“As for the details of the revenue-sharing, go negotiate with AiLiDao. We work with them frequently, so it’s fine to give them a bit more profit.”

With that, Pei Qian handed the proposal back.

He actually wanted to give AiLiDao as much profit as possible, but he couldn’t make it too obvious, so he could only hint at it slightly.

After all, earning a little less was still something.

The specifics of the revenue-sharing wouldn’t make much difference after negotiations. The key was how “The Successor” would perform after its release.

Huang Sibo took the proposal: “By the way, Mr. Pei, there’s one more thing.”

“The filming of subsequent episodes of ‘The Successor’ is going smoothly. We’re considering releasing one episode per week until the end of next month, completing all 12 episodes.”

“Is this pace acceptable?”

Pei Qian checked the calendar on his computer. At one episode per week, they would indeed finish by the end of January or early February.

“Could it be… faster?” Pei Qian asked.

Looking at the timeline, if the entire series took nearly two months to broadcast, the hype would continue throughout that period.

Many popular TV shows and films release one part this week and another part next week, continuing for a month, to maintain online discussions.

Otherwise, if everything is released at once, people only discuss the ending, and the hype quickly dissipates.

But in the case of “The Successor,” Pei Qian definitely wanted to do the opposite.

The longer it dragged on, the more likely things could change.

It would be best to release the entire series at once, letting viewers binge-watch it, then collectively criticize it in a spectacular fashion, and be done with it.

Huang Sibo looked troubled: “Well… at the most extreme, we could condense it to two episodes per week, with the final two episodes released together, finishing in about a month.”

“That would be around January 12th.”

“However, this isn’t ideal for building momentum. We might be feeding the audience too much at once, considering each episode is nearly an hour long…”

Pei Qian waved his hand: “No problem! I think this timeframe is excellent!”

“Let’s go with that then—two episodes per week, finishing by January 12th.”

A shorter timeframe meant promotion and warm-up wouldn’t be too effective, and it would be difficult for netizens to build up discussion momentum—it seemed like a good choice.

Huang Sibo was confused: “Um… Mr. Pei, are you saying that something might happen around January 12th that would help the popularity of ‘The Successor’?”

“Otherwise, why the rush?”

Pei Qian: “…”

Who told you to interpret it that way!

But on second thought, Huang Sibo could only interpret it this way, since there was no reason from any perspective to release the entire series so quickly.

Pei Qian had no choice but to respond ambiguously: “Well… it might be useful, or it might not. Don’t have any expectations, but there’s no harm in trying our luck.”

Huang Sibo immediately nodded: “Understood!”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll go negotiate the cooperation details with AiLiDao right away.”

…

Huang Sibo left Pei Qian’s office, seamlessly connecting with Meng Chang who was waiting in the rest room.

Seeing Meng Chang, Huang Sibo said in a low voice: “You guessed right. Mr. Pei did choose AiLiDao, and he also requested changing from a buyout to revenue-sharing.”

Meng Chang nodded slightly, a smile involuntarily appearing on his face.

Good, this meant he understood Mr. Pei’s intentions, so his promotional plan for “The Successor” would likely meet Mr. Pei’s requirements, greatly increasing the chances of success!

Huang Sibo left quickly, ready to return to Fei Huang Studio to continue discussing the specific details of the collaboration with AiLiDao staff.

Although Mr. Pei had decided on the revenue-sharing model, the exact split, how each type of data would be calculated—these still needed careful consideration.

They needed to thoroughly evaluate what level of views and ratings “The Successor” would need to achieve for the revenue-sharing to match the income from a buyout.

But overall, if the series was relatively successful, the revenue-sharing income should be significantly higher than the buyout income.

After all, with a buyout, AiLiDao website would bear the risk, while with revenue-sharing, the risk would shift to Fei Huang Studio.

The party bearing more risk should receive certain compensation—that was only natural.

Meng Chang went to Mr. Pei’s office door, knocked, and entered.

“Mr. Pei, this is the initial promotional plan I’ve prepared for ‘The Successor’,” Meng Chang handed over the plan.

“Please take a look and give me some feedback.”

Pei Qian reached out to take it with great satisfaction.

Meng Chang was really getting it now, becoming more and more cooperative.

Previously, Meng Chang would always hide his promotional plans, trying everything to keep Pei Qian from knowing about them. Then, when the plans failed, he would always feel that Pei Qian was targeting him.

That was quite hurtful.

But now Meng Chang was proactively bringing his plans forward and seriously listening to feedback—this was progress!

Pei Qian was very satisfied with this and felt that Meng Chang was different from others, someone who could be entrusted with important tasks.

Seeing Mr. Pei’s satisfied expression, Meng Chang was also pleased.

He had realized that his previous approach was wrong because Mr. Pei reviewed his plans only to see how well he understood the Pei-style promotion method—it was entirely well-intentioned.

Proactively showing the plans to Mr. Pei might help him learn more useful things.

Pei Qian briefly reviewed the plan.

Meng Chang’s plan could be described as quite simple and brutal, even somewhat crude.

His promotional theme was: “The Ugliest Superhero”!

The promotional materials would include many unflattering photos and humiliating scenes of the protagonist Phil, promoting the series as an “alternative superhero theme.”

Additionally, there were promotional slogans such as “A truly authentic superhero film” and “Deconstructing the essence of superheroes”—seemingly unrelated or even contradictory phrases.

Beyond that, promotional videos were, of course, essential.

Actually, when editing the final cut, Fei Huang Studio had already produced some promotional videos, but since they weren’t sure about the exact effect to achieve, they made several versions.

Meng Chang specifically chose a version that focused on Phil’s storyline, with the first half showing scenes of Phil constantly being humiliated, vividly portraying his ugliness, while the second half showed scenes of Phil seizing power through various dirty means.

In short, none of the footage was particularly decent.

There were no especially innovative promotional methods; like before, it was simply a matter of brutally spending money to stack up materials.

After reviewing the plan, Pei Qian nodded slightly.

Good, as expected of Meng Chang—this plan was quite reliable!

Brutally stacking promotional materials could ensure spending more money while achieving subpar promotional effects.

Fully showcasing Phil’s ugliness would help viewers develop aversion and disgust toward the protagonist, driving away many viewers through their first impression.

And these self-contradicting promotional slogans could, to some extent, create a clickbait effect, causing some viewers to misjudge the content of the series, feel cheated after watching the first three episodes, and immediately give negative reviews.

However, in Pei Qian’s view, there were some imperfections in this plan.

“The overall approach of the plan is correct.”

“But I have a question.”

“‘A truly authentic superhero film’ and ‘Deconstructing the essence of superheroes’ are two completely opposing promotional phrases. The former suggests this is an orthodox superhero film, which can have a deceptive effect on viewers; while the latter suggests this is an anti-superhero film.”

“Why use such self-contradictory methods for promotion?”

“You could also consider promoting in the completely opposite direction, creating a misleading effect on the audience.”

Hearing Mr. Pei’s question, Meng Chang wasn’t nervous at all; instead, he was quite pleased.

Good, it seemed that Mr. Pei was testing his learning outcomes!

This was like many teachers who, after receiving a student’s assignment, find that a certain step lacks the reasoning process and only shows the result. In such cases, they would ask how the result was derived, to test whether the student truly mastered the knowledge or was trying to bluff their way through.

Now Mr. Pei was clearly doing something similar.

Meng Chang confidently replied: “Mr. Pei, aren’t you referring to the promotional method used for ‘Struggle’ before? I actually considered that initially.”

“That is, using completely misaligned content in the initial promotion to create a misleading impression on viewers or players. This way, when they discover the truth, they would feel cheated, thereby drastically lowering the initial ratings.”

“But after specific analysis, I found that the current situation of ‘The Successor’ is different from ‘Struggle,’ so this method isn’t quite suitable.”

“‘Struggle’ was highly confidential before its release—players knew absolutely nothing about the game’s content, so they could be fooled. But ‘The Successor’s’ original novel is right there on Terminal Chinese Network, with many longtime readers having read it. It’s impossible to deceive everyone.”

“If we forcibly did it this way, it might make viewers aware of the issue, provoking their rebellious psychology, and causing the initial promotional results to be contrary to our expectations.”

In other words, if Meng Chang simply promoted it as “This is a true superhero film,” it would certainly be exposed by longtime readers of “The Successor,” leading to some unpredictable consequences.

By using two different, contradictory promotional approaches, it could create a good confusion effect, making it more difficult for new viewers to grasp the essence of the film.

After all, not everyone has the patience to read through hundreds of thousands of words of the original work just for a new series that isn’t particularly good.

Pei Qian nodded, very satisfied with Meng Chang’s response.

Meng Chang had considered using “Struggle’s” promotional method, which was progress.

Although “Struggle” ultimately succeeded as a game, its promotional method did indeed attract many negative reviews.

And the fact that Meng Chang could see the shortcomings of this promotional method, not forcing its use, but instead combining his understanding to provide a new plan, was commendable.

The method Meng Chang was using now was essentially the same as “Struggle’s”—using incorrect promotional guidance to create false expectations for viewers. Once these expectations were not met, they would angrily give negative reviews.

However, compared to “Struggle,” his approach was more covert, more difficult to guard against, and not easily exposed.