Chapter 132: Chapter 131: Xingnai Webstar Festival
World Expo Performing Arts Center in Shanghai.
The concept of an internet celebrity festival is not new. Ever since the term "internet celebrity" emerged, there have probably been no less than a hundred such festivals held nationwide. Larger ones may attract a few somewhat famous internet celebrities to attend.
As for the smaller ones, they are practically jokes, with so-called internet celebrities who are only mildly famous locally. Forget about internet celebrity festivals; they might not even match the level of a mall opening event.
However, this time, Xingnai Media’s internet celebrity festival didn’t just invite the official platforms of Weibo, Douyin, Douyu, Huya, Panda, and the like. They spent tens of millions to invite every internet celebrity across the web. You could say, as long as netizens can name an internet celebrity, they are likely to appear here.
The well-known internet celebrities were easily invited by Xingnai Media’s funds.
As for some less famous internet celebrities, they paid out of their own pockets, buying tickets just to catch a bit of the buzz.
As the first internet celebrity festival recognized by major internet celeb platforms, its hype was already soaring to the skies. After all, in the internet entertainment model, the concept of an internet celebrity is hardly any less significant than that of a star and possesses a large fan base.
Under Gu Bai’s suggestion, the original investment of 60 million was increased to 80 million.
The additional 20 million was all used to invite stars. Since they decided to go big with the internet celeb festival, why not go even bigger? With 20 million, inviting a bunch of stars to support the event was quite easy.
Even top movie stars or singers charge around 1 million for an appearance, and that’s for full participation. Throwing 20 million at this brought in many of the hottest stars.
Stars like Deng Qi, Zhang Jie, Li Ronghao, Xue Ziqian, and Mao Buyi, for example.
Among them, not a penny was spent on Mao Buyi. Long Dan Ni sent him over directly when she learned Gu Bai was involved in this internet celeb festival.
Mao Buyi, having just debuted from the Future Son stage, was a pure newcomer in the entertainment circle. Even if he did charge, his level wouldn’t command much. Additionally, this internet celeb festival was a great exposure opportunity. Maintaining sufficient exposure is one of the standards for staying hot in the entertainment industry. And, it’s for his boss too.
As for Xue Ziqian, although at this time he was still embroiled in scandals, and had acquired a few nicknames like "scumbag" and "Shanghai Cannon King," undeniably, his fan base was still huge, with the costs of him and Deng Qi alone accounting for a quarter of the 20 million.
As for whether inviting Xue Ziqian would offend Tencent...
Gu Bai wasn’t worried at all. If Tencent really wanted to blacklist Xue Ziqian, it would be ridiculously easy. Given its size and complex entertainment industry network, if they really intended to blacklist Xue Ziqian, even Sea Butterfly Music behind him wouldn’t be able to protect him.
So, Xue Ziqian, despite offending Tencent, hadn’t reached the point of being banned. The online conspiracy theories about Tencent were all just baseless rumors. If they were targeting him, how could Xue Ziqian still be visible on screens until 2021?
Also, because of inviting this batch of stars, not to mention anything else, nearly 2 million out of 18,000 internet celeb festival tickets sold, and that’s only because the World Expo Performing Arts Center had limited seats. If it were held at the Bird’s Nest, filling it would likely be easy.
A ticket for 100 yuan to enjoy performances from a group of stars and internet celebs seemed like a fantastic deal to these spectators.
The internet celeb festival was to run for four consecutive days, with each section clearly divided. The beauty category was mostly dominated by internet celebs from Xingnai Media, given that Xingnai’s current development focus is to capture young fan traffic, as this age group has a strong consumption impulse, well-preparing for future merchandise sales.
Other sections had many internet celebs too, like food category stars Li Zhiqi and Ma La De Zi, who are giants with tens of millions of followers, especially Li Zhiqi, who was even praised by official media once.
The opening gala started at 7 PM and lasted five hours.
At only 2 PM, Gu Bai and others were also sitting in a large private room at the Peace Restaurant.
Besides Zhao Weiwei and Li Zhun.
Even Tian Shu, who hadn’t been seen in a while, came to show support.
Then there was Principal Wang. Ultimately, he pushed through opposition to get the broadcast rights and exclusive title sponsorship for the internet celeb festival for 45 million, quickly recouping most of its costs from him alone.
Besides these acquaintances of Gu Bai, there were other supporters they each brought along.
Without exception, they were all wealthy second generations. After all, people in similar circles tend to associate together. Li Zhun’s identity also destined that they wouldn’t mix with ordinary folks.
The table for over a dozen people was filled to capacity.
Beside Principal Wang, Gu Bai noticed a familiar face.
Wu Qian.
He’s one of the top stars among the Four Returned Sons.
There were already rumors that he had a good relationship with the principal. It indeed seemed true now. Bringing him to such an occasion already explained a lot. Otherwise, why would a star like him be able to sit at a top elite second-generation table?
Gu Bai remembered when he was reborn, Wu Qian was already singing tearful prison songs and eating prison meals, yet he seemed quite pleased with himself now.
For such an exhausted scoundrel, Gu Bai didn’t even want to glance twice.
Feeling Gu Bai’s gaze, Wu Qian flashed a somewhat respectful smile at him. After all, Gu Bai’s identity in the entertainment circle was no secret anymore. He’s the boss of a capital company worth over tens of billions and younger than Wu Qian by several years. His status was arguably no less than that of the principal sitting next to him, or perhaps even surpassing it.
And most importantly, "Black Swan Capital" had already started dabbling in the entertainment sector. Numerous stars were contemplating how to latch onto Gu Bai. Now that there was such an opportunity, Wu Qian intended to seize it.
Seeing Wu Qian smile at him, Gu Bai furrowed his brow slightly and started chit-chatting with Li Zhun, who was sitting next to him.
A man destined to fall and never rise again didn’t deserve even Gu Bai’s slightest attention. Not to mention, Gu Bai wasn’t a savior. To be fooled by such a person, although they might be victims, wouldn’t be a pure-hearted girl. Gu Bai wasn’t interested in playing the justice warrior, punishing him in advance. Watching as his world crumbles was enough satisfaction.
Wu Qian felt a bit dumbfounded as Gu Bai outright ignored him.
The disdain in Gu Bai’s eyes was completely evident and it left him perplexed.
He wondered when he had offended this big shot. Until yesterday, he had never even heard of Gu Bai’s name, let alone had any chance to offend him.
With these thoughts, Wu Qian began to feel a bit uneasy, planning to ask Principal Wang about it later.