Chapter 499: Whether to Livestream

Chapter 499: To Livestream or Not

“Sold out? That fast! Add another show? No way I’m adding another show until after my first solo concert! No tickets? Here! I’ve still got a thousand tickets in hand—retweet for a chance to win, I’ll give them all away at once! The lucky draw code is 【Meng Fan Is Really Handsome】.”

This was the Weibo post Meng Fan made around noon, after the concert tickets had sold out.

There were twelve thousand concert tickets in total, with only eight thousand sold on the ticketing website. The remaining four thousand, Meng Fan basically planned to give away, and the Weibo lottery was one of the methods.

Giving away a thousand tickets in one go was quite generous; no one had likely done that before.

A thousand tickets, each costing a few hundred, would still amount to hundreds of thousands.

As for the lucky draw code, well, it was obviously nonsense.

But it was also impressive—spinning nonsense until it became a trending topic called #MengFanIsReallyHandsome, a mix of shamelessness and forced face.

The remaining three thousand tickets would be given away through fan groups, manga fan groups, sports fan groups, and livestreams; some would go to schools, classmates, the Zhejiang provincial team, and the national team; some to friends, family, and acquaintances in the industry for them to pass on; advertisers and sponsors definitely had to get some; and the studio members had to be well taken care of.

Now there weren’t many left.

Others held concerts to make money, but Meng Fan held one purely to complete a task, with the side benefits of having fun and giving back to his loyal fans.

Of course, this concert wasn’t a loss leader. Even if ticket prices were low, even if only eight thousand were sold, even if the musicians and performers invited were paid top rates, and even if the equipment and team were top-notch, Meng Fan definitely wouldn’t lose money—he might even make a small profit and donate it.

First, the venue fee was low; second, although there were many guest performers, they were all free.

The tickets were either sold or given away. The only thing Meng Fan was a bit anxious about was whether the attendance would reach ten thousand. If someone bought a ticket and didn’t show up, or if the given-away tickets went unused, and they couldn’t gather ten thousand people, he’d have to hold another show.

Well, that was probably Meng Fan overthinking it.

“Should I livestream?”

Not long after Meng Fan posted on Weibo, representatives from Penguin Animation Network and Station B, who had come to Hangzhou for a second “three-party meeting,” brought up another matter after the meeting ended: both wanted the livestreaming rights for Meng Fan’s concert.

With the maturity of livestreaming equipment, programs, and teams, more and more concerts were choosing to stream online. The last time Meng Fan was a guest at Bai Zhi’s concert, it was streamed online, and the effect was quite good.

Concert livestreaming, as long as the technology and equipment kept up, was beneficial for the singer, the streaming platform, and the fans.

The singer could gain additional revenue beyond traditional sources like offline sales and advertising sponsorships—such as platform membership bundling, carrier data packages, ad revenue sharing, and digital merchandise—leading to higher income and a much larger revenue space.

The streaming platform didn’t just earn “traffic” and ad fees.

As for fans, they could listen to their idol’s concert for free or at a very low cost by buying online tickets, with an excellent view. The only downside was missing the live atmosphere, but with VR technology maturing and spreading, that wouldn’t be a problem in the near future.

Livestreaming was Meng Fan’s old trade, and being asked about it, he was genuinely tempted.

However, this concert was a spur-of-the-moment idea with a very short preparation time. Adding livestreaming might make it seem too rushed. Although Meng Fan didn’t aim to make money from the concert—just to complete the task—and although he chose a ten-thousand-person venue to reduce rehearsal and preparation time, in short, to avoid hassle and save time, it didn’t mean he didn’t care about quality.

Quality had to be guaranteed!

If livestreaming was added, he’d have to consider the quality of the stream.

“Don’t worry about livestream quality. Even if there’s less than a month left, or even just a week, our teams can match the quality of a satellite TV live broadcast.”

The people from these two companies had recently gotten a sense of Meng Fan’s personality. They discussed the livestreaming matter together, without one going first, and the terms were clear. Given Meng Fan’s character, he’d probably end up working with both.

Meng Fan didn’t refuse or immediately agree. He said, “Alright, I’ll think it over. I’ll give you my answer a week before the concert.”

Both representatives were taken aback—they shouldn’t have said they could handle it in a week.

But they were just expressing initial interest on behalf of their companies; for detailed discussions, the livestreaming departments would need to send people.

Of course, they also urged Meng Fan to decide early. A week was enough to assemble a team, but the websites weren’t just joining in for fun—they were after profits. An early decision would let them prepare and negotiate cooperation terms, such as whether to sell online tickets for the livestream, bundle it with VIP memberships, share ad revenue, buy out the streaming rights, or offer free viewing to boost traffic, and so on.

There was also the need for early promotion. Well, in terms of “operations,” it seemed Meng Fan alone was enough—that really saved a lot of money.

On December 20th, Meng Fan went to the imperial capital early.

This year’s China Top Ten Laureus Champions Award Ceremony was scheduled for the evening of December 24th. Originally, Meng Fan planned to leave for the imperial capital on the 23rd and had arranged to meet Wu Tong there, then attend the ceremony together—Wu Tong would return from Europe on the 23rd and land directly in the imperial capital.

The early departure was because judo teams from four European countries, including France, suddenly came for a joint exchange visit. As the face of Chinese judo, Meng Fan naturally had to go, and it was well known that the European quartet’s visit was mainly because of him, especially Teddy Rena, the face of European judo.

Last time in South Korea, these four countries’ judo teams were among the first to withdraw and support Meng Fan. Meng Fan couldn’t very well say he was busy with concert preparations and couldn’t meet them, so he went to the imperial capital on the second day of their visit, the 20th.

“Coincidentally,” on that same day, seven other judo powerhouses, including Japan and Russia, also led their teams to China. Together with China, that made twelve judo strongholds gathered in the imperial capital. As for the caliber of the judo athletes accompanying them, it was basically the same lineup as a world championship.

Head coach Xiao Yunlin and the others looked bewildered. What was going on? Was this prearranged?

(The chapter ends)