Chapter 718: The Problems Faced by Video Sites and Artists

After completing the tour of Wanlong Society’s headquarters, Zeng Jin couldn’t help asking Cheng Gang the question on his mind: “Cheng, are there many people as capable as you in Wanlong Society?”

He had always assumed Wanlong Society had at most eighty to a hundred black-clad enforcers, but it was ultimately just speculation. So he wanted to get a clearer picture.

Cheng Gang smiled somewhat modestly at the question: “You’re too kind, Mr. Zeng. I’m hardly that capable. I’m just an ordinary member of the company. There are many brothers stronger than me.”

“Oh?” Zeng Jin’s eyebrow raised slightly. “Very many? How many exactly?”

Cheng Gang thought carefully for a moment. “Well… very many. I don’t know the exact number, but many.”

He genuinely didn’t know the precise figure. There were still large numbers of core members in other regions, with branch offices, projects, and outposts scattered everywhere. He wasn’t in charge of personnel, so he only knew the general range and could only answer this way.

What did “very many” mean? One hundred? Two hundred?

For a large organization, having over a hundred trained black-clad enforcers like this would already be terrifying. That number alone could dominate Taiwan’s underworld, virtually unbeatable. Those gang leaders and factions mainly consisted of street thugs, completely outclassed by these systematically trained professionals.

No matter how many street fighters they had, they couldn’t compete with such high-quality enforcers.

But looking at Cheng Gang’s reserved expression, it seemed the number might be higher than that?

Could it be five hundred? That seemed impossible.

It wasn’t that Wanlong Society couldn’t afford to support five hundred such enforcers, but there would be no need.

Zeng Jin shook his head, thinking he was overthinking it, and didn’t press further. He followed Cheng Gang to the top floor—Liu Yutong’s office.

By now, quite a few people had already gathered in the office.

DragonPanorama Vision’s CEO Lin Muyang, senior attorney Zhao Tianyi, as well as Yu Xin, Yun Cheng, Zhang Dalong, and even singer Xue Qian was present.

They were discussing DragonPanorama Vision’s issue of being jointly besieged by competitors.

“Chairwoman Liu, following the plan drawn up by Attorney Zhao, we’ve already closed the net,” Lin Muyang reported.

“The undercover technicians we sent to those competing platforms have been uploading large amounts of our exclusive copyrighted content. After this content went live on their platforms, the viewership numbers were high. Several top series even exceeded ten million pirated views.”

“Our legal department sent concentrated demand letters after securing the evidence, requiring them to take down the content and compensate for losses. We’re currently fighting over a hundred lawsuits with total compensation claims exceeding five hundred million. We’re basically winning all of them and have applied for asset preservation, freezing some of their assets.”

“But they’ve also become desperate.”

“Now DragonPanorama Vision can’t get streaming rights for any mainstream variety shows. Whether it’s established flagship programs or new weekend prime-time slots launched this year, we’ve been completely shut out. The variety show section on our platform is facing content shortages, and we’ve lost nearly eight percent of daily active users in the past week.”

“And that’s not the worst part.”

“Several self-produced web dramas we’ve been focusing on since last year have already finished filming and are awaiting review, with two more in post-production. But the Bureau suddenly blocked all our submissions, rejecting them for ‘non-compliant content.’”

“Yet the same themes and standards were approved normally just a while ago. I made some inquiries and learned that several major shareholders backing those platforms are young masters from certain families in the Imperial Capital. This time, they’ve apparently used their connections at the Bureau to deliberately strangle us…”

“…”

After Lin Muyang finished his summary, Xue Qian also explained the difficulties their side was facing.

“Aside from what Mr. Lin mentioned, our media company has also run into some trouble.”

“Huangguo TV officially notified us that they will no longer authorize our artists to participate in any self-produced variety shows. Whether it’s the long-running classic ‘Happy Camp’ or last year’s breakout phenomenon ‘Upward,’ they’ve directly removed our artists from their casting lists.”

“At first, it was only Huangguo TV, but then Lychee TV and Blueberry TV followed suit. Though there was no official paperwork, whenever our people reached out, they all gave vague responses and strung us along until it fizzled out.”

“Now, not a single notable artist from our entire company can appear on mainstream satellite TV variety shows. It feels like we’ve been isolated by the industry circle. It’s very troublesome.”

This era was different from later generations. The popularity, national recognition, and ability to generate buzz that variety shows commanded was completely unmatched by later periods. Especially for young artists, without variety show exposure, their career development would be significantly impacted.

Only a handful of top-tier celebrities and established film and television heavyweights could remain unaffected without appearing on variety shows, but they were the minority.

…

After quietly listening to their difficulties, Liu Yutong couldn’t help but think: Sure enough, the entertainment industry’s waters run deep.

Wasn’t it just about paying several hundred million in compensation? They got so desperate they pulled strings in the Imperial Capital, blocking reviews and blacklisting artists.

She picked up her teacup and took a sip.

Actually, when you broke the problem down, it wasn’t as complicated as Lin Muyang and Xue Qian made it out to be.

There was only one core issue: the review channel for web dramas and subsequent content had to be opened. They couldn’t let the Bureau keep blocking them.

Once the lifeline of self-produced content was strangled, the video site would only have copyright purchasing left, and the rights for high-heat content had already been jointly blocked by several leading platforms. Continuing like this would only lead the site to a dead end.

This knot had to be untangled at the root.

As for Xue Qian’s side, their problem was the easiest to solve.

Not allowed on variety shows?

Perfect.

She never liked having to share a table with others anyway.

If they won’t allow it, then just create a variety show more popular than those old flagship programs.

When that happens, those TV stations would probably beg her to send artists over.