Chapter 131 - 111: Cringe Game Ads (Part 2)

This is happiness overload; I already don’t know what to do.

You say watch it, but you can’t finish it!

Today’s update isn’t even finished, and right after midnight, the author updates another hundred Chapters. It’s really a feeling of happiness turning to despair.

Fans of animation now feel this way.

Completely numb!

Hundreds of new episodes, both domestic and Neon, all offering a large volume to fill you up. How to watch? Who to watch?

The audience’s energy is limited.

When updates were slower, a viewer might follow ten or twenty new episodes at once, since updates came slowly.

But since Divine Grace Animation appeared, the animation industry, especially in online animation, has seen play counts generally halved.

The audience’s energy hasn’t changed, but there’s just too much being updated, causing viewers who could once follow numerous series to now only watch one or two of their favorite animations.

"The audience is too focused now."

"A viewer of Animation A essentially only watches Animation A; even if they’re interested in Animation B, they don’t have time to watch it."

Chen Ba explained, "This leads to nearly halved average play counts for animations, regardless of quality, with results that aren’t as impressive as before."

This is a change in the overall environment.

Divine Grace Animation had such a strong impact that it changed the original ecosystem and play style of the animation industry.

If you want to return to how things were and increase average play counts, just reduce the update volume.

But here’s the problem...

If you reduce updates while others don’t, audience loss is inevitable. Who would do something unrewarding like that?

"A vicious cycle!"

Yang Dong commented fairly, "If this continues, in the future, even online animations with over a million plays per episode may rarely be seen."

"Exactly! So the previous video charging model has also changed with the times."

VIP early access?

Who even opens VIP anymore? If I can’t watch your animation, I’ll just watch others! There’s so much animation I can’t finish, who would foolishly open a VIP membership?

What’s popular now is free streaming, with ads inserted during the main animation.

Want to skip the ads?

You can, watch a full 30-second ad, and you’ll get to watch 5/10 episodes of animation for free.

Of course, there’s still membership!

But now the membership isn’t a site-wide one, it’s exclusive to the animation section.

This membership can only be used in the animation section; for dramas, variety shows, or movies, a site-wide membership is needed additionally.

It’s getting more and more convoluted.

In the long run, no one can say what the animation industry will eventually become. Who knows, in a few years, animation might really fade away or even be left unwatched.

...

Winter is approaching.

Tianba Studio collectively took a two-day holiday, mainly to attend Wang Kun and Zhang Xiaojun’s engagement party and to discuss the groomsmen and bridesmaids.

That’s right!

After Kun and Juan dated for a while, they really hit it off, so with the strong support of friends and family, they decided to get married by the end of the year.

The engagement process must be followed.

The bride price, three golds, clothes, and wedding-related matters also need discussions between the groom’s and bride’s sides.

Everyone at Tianba Studio can pretty much be considered matchmakers for the two. Traditionally, the matchmakers must be invited to the engagement.

Although there are quite a few matchmakers...

Chen Ba, Yang Dong, and two others were chosen as groomsmen, while Zhang Xiaojun’s close friends and classmates were bridesmaids.

"When is the wedding?"

"My parents are picking a date!"

Wang Kun raised his glass to toast with everyone, then apologized, "Sorry Ba, we really didn’t want to trouble you, but my mom insisted on having you."

"No problem!"

Chen Ba waved his hand, "You inviting me to your engagement is an honor, why wouldn’t I come?"

"Besides, we’re not busy lately, just lazing around, and getting some new experiences over a free meal sounds good."

"Not busy?"

Wang Kun sounded surprised, "But I heard from Juan that you guys are developing a new game?"

"Just a small game."

"The development work finished long ago; now we’re just bug testing and looking for channel partners," Chen Ba explained.

The development of "Garbage Disposal Fun" didn’t take long, even shorter than the early "Cold Window Study Simulator."

The only trouble is, this kind of mobile game, especially online ones, needs good discussions with channel partners about charging issues.

On PC, there are platforms like the Steam Platform, E-Shop, and wegame; on consoles, there are platforms like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

The mobile end naturally also has divisions in channels.

It’s not the commonly mentioned IOS and Android, as this has nothing to do with the phone systems. Mainly, each phone manufacturer charges channel fees.

A little-known fact, cross-platform development technology is quite mature, data sharing between IOS and Android is not hard, you can manage it with your hands. It’s just that Apple wants to charge tolls, hence the IOS version and Android version concept.

Of course!

Android isn’t any better.

The various phone manufacturers on their app markets also charge significant channel fees, some even more ruthless than Apple.

The good thing about Android is that if players don’t download from the app store but from the official website, they can skip the channel fee.

Apple doesn’t work that way; putting it on their store means toll fees, thinking of avoiding them? Not happening!

Currently, thanks to the partnership with Huazi, Chen Ba has access to Huazi’s app market, and the channel fee rate is very low.

Regarding other channels, if the charges are too high, they won’t use them, reasonable charges will make it through.

Primarily relying on Huazi’s app market, since there’s a cooperative relationship on this side of Huazi, some recommendation spots and notification bar ads can be arranged.

Of course!

Chen Ba also prepared another method, which is to place ads for "Garbage Disposal Fun" on various short video platforms.

Clicking the ad will redirect to the Tianba Official Website’s game download page.

Don’t say this trick is too old-fashioned...

All those XX Speed Editions, X-many, X Short Videos, aren’t they attracting a large user base through such cheesy ads, initially accumulating users!

And those trashy games where some poor kid suddenly becomes a Monopoly player, starting with a female secretary and Lamborghini, they also use such ads and their download rates aren’t low.

"I’ve seen that poor kid ten-card draw, female secretary, luxury car ad too..."

Yang Dong took a sip of beer and said, "I can’t understand, do people really find such ads interesting enough to click and download?"

"They do!"

Chen Ba nodded, "If there wasn’t a conversion rate, why would they run the ads for so long? You think those game developers are fools?"

These days, what kind of people don’t exist?

Poor kids turning into high-flyers, fingers sliding to construct castles, dig canals, swiping left and right to become stronger, a pig demon chopping down trees to burst equipment...

These short video ads seem like nobody clicks to download and play, but actually, the conversion rate is not low.

The promotional effect is pretty decent.

"It’s like the crooked mouth Dragon King in web novels; once you pass that phase, you lose interest. But there’s always a reader in that phase, so these novels always have people watching."

Chen Ba smiled broadly, "Poor kids turning into high-flyers, starting with a female secretary... doesn’t that sound attractive?"

As for whom it attracts, that depends on the situation.

One thing is for sure, these seemingly crude games, just like the Tanwan Blue Moon, have clear market positioning and target audiences.

"Garbage Disposal Fun" is the same.

As long as you identify the target audience and shoot some equally cringe-worthy short video ads, you can attract a lot of players.

He’s even thought of the script.

"XXX got credited with 1000 yuan!"

"Wow! Fang, what are you playing to earn so much at once? Teach me!"

"I’m playing ’Garbage Disposal Fun’! Playing games can clean up phone junk, not only making your phone run smoother, but Ba is also throwing out cash like crazy, come try it too..."

Alright alright!

It’s tacky, and anyone with some sense knows it’s wordplay, Chen Ba won’t really be "throwing money."

But with the huge population in Hua Country, there’s always someone interested, who can’t resist and downloads "Garbage Disposal Fun."

As long as someone downloads and plays, doesn’t that mean the ad’s purpose is achieved? What does a bit of tacky or cheap style matter?