“Chief Jia, I shall say this first. I can tell you my idea, and I can promise you that the ratings for this program will surely be high. But this program must be broadcasted over the satellite. It can be on CCTV 1 or 2, but I cannot be on CCTV 3.”
It was a waste for a classic variety program to not be broadcast to the whole nation!
“Tell me about this program first, and I will decide.” Deputy Chief Jia said cunningly.
“Wait. I still have not finished telling you about my conditions. Other than broadcasting over the satellite, there is still something very important. You must let me sponsor the name of the program, and I want to do product placement in this program. Also, at the start and end of the program, it must state that I am the one who had sponsored this program. I will also not be paying a single cent for this program!”
“What? You are not paying for anything, and you still have so many conditions?” Deputy Chief Jia asked.
“What if the ratings for this program will exceed ?” Feng Yu smiled and asked.
“Exceed what program? ? Are you joking?” Deputy Chief Jia rolled his eyes. was CCTV’s top variety program was watched by many viewers.
There were only a few programs in CCTV that had higher ratings than . Other than the news and weather report, only and could win in ratings!
Why was Feng Yu so confident?
Why was Feng Yu so confident? That was because there was a classic variety program which had taken China by storm. It was even copied by variety shows all over the world!
“Chief Jia, I am not joking with you. Don’t you think that all my suggestions for the Gala Dinner were good and effective? Furthermore, all my companies’ commercials are better than the other companies? That’s why I am confident that my variety program will be more popular than . What’s wrong? Are you trying to tell me that I am not allowed to put my company’s name in the program’s title?”
Deputy Chief Jia smiled: “I did not say that. But if you are not spending money and still get to put your company’s name in the title, it will be too much.” This Feng Yu kept harping about this matter. CCTV had allowed Zhengda Enterprise to put their name in the title of this variety program and Feng Yu was not pleased with that.
“Of course. I am also not saying that I will not be spending money. I can sponsor all the prizes in the variety program.”
“Prizes? What do you mean?” Deputy Chief Jia stretched out his neck. This program will be giving out prizes?
“Chief Jia, there is a saying by the higher-ups now. Education will strengthen the nation, right?” Feng Yu smiled and asked.
“That’s right. What has that got to do with this program?”
“Of course, it is related. This variety program I thought of, will incorporate entertainment, wits, humor, general knowledge, excitement, and many other elements. This will be a new type of educational variety program!”
Deputy Chief Jia frowned. He does not believe what Feng Yu said. It sounds like Feng Yu was bragging and exaggerating. With so many elements incorporated into a program, how can this program be good?! A TV program should have only one core element and at most, 1 or 2 more elements. This program will not be interesting that there were too many elements in it!
“You don’t believe me?”
Deputy Chief Jia shook his head: “I don’t believe!”
“How about we make a bet? If you market the first 4 episodes of this program according to my ways, it will surely be China’s top variety program with the highest ratings. And, if I am successful, I will get the permanent naming rights of this program, the product placement advertising, the sponsorship advertisements at the start and end of the program, etc. If I fail, then I will double the sponsorship of Zhengda Enterprise in this variety program. What do you think?”
Stop kidding. If this variety show were marketed correctly, it would surely be a hit! In Feng Yu’s previous life, this program had a slow start initially. But that was because there were many popular programs at the same time. But now, there were only a few satellite channels, and there were not much entertaining variety shows. It would be weird if this program were not a hit now!
Feng Yu’s confidence had scared Deputy Chief Jia. Although Deputy Jia does not think that Feng Yu would succeed, he was still afraid that if Feng Yu really won the bet, then there will not be any advertising revenue from this program. CCTV will suffer huge losses! He will be the one taking responsibility.
These two years were critical to Deputy Chief Jia. The Station Chief will be retiring within these two years, and this was the opportunity for him to be promoted. If he was lucky, he might even be promoted to a deputy minister in the Ministry of Radio and Television!
If Feng Yu’s variety program were a hit and had high ratings, then Chief Jia would stand a high chance to take over the position of TV station Chief. It was a hard decision for Chief Jia to make.
After thinking for a while, Deputy Chief Jia looked at Feng Yu and said: “I can let you have the naming rights for this program in exchange for your program concept. However, you still have to pay for your product placements and advertising at the start and end of the program. We can talk about the fees later. So, you can tell me more about this variety show now?”
Chief Jia agreed to let me have the naming rights? That’s great! As for the fees for product placements, it will not be too expensive. This was still a great deal.
“This program is a quiz show. Viewers can write in or call in to register as a participant. There will be a selection process through a preliminary round, and one participant will be selected to answer the questions. The questions comprise of all sort of knowledge, like astronomy, geography, history, literature, science, maths, general knowledge, etc. For every question the contestant answered correctly, he will get points. As he proceeds further, the points for each question will be higher. These points can be used to exchange for cash, for the contestant to pursue his dreams. There will be stages, and at certain checkpoints, the contestant got the option to move on to the next stage or to take the prize money. If the contestant answered a question wrong, all of his points would be reset to zero. The contestant will only get a consolation prize…….”
Feng Yu explained the concept of this game show in detail to Deputy Chief Jia. Chief Jia was listening attentively and was frowning. This was a brilliant concept, but will it attract the viewers in front of the TV? The participants will find it interesting as they were the ones getting the prizes. But what about TV viewers? Will they find it interesting too?
Deputy Chief Jia told Feng Yu his worries, and Feng Yu said to him that this can be easily solved. The host of the program can let the viewers call in to answer the questions, have a lucky draw. The TV viewers will also win some fabulous prizes like Wind and Rain VCD players, etc.
“If it’s like this, we can really consider producing this program. What is the name of this variety show?”
Feng Yu smiled and said: “This program is called !”
Translator’s notes: This variety show sounds like “Who wants to be a Millionaire” Now sure why the author calls it Happy Dictionary. Maybe there was a Chinese variety program with the same concept in this name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Wants_to_Be_a_Millionaire%3F
Ministry of Radio and Television is the former name of the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (A.k.a SARFT)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Radio_and_Television_Administration