“A TV series?” In his daily conversations with his fellow disciples, Zuckerberg had heard the term "TV series" used to describe Piaomiao Zhiluo more than once. However, Zuckerberg had assumed this was due to a difference in their understanding of English. Perhaps Chinese people considered "TV" and "movies" to be the same thing, which was understandable.
So, Zuckerberg hadn't dwelled on it. But now, hearing his junior sister explicitly state that Piaomiao Zhiluo was different from TV series and movies made him feel somewhat perplexed. After all, if she couldn't distinguish between movies and TV series, she wouldn't have used such distinct English words to differentiate them, right?
Zuckerberg then learned that Piaomiao Zhiluo from China was indeed a TV series, unlike American movies.
“Oh, I recall Chinese TV series having episodes of around 45 minutes each. Since this entire series is only 10 episodes, isn’t it quite unsatisfying to watch!” Zuckerberg asked with a chuckle.
He remembered that the three movie versions combined were about 6 hours long. If divided into 45-minute or 40-minute episodes, it would be around 10 episodes. At most, it would be about 12 episodes per season.
To his surprise, Ma Siyu shook her head and replied, “No, it’s a total of 24 episodes, and each episode is about 90 minutes long!”
“What!” Zuckerberg practically leaped up.
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That evening, Zuckerberg was almost forcibly dragged back by his junior disciples. After all, the curfew was 8 PM, and no one was allowed to enter the residence after that time. Not only would they be locked out for the entire night, but they would also inevitably face a stern reprimand from their teachers the next day, along with various punishments.
So, they hastily prepared to return around 6 PM. However, Zuckerberg, who had already watched the movie version multiple times from beginning to end, refused to leave, fixated on the TV series version.
It was then that Zuckerberg realized that Chinese people were indeed quite unreasonable. The TV series version of Piaomiao Zhiluo contained a staggering 2160 minutes of content, yet it was edited down to only 360 minutes for the movies. How could anyone tolerate this!
Especially after watching the first three episodes of the TV series, Zuckerberg became even more displeased. He discovered that within these three episodes, he saw a vast amount of content that had been cut from the movie version to save time.
This content elaborated on plotlines completely absent from the movie version and introduced many captivating characters. Most importantly, these cut scenes contained an extremely rich world-building system.
Take Li Qiang’s first stop, Tianting Star, for example. In the movie version, the content related to Tianting Star was only about fifty minutes in total, with more than half of it being combat scenes, or providing a justification for the fighting. The plot primarily revolved around the imperial palace, confining the narrative within a considerably limited scope.
The TV series, however, was entirely different. It unfolded the entire world of Tianting Star, meticulously detailing its customs and traditions, its language, and various architectural styles.
It even specifically designed many artifacts that had never existed before, existing only within the film… Crucially, there was also a transformation of the world’s scenery. Since it was a completely different planet, one could see three suns in the sky, and seven moons at night, along with a multitude of coniferous trees that had evolved to adapt to this environment, and an unparalleled mountainous landscape resembling sky ladders, and so on.
These unique landscapes were all edited out in the movie version, or only flashed by in some shots. However, the TV series featured the breathtaking beauty of these worlds… For instance, there was a scene where Li Qiang was bathing in a lake, with a beautiful young girl chatting with him by his side… The entire process had no other plot; it was simply the two of them chatting in the lake, while the camera continuously panned across the world, directly showcasing the miraculous beauty of this world in sync with their conversation.
The total duration of this scene was a staggering 10 minutes… Have you ever seen a TV series dedicate 10 minutes to filming scenery?
You certainly haven’t. Thus, this scene became the most beautiful landscape shot in the history of Chinese television dramas. This 10-minute shot successfully unveiled the scenery of an incredibly beautiful alien planet to all viewers.
And such beautiful, breathtaking shots were all cut from the movie version, which made Zuckerberg feel an urge to burst into tears.
Americans were too pitiful; they had never witnessed the true Piaomiao Zhiluo. They had only seen a truncated preview version!
Even after returning to the Tianshi Mansion, Zuckerberg remained extremely dissatisfied. He stayed up all night. After the morning assembly, with dark circles under his eyes, he found his master, obtained a phone, and spoke to his nearby secretary for a full hour.
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“What? Zuckerberg, while staying at the Tianshi Mansion, still has the time to propose a cooperation plan, requesting that our TV series version of Piaomiao Zhiluo be made available for viewing on his Weibo?” Upon receiving Zuckerberg’s latest cooperation invitation from Hu Jing, Boss Huang couldn't help but smile.
“Yes, it is said that Zuckerberg saw the TV series version of Piaomiao Zhiluo yesterday and strongly requested our cooperation!” Hu Jing replied.
“This is interesting. I’ve thought of many ways to promote Piaomiao Zhiluo in the American market, but I never thought of directly promoting it through Weibo for viewing!” Boss Huang mused, stroking his nose.
Boss Huang naturally did not intend to broadcast the TV series version of Piaomiao Zhiluo only in China. The worldwide distribution of the TV series version had long been part of Boss Huang’s plan.
The movie version also served as a precursor to the TV series version. However, Boss Huang soon discovered a new problem: the TV series version completely encompassed the content of the movie version. If it were directly broadcast on television, it would undoubtedly be a severe blow to audiences who had paid for movie tickets to watch the movie version.
Generally, DVD versions could only be released six months after a movie’s premiere. And it could only be broadcast on television a year later, and even then, only for less prominent films. Blockbuster movies were strictly forbidden from being aired on television, as it would diminish their prestige.
This presented a tricky situation for Boss Huang. Unexpectedly, Zuckerberg put forth a suggestion that gave Boss Huang a new idea.
“Go and ask Zuckerberg if his Weibo servers can support all American viewers accessing his platform to watch a 2160-minute TV series?”
Just three days after this question was posed, Zuckerberg personally appeared before Huang He, eagerly asking, “Mr. Huang, do you have servers capable of supporting such a massive amount of traffic?” Zuckerberg asked impatiently.
This was a remarkably astute individual. Upon receiving Boss Huang’s question, he keenly perceived the unusual implications behind it.
Why would Boss Huang ask this?
It must mean that he possessed the technology capable of supporting such traffic. This would signify the future potential to construct a network video platform purely centered around video content.
It was obvious that such a network video platform would generate immense traffic and profits in the future.
In fact, such platforms had already emerged. For example, YouTube was registered on February 15, 2005. Although at that time, the platform could only offer short video sharing and was incapable of supporting long videos, it had already garnered a substantial user base in just over a month. It was rumored that Google had taken notice of this platform and was directly negotiating an acquisition.
Upon seeing this information, Zuckerberg deeply regretted it. If he had discovered YouTube earlier, he would have acquired the platform without hesitation.
Actually, Weibo itself already had a short video sharing function, so it shouldn’t have any covetous interest in platforms like YouTube.
However, upon investigating YouTube, it was discovered that the website was utilizing equipment worth only about 2 million US dollars to provide video services to over 100,000 users… For a similar number of users, Weibo would require tens of millions of dollars in equipment.
Both Weibo and YouTube used server equipment provided by Jiangnan Servers, so the server performance between them should be the same. Yet, there was a five-fold difference. This indicated that YouTube had found a highly efficient video traffic processing tool that could save five times the computing power.
This was an incredibly terrifying conclusion. It meant that once the era of video dominance arrived, YouTube, with its cost-saving advantages, would undoubtedly defeat Weibo and become the ruler of the video domain.
Therefore, Zuckerberg had immediately dispatched representatives to negotiate with YouTube. However, Google’s attitude was also very resolute, and the forces behind Google were even stronger than his own. Moreover, they had arrived first, placing Weibo in a disadvantageous position.
Now, upon suddenly hearing that Boss Huang possessed the capability to provide long video traffic services, Zuckerberg naturally did everything he could to get leave from his teacher and came directly to negotiate with Boss Huang!
Indeed, Zuckerberg had no idea that his own company was entirely Boss Huang's property. His frantic rush to come here was akin to a eunuch being more anxious than the emperor.
Of course, a eunuch wouldn’t know he was a eunuch!
Boss Huang was actually quite pleased with this situation. He did not want anyone to know the true connection between the US Priority Group and himself. Therefore, he smiled slightly and said, “I can give you the technology, but not Piaomiao Zhiluo!”