Although these live streaming platforms seem like they have more money than sense, they aren't really stupid. They are very shrewd in their calculations.

Liu Liang considered for a moment, then asked, "What's the attitude of the other live streaming platforms?"

The employee who came to report replied, "They also think it's too expensive and are trying to pressure Longyu Corporation to lower the price."

Liu Liang nodded. "Okay, I'll communicate with the people in charge of the other live streaming platforms later. We need to reach a consensus on this issue. This price is too high. It should be at least pressed down to around seven million before it's acceptable!"

In Liu Liang's view, the popularity of iCL would definitely not reach half of that of the gpL. The extra money given was only because the fv team had just won the championship.

Of course, Longyu Corporation definitely wouldn't be willing to budge so easily. Both sides would definitely have to haggle for a long time.

But Liu Liang was confident that as long as several live streaming platforms joined forces to pressure the price, it would definitely be Longyu Corporation that would make concessions in the end.

Even if they couldn't make too many concessions, they still had to work hard to strive for an acceptable and appropriate price.

Although these live streaming platforms usually competed very fiercely, wishing they could tear each other apart, the vice presidents were still outwardly harmonious. This time, the iCL league's quotation was too high, and no one wanted to be a sucker. Jointly lowering the price was in the common interest of all the live streaming platforms, so there was no need to worry about everyone not cooperating.

The employee who came to report nodded and left.

Liu Liang looked at the product managers and programmers in the conference room. "Alright, let's continue discussing this new feature!"

"Starting this week, we'll work 996. It should be no problem to complete the development within a month, right?"

…

In the evening.

Shanghai, Longyu Corporation headquarters.

Eric was furious in the conference room.

"There's a limit to how much you can cut prices! You want to get the broadcasting rights for iCL for six or seven million? You're dreaming!"

In the past two days, Longyu Corporation had been contacting various live streaming platforms, revealing the news that the iCL league was about to start, and also revealing the approximate price: 11 million for the broadcasting rights.

In fact, Eric originally wanted to set the price of the broadcasting rights even higher than that of the gpL, but he was stopped by Zhao Xuming.

Eric's consideration was that setting the price too low was equivalent to admitting defeat, equivalent to admitting that the popularity and commercial value of the iCL league were not as good as the gpL.

But Zhao Xuming was more realistic, repeatedly advising him that the popularity and commercial value of the iCL league were indeed not as good as the gpL! Setting the price so high, but no one bought it, wouldn't that be embarrassing?

So, after careful consideration, Eric still set the price at 11 million – 1 million lower than the price of the gpL.

Eric also had his reasons. *ioi* was currently one of the most popular games in the world. The overseas league spots were selling very smoothly and the prices were not low. iCL was also the championship division of *ioi*, so setting the price too low would be a joke.

Although 11 million was a bit expensive, the domestic live streaming platforms were fighting each other tooth and nail to grab popularity, so someone should buy it.

However, after talking to several of the larger domestic live streaming platforms, their reactions were surprisingly uniform: they thought it was too expensive!

The quotations accepted by most of the live streaming platforms were around six or seven million, almost halving Eric's pricing.

How could Eric accept this?

He had to know that the iCL league was one of the important means for him to promote *ioi*. Selling the broadcasting rights was for an entire season. If he sold it too cheaply at the beginning, wouldn't these live streaming platforms get a free ride after the iCL league started spending money on publicity? Wouldn't Finger Company suffer a huge loss?

Therefore, Eric was unwilling to sell it cheaply, and the live streaming platforms were unwilling to be suckers, so the two sides were deadlocked.

Eric looked at Zhao Xuming. "President Zhao, what do you think?"

Zhao Xuming hurriedly replied, "I think a price reduction is definitely necessary."

"Don't get angry yet, let me finish."

"I know that the *ioi* overseas league spots sell very well. After all, *ioi* has a good influence overseas."

"But we also have to consider the special circumstances of the national server, right?"

"*ioi* in the national server is most seriously squeezed by *gog*. There are not many players left, and the popularity is inherently insufficient. Although these live streaming platforms are not short of money, they are more inclined to pay high premiums for those popular events. For events with general popularity, they will try to suppress prices and control costs."

"Moreover, several live streaming platforms have joined forces to suppress prices. Their interests are consistent, and it is not easy to divide and disintegrate them."

"So I think, if the broadcasting rights are reduced to eight million, and the total price is sold for more than 40 million, it can basically be justified."

"Let's run the league first and make it popular. It's not too late to sell it at a higher price next season."

"But we definitely can't lower the price directly, otherwise it will give people the illusion that we are easy to talk to, and maybe these live streaming platforms will not be satisfied and will continue to suppress the price."

"What we should do now is to seize the time to promote the iCL league and create enough popularity. As long as the popularity rises, and the live streaming platforms recognize its value, their alliance will naturally collapse, and platforms will come to us privately to buy the broadcasting rights for the iCL league."

Eric nodded after listening. "Well, that makes sense."

"In the final analysis, we still have to let these live streaming platforms see the popularity."

"How is the iCL promotional video doing?"

Zhao Xuming said, "Don't worry, it's already done! This time, we brought together several domestic veteran clubs and all the star players to shoot the promotional video. We took a lot of scenes in Shanghai, and the effect is absolutely great!"

"Moreover, this time we also learned from the lessons of the World Championship promotional video last time, and added a lot of cool post-production special effects to the promotional video, so it will definitely not be bad!"

When Zhao Xuming was making the World Championship expedition promotional video before, it happened to collide with the gpL Spring Split promotional video, and it was crushed miserably.

The gpL Spring Split promotional video directly used pure Cg to rub Zhao Xuming's traditional promotional video on the ground.

So this time Zhao Xuming also learned to be smart, adding a lot of cool special effects and game materials to the promotional video. While taking scenes of many Shanghai landmark buildings, he used Cg technology to combine the players, scenes, and game characters into one, creating a promotional video that he was very satisfied with.

The reason why he didn't copy the pure Cg form of the gpL was mainly because he was afraid of being scolded.

Now this version neither copies the gpL, nor does it create a style or level. It can only be said that the large amount of money spent was worth it.

Zhao Xuming was very confident about this.

Eric nodded. "Very good, then prepare and release it tomorrow. Then the relevant publicity and preheating should also be followed up quickly. We must make the popularity of the iCL league high as soon as possible!"

…

…

February 29th, Wednesday.

Tengda Group, Advertising and Marketing Department.

Meng Chang was seriously watching the promotional video "Breaking the Cocoon, Not Yet a Butterfly" and at the same time once again sighed at the high work efficiency of these young men.

The entire promotional video was actually about a story of a young internet addict's esports dream being shattered. The plot was very straightforward and easy to understand, and the shooting process was also very smooth.

Meng Chang also deliberately buried some details in the promotional video, such as the training environment, salary and benefits, and future security of the esports club, waiting for the audience to discover them.

I have to say that the promotional video of Rabbit Tail Live had a great impact on Meng Chang.

He never expected that he was clearly planning to Aoe the entire live streaming industry, but for Rabbit Tail Live, it had a positive publicity effect?

It can only be said that he was calculated by President Pei!

But this time it was different.

Rabbit Tail Live was an emerging industry, and it hadn't even been launched yet, so it was easier to change. President Pei had the intention but didn't expect it, so he could easily succeed.

But the esports industry had existed for so long, and various long-standing problems were difficult to change. Moreover, as far as Meng Chang knew, President Pei seemed to have not managed the esports industry under Tengda for several months.

He couldn't be calculated by President Pei again, right?

Meng Chang, who had failed twice in a row, was eager to get back the field.

It was already the end of the month, and the publicity effect of these plans would be calculated and salaries would be paid soon. If we looked at the current situation, Meng Chang would not get a single cent of commission.

But what if the esports promotional video had a good reverse publicity effect after it was launched?

The matter of commission, maybe there would be a turnaround.

Therefore, Meng Chang was also very anxious, and he was ready to release the promotional video as soon as it was completed.

After watching it repeatedly, Meng Chang felt that there was no problem.

So he immediately decided to release the promotional video online!

…

At the same time, Shanghai.

Langya Live Headquarters.

Zhao Xuming had only just arrived and was planning to discuss the issue of iCL broadcasting rights with Zhu Yan, the vice president of Langya Live.

Different from veteran live streaming platforms such as Waiwai Live and zz Live, Langya Live was a rising star, but it developed very rapidly, and its financial resources behind it should not be underestimated.

Moreover, Langya Live was a relatively "straight men" platform. The main live content was game business, and most of the anchors on the platform were also more down-to-earth.

Therefore, Zhao Xuming made a special trip to find a breakthrough here.

The previous major live streaming platforms all felt that the iCL broadcasting rights quotation was too expensive and wanted to join forces to suppress the price. On the one hand, Zhao Xuming released the iCL promotional video and bought a lot of popularity to create the illusion that iCL was very popular and highly anticipated; on the other hand, he tried to contact and persuade these live streaming platforms separately.

Langya Live's main business was the game business, and it had strong financial resources. Moreover, its headquarters was in Shanghai, so it was the first goal in all aspects.

After the two exchanged pleasantries in the reception room for a while, they quickly entered the main topic.

Zhao Xuming asked, "President Zhu should have already seen the iCL promotional video, right?"

Zhu Yan nodded. "Yes, I've seen it. It was really well shot! The players, the scenery of Shanghai, and the hero characters in the game are all integrated together, giving people a refreshing feeling."

"Especially the scene where the five members of the fv team appeared. A large number of barrages almost covered the entire screen, showing how popular they are."

"The popularity and response after the release of the promotional video were very good, which was really unexpected."

Zhao Xuming smiled slightly. "That's for sure."

"President Zhu, some live streaming platforms feel that the quotation for the iCL broadcasting rights is a bit high, which I understand very well. After all, in terms of the game's popularity, *ioi* is indeed a bit far behind *gog*."

"However, future popularity must also be taken into account."

"Finger Company has decided to spend a lot of money to promote *ioi* in China. You should have heard some news, right? This promotional video invested a huge amount of money, but it's just an appetizer. There will be more publicity in the future."

"When it comes to burning money, Finger Company will never be weak!"

"And our Longyu Group will fully cooperate with Finger Company. In the future, the market share of *ioi* national server will definitely continue to expand, and the popularity of the iCL league will definitely continue to rise!"

"If this factor is also taken into account, the quotation of 11 million is actually very reasonable."

"In addition, to show our sincerity…"

Zhao Xuming deliberately lowered his voice: "We can also make some price concessions, reduce one or two million to make friends. It's nothing to Finger Company, which is rich and powerful."

"It's just that this kind of preferential conditions is not always available. President Zhu, you'd better make plans early."

Zhu Yan was silent for a moment, without answering immediately. Instead, he picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip of tea.

Seeing Zhu Yan's expression, Zhao Xuming was slightly surprised.

Why did he feel that Zhu Yan didn't seem to be moved at all?

Zhu Yan paused slightly, and said slowly, "President Zhao, I have watched the iCL promotional video. It was shot very well."

"But if I'm not mistaken, you haven't seen the esports promotional video that Tengda just released, right?"