Starting as a Manga Editor-Chapter 128: Differentiation

“Five hundred thousand!!”
Maybe it was because Tang Yao seemed too calm—
Cai Quan couldn’t help repeating it, his voice shaking with excitement:
“You gotta understand, compared to those mainstream video platforms that launched around the same time as us, most of them only have DAUs in the millions! For a site like ours that serves 2D users to hit this level—it’s seriously incredible! I can’t believe it! That our daily active users could ever break five hundred thousand!”
“This is insane! It’s just insane!!”
“……”
Tang Yao didn’t doubt that part.
In this world, the video platform landscape was still in a stage similar to the “three-way standoff” era from her past life—when iQIYI, Tencent Video, and Youku-Tudou were duking it out.
The algorithm revolution hadn’t happened here yet.
Actually, forget algorithms—the whole audiovisual industry was still on the rise.
Right now, the video platforms had just transitioned from battling over user-generated uploads to fighting for exclusive licensing rights.
So when Cai Quan said mainstream platforms only had DAUs in the million range, that was pretty normal.
Because this world didn’t have a “BAT” (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) setup, video platforms were more fragmented and users more spread out.
And even though this era was moving into the “license wars,” it hadn’t reached the absurdity of Tang Yao’s past life, where single episodes of The Legend of Mi Yue sold for 15 million yuan and Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace was co-purchased for 1.3 billion.
Like, full-on “burn money, take losses, buy the market” insanity.
Sure, people burned money here too—but the landscape was different, with way more competitors, and the overall environment didn’t mirror her past world.
That said—
Signs of that same trajectory were starting to show.
Some video platforms had already begun rolling out “exclusive broadcast” strategies.
They realized it was the most effective way to attract users, and that pushed licensing prices up.
Add to that the monetization challenges…
It made sense that venture capitalists like Lin Shuang didn’t see a bright future for video sites.
Because if things kept trending this way, only the biggest players could survive in the long run.
But again—this was all still in its early stages.
There hadn’t been any truly brutal, bloodthirsty licensing battles yet.
No site had even hit 100 million DAU. Heck, even 10 million was unheard of.
So given that, it was understandable why Cai Quan was so hyped.
In his mind, their scrappy little site reaching 500K was already legendary.
And that’s where perspective makes all the difference…
“That’s not a lot,”
Tang Yao said coolly, shaking her head.
“Most of these users came because of the game—they’re not really our users. And it's only five hundred thousand…”
“……”
Only?
Cai Quan stared at her, stunned.
Tang Yao saw his expression and smiled.
“Don’t forget what I told you at the beginning—our goal isn’t something this small. This scale of traffic isn’t even close to being able to support the game in return. The site’s potential goes far beyond this. Don’t let a temporary milestone cloud your judgment. Wait till we hit five million—then you can celebrate.”
“Fi–Five million??”
Cai Quan stared at her in disbelief.
Tang Yao gave a helpless sigh and explained,
“Remember how we planned to concentrate and convert traffic? What are we doing for that?”
Cai Quan instinctively replied, “The ‘FGO × ANF Doujin Contest’? Plus limited events, video collabs…”
“Right. The key is the ‘FGO × ANF Doujin Contest.’
That contest, and the prize money behind it, is all meant to lay the groundwork for the site’s next phase.”
“Groundwork?”
“Let me ask you—
Now that mainstream video platforms are all shifting toward film and TV content, where did the users who built the ecosystem go?
The ones who used to upload videos to those sites?
Did they just disappear?”
Back in the grassroots era, UGC (User-Generated Content) was the foundation of every video platform.
Just like how Youku and Tudou were in Tang Yao’s past life.
Tudou’s old slogan—
“Everyone is the director of their own life”—still left a strong impression.
The irony?
Tudou, the platform that championed that message, eventually declined.
And Youku, which acquired it, never lived up to that promise either.
Instead, it joined iQIYI and Tencent in a war of attrition, burning money and ignoring users.
In the end?
It was Douyin that truly carried that slogan forward.
“Disappear? Of course not.”
Cai Quan replied reflexively.
“But since video platforms started focusing on licensing content, they stopped pushing traffic toward UGC creators, so those folks are kinda stuck now… wait.”
Mid-sentence, he suddenly realized something.
His eyes slowly widened.
“Exactly.”
Tang Yao chuckled.
“The ‘FGO × ANF Doujin Contest’ is about riding the wave of FGO’s popularity and the site relaunch hype—
to show UGC creators that they have a new home.”
“So that’s why you set the prize pool so high…”
Cai Quan finally understood.
“That’s why you’re running a doujin contest…
But what if those external UGC creators aren’t FGO fans?
Even with the doujin label, would they bother creating related content?”
Tang Yao shook her head.
“That doesn’t matter.
They can make whatever content they want—especially if it’s anime or game-related.”
“Huh?”
Cai Quan didn’t follow.
Tang Yao looked back at her screen.
“You have to understand—
The broader environment won’t change just because our site exists.
Mainstream platforms will continue focusing on licensed IPs.
They’re not going to pivot back.
UGC will see fewer and fewer funding opportunities.
That might not be enough to force top creators to jump ship—
But when they see ANF thriving,
I guarantee they’ll consider cross-posting content here.
Just one more place to submit to.
As long as they can see the future of this platform.
And this event—that’s what it is. The future.
You get what I’m saying?
They don’t need to be FGO fans.
They don’t need to submit FGO-related entries.
The most important thing is to let them see the potential of ANF.
And after that, as long as we focus on differentiation…
Foster a core community atmosphere, a strong creator ecosystem, and sticky user engagement…
Then in this market where all other platforms rely on licensed content + in-house productions + a pinch of UGC,
we won’t have to worry about creators choosing to prioritize ANF.”
“And once our game section and other verticals ramp up,
pulling in casual anime fans…”
Tang Yao smiled brightly.
“Five hundred thousand DAU?
That’s just the beginning.”
“……”
Cai Quan stared at her glowing, flawless face as she smiled, momentarily dazed.
Whether or not other creators saw the future—
He definitely did.
So this was the plan.
She’d thought that far ahead…
And honestly? It all made perfect sense.
If things really did go as Tang Yao predicted…
This FGO doujin contest might even trigger a migration wave of creators.
And then ANF…
Just thinking about it made Cai Quan excited all over again.
“Get to work. Keep an eye on the site status.
Everything else, follow the plan.”
Tang Yao saw the gleam in his eyes and knew she’d painted enough of a vision to keep him from freaking out every five minutes.
Time to shoo him off.
She didn’t have time for celebrations.
And honestly, why would she celebrate with him?
Wasn’t Miss Li much nicer to look at?
“Got it!”
Cai Quan nodded enthusiastically and turned to leave.
But halfway out the door, he suddenly remembered something.
He turned back:
“By the way—about that plan… Boss, didn’t you forget to upload a video?
The one for the cross-promo?
How are we handling that?”
“……”
Tang Yao paused, cheeks turning a little pink.
“I’ll upload it in a bit. Just finished the final touches. I’ll tell you how to push it when the time comes.”
“What’s the video about, exactly? Can you at least give me a heads-up? So I can prep?”
Cai Quan asked curiously.
“The plan said it was something like inviting a voice actor to play FGO, right?”
“No… it’s Rin Tohsaka playing FGO.”
“Rin Tohsaka? Not a voice actor?”
“…A game character. Rin Tohsaka!”
“Wait—what? Rin??”
Cai Quan’s eyes went wide.
“What do you mean—a game character playing a game?”
What the h*ll does that even mean???