100. Advertising costs: $250 million.

The ratings and word of mouth from the very first episode were enough to reveal the future of a television program.

Li Big Ox’s America’s Voice, in its debut broadcast, achieved an astonishing average rating of 9.6.

What was more, it surged from 3.2 at the moment it went on air to a peak of 11.7.

By the next day, the entire internet was buzzing about America’s Voice, because for the first time people realized that this, at last, was the true way to choose singers. After all, for a singer, the most important thing is, of course, the voice.

The show’s format, which ignored appearances entirely and let the judges decide whether to turn by listening only to the voice, was a revelation to viewers across the United States.

And the contestants in the first episode had been selected from millions of internet users, so their ability was naturally far beyond the ordinary.

Every voice gave the audience the feeling that they were enjoying a banquet for the ears. In particular, a few stood out from the rest: the Black matron Jules, who opened the show; the shut-in Jordan; and the final two performers who closed the episode. Their voices were enough to leave people intoxicated.

When viewers saw those ordinary, almost anonymous-looking contestants onstage and heard them sing with such moving power, the contrast itself was enough to bring delight.

Especially when the judges, after hearing a voice they found truly beautiful, slammed the turn button with force, the feeling could only be described as blood-pounding exhilaration.

With such strong word of mouth and such high ratings for the premiere, Li Big Ox dared to have Quinn raise the previous advertising quotes by another twenty percent.

“Chairman, negotiations have stalled. They all say the first episode has already aired, so if they buy advertising now, they’re missing one episode, and that makes them very aggressive on price. What do you think? Should we give a little? Otherwise, once the second episode airs, the price will be driven even lower.”

As the saying goes, they ask high and bargain low.

On the morning of the second day, Quinn received requests from many companies wanting to buy ad space. But after Quinn raised the quote by twenty percent over the original price, many of them began haggling.

After hearing Quinn’s report, Li Big Ox answered without hesitation, “Tell them this: whatever price they quote, it has to be above the base price we asked for. Otherwise, I’d rather not sell a single advertisement for this whole season of The Voice.”

Before Quinn could say anything, Li Big Ox continued, “I can spend thirty million dollars every month on welfare for Tuvalu, so I don’t care about this much advertising money. So stand your ground a little harder.”

Quinn could only smile bitterly at the dead tone from the other end of the line. What kind of boss was this? If he did not care about money, why was he so demanding about ad revenue? Yet if he did care, why did he always spend recklessly and waste money so casually? He had even dared to invest one hundred fifty million dollars into a program, and now he was saying he would refuse to run a single advertisement. Wasn’t that money just being thrown into the sea?

Still, no matter how willful Li Big Ox was, he was his boss. So Quinn could only very firmly tell the companies that had come to negotiate ads where Li Big Ox’s bottom line stood.

Li Big Ox did not care what those companies would say about him. In his view, the show had already achieved the effect he wanted.

The contestants from the first episode had already gained attention not far below that of mid-tier singers, and the few who received four-chair turns had even reached the level of first-tier stars.

This was a common phenomenon for talent shows. While the program was airing, the ratings gave the contestants attention. But once the show was completely over, that attention would slowly fade away until no one cared anymore.

In all the history of talent shows, at most one or two people would go far in the entertainment industry. The rest either could not break in at all, or made it only halfway before being abandoned by their fans because they had no truly good work.

For Li Big Ox, though, as long as the contestants on his show had no moral issues and wanted to pursue a career in entertainment, he could give each of them at least a dozen classic songs and turn them into genuine superstars.

In his previous life, Universal Music had annual revenue exceeding five billion dollars. Standing alongside it were the other two major record labels, Sony and Warner.

That alone showed how enormous the music market was. And now that Li Big Ox had great singers and great songs in his hands, the global music market was nothing less than an endless money machine.

So how could he possibly care about a single season’s advertising revenue? Besides, Li Big Ox did not believe those companies would truly walk away over a twenty percent increase after seeing the show’s ratings and reputation.

You’re willing to buy the air conditioner, and then tell me you can’t afford the electricity?

Sure enough, this time Li Big Ox finally felt what it meant to hold the winning hand. At four in the afternoon, Quinn reported that all the ad space had been sold, and every price was slightly higher than what Li Big Ox had originally set.

The title sponsorship brought in eighty million dollars, and the other first- and second-tier ads—those aired before and after the show, as well as the mid-episode placements—sold for a total of one hundred seventy million dollars.

The total investment in the program had been one hundred fifty million dollars. In other words, the show itself had already brought Li Big Ox one hundred million dollars in revenue, not counting the format fees that would later come from other countries.

Quinn, too, had nothing left to say about that result. Who had been saying Li Big Ox spent money recklessly and without restraint? One casual television program, and he was already making this much money. Put yourself in that position, and anyone would spend money with abandon.

But Quinn did not have the leisure to worry about how to arrange that hundred million dollars right now. He needed to get the sponsors’ advertisements into the program as quickly as possible. That was not as simple as having the host re-record an opening line. He also had to coordinate with the television station to cut the sponsors’ existing commercials directly into the broadcast.

As for the sponsors wanting to use brand-new commercials? Sorry, there was no time. Have them ready before the next episode, and then they could air.

That evening, the second broadcast of America’s Voice did not suffer in the ratings simply because more advertisements had been added. After all, what television show in this world did not run commercials?

What is more, compared with the first episode, the ratings were not only steadier, but also higher.

When the second episode ended, Quinn received the numbers.

“Chairman, for this episode the peak rating was 12.3, and the average was 11.8.”

Li Big Ox asked, “How many viewers was that?”

He asked because the number of people watching television varied from day to day. For example, a rating of 3 on Sunday would correspond to far more viewers than a rating of 3 on Monday.

“Thirty-one point five million,” Quinn replied after checking the report. These figures were all compiled by a professional data statistics company, so he only had to read them out.

When Li Big Ox heard the answer, he nodded. The United States had a population of only a little over 300 million, and more than thirty million viewers meant one tenth of the country. One out of every ten people had watched the show. That kind of result was already shocking enough.

Quinn set down the report and said, “Chairman, a few websites want to buy the streaming rights to our show. What price should we ask?”

Li Big Ox waved a hand. “You can negotiate that based on the ratings. Don’t ask me about everything.”

The reason he had been so exacting about the broadcast advertising fee was that at the time, aside from himself, no one believed the show could achieve ratings like this. If Li Big Ox had not held the line on price, Quinn and the others would absolutely have sold themselves short.

Now that he had delegated the matter, it was naturally because the ratings were already in hand. At this point, as long as Quinn was not an idiot, he could sell it for the proper price.

Quinn nodded and said, “Chairman, there’s one more thing. ABC Television wants to discuss the production model for the second season. What do you think?”

They were already talking about the second season? This station really was eager.

In truth, it was hardly surprising. In the American television industry, most shows were produced and broadcast separately: the production company made the series or program, then split advertising revenue with the station, or sold the broadcast rights directly.

But this time, Li Big Ox had simply wanted to move fast, so he bought the airtime outright, and all advertising revenue belonged to him.

Now that the show had become a sensation, the station was not only drooling over the ad revenue, but also worried that Li Big Ox would give the next season’s broadcast rights to another network.

ABC was one of the six major networks in the United States, but it was still only one of them. It had been a long time since they had aired a show with ratings this high.

“We can talk, but as for the price, you know what I mean,” Li Big Ox said. He had no desire to micromanage every little thing.

“Understood!” Quinn naturally understood what he meant. Quinn could negotiate the money, but the final decision rested with Li Big Ox.