Chapter 25: There are Advertising Sponsors!
Lunch time.
The poem that Zhang Ye gave to the young couple was once again relished by the radio station’s colleagues. One could easily hear people discussing about it at any time of the day.
“Little Zhang, you are eating instant noodles again?” The director came in.
Zhang Ye hurriedly swallowed the last mouthful and smiled. “Yeah, I just need to fill my stomach.”
Zhao Guozhou asked with concern, “Eating like this isn’t healthy. Is it because you are tight on your living expenses, as you haven’t been paid? Hehe, if that is the case, don’t worry about it. I have something to announce in while.” Looking at the office, he said, “Is everyone back from lunch? Then put down what you are working on for a while. As the scene in the morning had wasted some time, well, I’ll be announcing the listenership rates for yesterday.”
Everyone looked over.
Zhao Guozhou found a seat to sit down, “First place, “Talk About the World”. The listenership is…” He purposely dragged out his tone, “4.09%!”
“Ah?”
“Is that true?”
“Above four percent?”
“Our rating broke four percent?”
It was clear that Wang Xiaomei was surprised by this.
Zhao Guozhou said in a satisfactory manner, “All these years, Xiaomei’s segment has been our channel’s number one in ratings, but it always averaged around three percent. Everyone, you didn’t hear wrongly. We have really broken four this time. And I can happily tell you that the broadcast ‘Talk About the World’ yesterday was fourth in the entire station, on average. We are only just behind the News Channel’s two news segment and the Traffic Channel’s ‘Safe All the Way’. This is an unprecedented result for our channel. Everyone, please congratulate Xiaomei.”
There was applause and cheers!
The colleagues were also beaming. If the performance was good, the year-end bonuses would also be multiplied, so it was a joyous occasion for everyone in the Literature Channel.
Wang Xiaomei explained, “Thank you everyone. However, yesterday was a special case. There is no way that we can maintain it.” She knew why they had jumped from the entire Beijing Radio Station’s 8-9th place to 4th place. After a brief feeling of excitement, she did not say anything else.
She wasn’t alone. Zhao Guozhou and the rest were the same. Zhao Guozhou carried on, “I recommend everyone to give Teacher Little Zhang a round of applause. Hehe. Yesterday’s program was all thanks to Teacher Little Zhang; not only did he save us during a crisis, he had also pulled up the rating for ‘Talk About the World’. Let me announce the rating for “Late-night Ghost Stories”. Last night’s Little Zhang’s segment had an average rating of 1.57%. It ranked third place in our channel and is higher compared to its weekend’s 1.4%. Clearly, last night’s event had led to this. I believe, and I have reason to believe, that under Teacher Little Zhang’s hard work, “Late-night Ghost Stories” will make a new high again. Hence, I have already spoken to the Deputy Directors and Heads and plan to give the 5,000 Yuan bonus award to Teacher Little Zhang. Does anyone have any objections about this?”
“No objections.”
“It is necessary!”
“Teacher Little Zhang, congratulations!”
Zhang Ye pretended to be polite, “Leader, how can I? I’m just a newcomer. And really…”
Zhao Guozhou beamed with a smile, “In a while, I’ll let finance enter it into your wages. Do not be like that. It’s what you deserve. Besides, this bonus is also because of another reason. From today onwards, “Late-night Ghost Stories” will have advertising sponsors. As your “Ghost Blows Out the Light” has information regarding antiques and its listenership rates have been always high, a large pawn shop business’ public relations staff have contacted the station. The sponsoring negotiations have basically been done. As for the exact numbers, it is still kept under wraps and I cannot divulge it. However, I can roughly tell you that, hehe, about this “Late-night Ghost Stories” sponsorship… It is about the same as our channel’s prime-time programs’ and is extremely high!”
What?
Almost the same as prime-time programs?
When this was revealed, many were dumbfounded. After all, “Late-night Ghost Stories” was a late-night segment. It was worse than late-night programs in the 11 P.M. – 12 A.M. slot. However, the sponsorship it had obtained was nearly the at the level of fees commanded by prime-time segments? Was the advertiser mad? However, it was reasonable once one thought about it. “Late-night Ghost Stories” was no longer a late-night program hosted by Tian Bin. After Zhang Ye took it over, its ratings had an explosive increase. Also, the cohesion rate of the listeners was high. It could be seen from the figures of the listenership breakdown. The pawn shop business was using this relatively specialized and relevant program, which had greatly attracted its listeners, to gain recognition. Hence, this high advertising fee was not unreasonable!
“Teacher Little Zhang, you will need to give a treat.”
“Right, you must treat. It’s so enviable.”
“My afternoon segment’s sponsorship isn’t even as high as yours. This is such a blow to me. Haha, when our salary is paid, don’t be stingy and treat us all!”
The more advertising sponsorship there was, the greater the cut they would get for their salary. Zhang Ye may be still a rookie whose base salary was inferior to others, but with the addition of the cut of a sponsorship that was nearing the amount for prime-time segments, Zhang Ye’s monthly income would be higher than the older comrades who had had worked in the station for decades!
Zhang Ye was also delighted, “Sure, sure.”
Seeing Zhang Ye’s delighted mood, Tian Bin was so envious that his intestines turned green. He had ran “Late-night Ghost Stories” for years and, on average, it had 300 days a year without sponsorships. Occasionally, there would be a short-term sponsorship, but the fees received were negligible. It was extremely low. This Zhang had only started work for a few days; how was he so lucky? Tian Bin still refused to acknowledge Zhang Ye’s abilities. He was adamant that it was due to luck.
After announcing all the programs’ ratings, Zhao Guozhou called Zhang Ye over. He reminded him, “The advertisers are coming soon. Today is the day we are signing the contract. They, too, want to see your recording situation in person. I have already gotten someone to reserve the recording studio for you. Once they arrive, you can begin. As for the advertisement lines, I haven’t received them. They might bring it and I’ll get someone to pass it to you.”
Zhang Ye responded, “Recording in the afternoon?”
“Yes. Anyway, you do not need a script. Why? Is there a problem?” Zhao Guozhou asked.
Zhang Ye bit his tongue, “There’s no problem, Leader. I’ll begin preparing.”
Zhao Guozhou nodded, “Do well later. Don’t let the advertisers pick fault with it, or there will be questions for the nearly-settled contract.”
“I understand. Don’t worry about it.” Zhang Ye guaranteed.
When the Leader left, Zhang Ye’s face turned bitter. No problem, your sister! He had no way of reciting the remaining text of “Ghost Blows Out the Light”. He only knew the rough direction to the plot. As he was excited about being in the papers, he had not worked out a draft. He had been planning to work out the draft in the morning, but who could have known that something would happen in the morning? Now, with the advertisers coming in the afternoon, there was definitely no time left. Even if he wanted to go off script, he couldn’t. Ugh, was he going to destroy all the accumulated Reputation in one go? “Ghost Blows Out the Light” was difficult to carry on. Was he going to mess up his own program?
Bad things were about to happen!
The end is near!
Thankfully, he had still gotten 5,000 Yuan in rewards. With money, even if he messed up the program, Zhang Ye would be fine. In this world, money is…No, that’s not right!
I think I previously said that I treated money like dirt?
Let me think for a while, did I say that? Forget it, I don’t think I said that!