm the CCTV and smash it up!
"The viewership rating for rock climbing has broken 3.4, setting a new record!" Li Kai hugged everyone, his eyes filled with tears.
His purpose in doing this was to use Tang Long's incredible browsing ability to boost the ratings of all the less popular projects on the station over the years!
These are all real achievements, work results that can be included in the annual report at the end of the year!
Some expressed concern. "Mr. Li, it's understandable that we're aiming for KPIs, but if we keep fooling the audience like this, won't they run away as soon as the competition starts?"
Li Kai laughed confidently, "No way! With Tang Long as bait, let's see who dares to run away! Hurry up, ten minutes are up, let's switch to Go!"
Snap!
"You are now watching the National Go League Division A match between Ke Jie and Shin Jin-seo..."
The backstage criticism has stopped.
Football fans across the country stared wide-eyed, obediently watching the two players make their moves.
Because everyone has figured out the pattern.
Following the rule of changing every ten minutes, after watching the Go game for ten minutes, it's time for the UEFA Champions League match between Manchester City and Celtic.
So many people simply switched platforms.
I watched something else first, and only came back to watch Channel 5 ten minutes later.
"Oh dear, Mr. Li, something terrible has happened!"
"The steadily rising viewership ratings have declined!"
"How low has it dropped?"
"It dropped from 3.4 to 2.8!"
"It's alright, stay calm, it's still a new record for Go live streaming..."
Despite saying that, Li Kai was still quite uneasy, silently praying, "Tang Long, hold on! Stand firm! This is the last step, stay steady!"
Ten minutes later.
Snap!
"Hello everyone! I'm He Wei!"
The moment he finished speaking...
The ratings skyrocketed, soaring from 2.8 to 5.19!
In just 20 seconds, it surpassed the 2016 Olympics match between Ma Long and Zhang Jike!
The studio erupted in chaos!
Everyone surrounded Li Kai, cheering and jumping for joy!
Li Kai felt dizzy and excited, so much so that he clapped and spun around on the spot!
"The referee blows his whistle!"
"The match is now in session!"
"Tang Long passes the ball, and he starts charging forward!"
"Ranocchia controlled the ball, waited a few seconds, and then suddenly launched a long pass!"
"This isn't the Manchester City we know. Did they start with a traditional Premier League long ball and cross attack?"
The next second, He Wei's pupils suddenly contracted!
He snapped the pen in his hand in half with a snap, jumped onto the table, and raised his arms in a shout...