Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 685 478: The Charm of Tang Long! A Champions League match boosts the ratings of multiple niche programs on CCTV 5!
September 29th!
In the second round of the Champions League group stage, Manchester City traveled to Scotland to face Celtic away.
In the eyes of the European audience, this was just a minor Champions League group match, nothing special;
but for the Chinese audience, it was a football feast for fans supporting Tang Long!
This was the first Champions League match broadcast live since CCTV obtained the Champions League broadcast rights this season.
The match started at 2:45 a.m.
However, from 1:45 a.m., the viewership ratings kept climbing!
A small number of fans were afraid of oversleeping, so they stayed up late after dinner, holding on from six or seven in the evening until after two in the morning!
Of course, more fans were used to setting an alarm to wake up.
However, for ordinary matches, they might set an alarm for 2:40 a.m.
This time, to watch Tang Long, many people were afraid of oversleeping and set their alarm an hour early. As soon as they heard the alarm in their dreams, they jumped out of bed, got dressed, and rushed to the living room, eagerly turning on CCTV-5.
At this moment, Channel 5 was broadcasting a curling match.
"2.92, 2.97, whoa, it's 3.03 now!"
The curling match set a new record for the highest ratings since being broadcasted!
Far surpassing the 1.58% during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics when the Chinese women's curling team participated in the competition.
The director, seeing the skyrocketing ratings on the screen, was curious: "Huh, this is strange, why are so many people watching curling in the middle of the night?"
Meanwhile.
The newly appointed CCTV-5 director Li Kai also sensed something was amiss.
For this match between Manchester City and Celtic, his superior, Director Wang Wen, had given him a strict order.
"You must make this Champions League match the benchmark for football match viewership on CCTV this year. In my opinion, it should at least match this year's Olympic finals, hmm... I'll set you a target to match the men's table tennis final, 5.14%!"
This command made the newly appointed Director Li Kai's heart skip a beat!
"Chief, you're putting me in a tight spot. A European club football match at 2 a.m. needs to surpass an Olympic table tennis match, and table tennis is our national sport. Even a god couldn't achieve that!"
"The god of viewership ratings isn't in heaven; he's in Europe. He's playing for Manchester City, so have confidence!"
Wang Wen had witnessed Tang Long's prowess before.
Last year's Coppa Italia final, Inter VS Juventus, saw ratings reach 5.02, setting a new record for CCTV-5 in 2015, even surpassing that year's Barça vs Juventus Champions League final.
This time, Tang Long's triumphant return had Director Wang Wen full of confidence, convinced that the ratings would surely surpass 5.02, at least comparable to this year's Olympic men's table tennis final between Ma Long and Zhang Jike.
After receiving the strict order from his superior,
Director Li Kai of CCTV-5 was all sweaty!
He had previously worked in the logistics department and had never been involved in football or watched any games.
Thus, he lacked the firsthand experience of the enormous impact Tang Long had on viewership ratings, unlike his predecessor Wang Wen.
Helpless, Li Kai had to put in painstaking efforts and meticulous planning;
to fulfill the task, he designed a plan to switch to the Champions League broadcast 45 minutes in advance. Although the game hadn't started, he had two hosts warm up the atmosphere, conduct pre-game analysis, and even launched a gift draw activity of CCTV-5 that had been suspended years ago.
As for Director Li Kai himself, he arrived at the Channel 5 studio at 1 a.m. to personally oversee the proceedings.
He initially thought the ratings would gradually stabilize around 10 minutes before the 2:45 a.m. match started;
he never expected them to break 3 an hour earlier!
The key was that this was a curling match, and a repeat broadcast at that.
Li Kai closely communicated with the staff, learning from the backstage comments that the audiences were clamoring for the Champions League to start soon!
"Director Li, how about we finish with curling and switch early to the Champions League? He Wei is ready and assures there's no problem!"
Li Kai pondered for a moment, waved his hand, and delivered a statement that bewildered his team.
"No!"
"Here's what we'll do. The original plan was to switch to the Champions League broadcast at 2:45 and switch to He Wei's broadcast at 2. The plan has changed; we now need to switch to He Wei's broadcast at 2:35! It's currently 1:50, so for the next 45 minutes, prepare martial arts, then bowling, followed by rock climbing, and finally Go, each for ten minutes. Rotate through them once!"
Everyone was stunned.
What's he doing?
A 45-minute montage of niche sports, isn't this nonsense, won't all the viewers leave?
Someone immediately advised, "Director Li, I think since the curling ratings are already so high, we should quickly switch to He Wei's broadcast. With his eloquence, quoting a few poems, I estimate the ratings can break 4 even before the match starts, accomplishing most of our task."
Li Kai merely smiled without speaking, insisting they follow through.
Within CCTV-5, Li Kai was the boss, and his word was final, so the staff had no choice but to follow instructions.
At 1:52 a.m.
As curling was cut, Channel 5 abruptly switched to advertisements, and the viewers who had been waiting at their TVs late at night were thrilled, laughing, finally, we're going to the football broadcast, Tang Long, here we come!
Unexpectedly, the screen switched to a broadcast of the National Martial Arts Performance Contest.
Seeing an elderly man practicing Tai Chi slowly, backstage erupted in curses.
Yet Li Kai cheered in the studio!
"Beautiful! Curling ratings broke 3, and martial arts also broke 3, perfect!"
It was only then that other staff members at the scene realized.
This was to boost the ratings of all niche sports using Tang Long's extraordinary viewership draw!
These were all tangible achievements, something to be documented in the year-end !
Someone expressed concern, "Director Li, while meeting KPIs is fine, misleading the audience like this, won't they leave right after the game starts?"
Li Kai laughed confidently, "No! With Tang Long as the bait, let's see who dares to leave! Quickly, ten minutes are up, switch to Go!"
Slam!
"You are now watching the National Go League, a match between Ke Jie and Shin Jin-seo..."
Backstage, the cursing stopped.
Football fans nationwide stared intently, obediently watching the moves of the two players.
Because everyone had figured out the pattern~
According to the ten-minute switch rule, after ten minutes of Go, it would be the Champions League match between Manchester City and Celtic.
So, many people switched channels directly.
Watching something else and returning to Channel 5 after ten minutes.
"Oh no, Director Li, something's wrong!"
"The steadily increasing viewership ratings have dropped!"
"How much have they dropped to?"
"From 3.4 down to 2.8!"
"No problem, hold steady, it's still a new high for Go live streaming..."
Though he said this, Li Kai was internally nervous, silently praying, "Tang Long, hold on for me, hang in there! It's the final step, hold firm!"
Ten minutes later.
Slam!
"Hello to all our viewers! I'm He Wei!"
As soon as these words were spoken.
The viewership ratings skyrocketed from 2.8 to 5.19!
Within 20 seconds, it surpassed the 2016 Olympics match between Ma Long and Zhang Jike!
The studio erupted in jubilation!
Everyone surrounded Li Kai, cheering and leaping!
Li Kai felt dizzy, clapping in excitement and twirling on the spot!
...
"The referee's whistle blows!"
"The match starts!"
"Tang Long passes the ball, and he begins charging forward!"
"Ranocchia controls the ball, waits for a few seconds, and suddenly kicks a long pass!"
"This is unfamiliar territory for Manchester City; are they playing the traditional Premier League long ball strategy right from the start?"
In the next moment, He Wei's pupils suddenly constricted!
He snapped the pen in his hand, jumped onto the table, and raised his arms in a cheer...
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