This celebrity became even more popular after being exposed of having multiple girlfriends
Chapter 335 - 281: Return to the Top

Chapter 335: Chapter 281: Return to the Top

Although many drama series in the circle have sold for over a billion, those series are typically comprised of forty or fifty episodes.

Wang Ren’s project was only around a dozen episodes, so selling for 4.5 billion was already considered a very top-level price.

Meanwhile, Wu Mu had previously invested ninety million, accounting for sixty-four percent of the investment in this film, minus some marketing and promotional expenses.

Out of the 4.5 billion, he would likely net around two hundred and seventy million...

Wu Mu was struck by the figure when he saw it.

"It seems a bit profitable to invest in drama series."

He felt somewhat astonished in his heart.

Less than half a year and a profit of one hundred and eighty million!

Though he would still have to pay taxes and, under normal circumstances, couldn’t earn that much.

This time it was because he used the Profit Card to drive up the popularity, which resulted in this price.

And it was also because the quality of the drama was not low; it could sell at a high price. Otherwise, platforms were not fools; even with popularity, they would consider the risks.

However... high-quality film and television scripts, his system lottery was not lacking.

Nor was he short on Performance Cards.

Wu Mu felt he could completely increase the "demand" for film and television scripts by ten percent in his mind, letting Atong draw some more good film and television scripts for him.

Then he could directly replicate this playbook, invest in series, and play a role in them himself. Acting would earn him points, and he could drive up the popularity of the drama and sell it at a high price...

Ah, an infinite positive loop had started!

Shu Mei was also bold in her thinking, "Boss, if we earn more from a few more series like this, we could become a first-rate company in the industry!"

Shi Wu was not so bold; he felt that by investing in several more series like this, the risk of bankruptcy due to losses before making a big profit was greater.

Wu Mu’s personal studio was holding its routine weekly meeting.

After reporting the earnings from Wang Ren’s drama series, he turned to the next important topic.

"Boss, I think we should start marketing the concept of returning to top influencer status," he said seriously.

This was something he had been planning for quite a while.

Wu Mu was very popular and had a strong following, but the industry had always been in wait-and-see mode, feeling a bit fuzzy about his status.

It felt like Wu Mu was indeed very hot and popular, but there were doubts about whether it was just a facade.

After all, unlike other top influencers, he hadn’t used a drama series, a campaign, or some other symbolic event to fully prove his status following his downfall.

Now, the symbolic event was here; it was both the album and the explosively popular drama.

But waiting for everyone to gradually acknowledge his return to top influencer status was too slow, Shi Wu thought the best approach was to directly hire a marketing company to push this concept.

After all, his return to top influencer status was well earned by now.

However, this time Shi Wu was still one step behind.

While he was still reporting his ideas, someone outside had already spotted the opportunity and made the first move.

...

A magazine called "World Entertainment Weekly" published a celebrity ranking list right when the news of Wu Mu’s drama series’ major sales broke.

According to their ranking, there were 9 super top-tier celebrities, mostly well-recognized veteran superstars.

There were 72 top-tier celebrities and 189 second-tier ones.

Then, from among the top-tier celebrities, they singled out a National Ranking and a Top Influencer Ranking.

The National Ranking had twelve spots, with Mo Mo in first place.

The Top Influencer Ranking had ten spots, with Wu Mu first and Sun Yueqing third.

Then, from those Wu Mu had previously encountered, Zhou Yu was fifth, and Xiao Yi ninth, while Sun Zhichun, previously considered a top influencer, was kicked off the list.

This ranking list was, without a doubt, immediately blasted with criticism upon its release.

"What kind of bootleg ranking is this, Wu at number one?"

"Are you blind, Zhou Yu at five? Isn’t he supposed to be firmly in the top two?"

"Hilarious, Xiao Yi got trashed in the past six months and still made the list, yet Sun Zhichun had a massive concert sellout last month, only to be kicked off your list?"

Fans of celebrities who didn’t make the list slammed it for lacking any credibility, while fans of those who did berated it as being illegitimate and accused it of being bought off.

In fact, it was indeed very difficult to have a concrete ranking in the industry because popularity and status are extremely hard to quantify and calculate.

Moreover, despite its global-sounding name, this magazine indeed didn’t have much credibility.

But the magazine was shrewd. Right after releasing the rankings, they launched a topic: "Has Wu Mu returned to the top influencer status? Is it reasonable to rank him first among top influencers?"

Hmm, they attempted to muddle the public’s focus, shifting the issue of the rankings towards whether Wu Mu counted as a top influencer, anchoring his popularity.

Initially, the responses under this topic were, of course, mainly other celebrities’ fans hurling insults, with a sea of "counts for nothing" flooding the comments.

However, as the topic spread, bystanders discovered it.

"If Wu isn’t considered a top influencer, then who else qualifies?"

"With Wu’s popularity, isn’t it obvious he’s a top influencer? You’re talking to me about Gu Hao, talking about Qiu Yiyang, I’ve never even heard of them. But Wu Mu, I was gaming just the other day, and one of my teammates suddenly went AFK, saying he forgot Wu Mu’s album was out, and he needed to go buy it to listen. What’s more, besides this teammate, the craziest thing is, a few other teammates also knew about the Wu album incident, cursing him for going AFK, threatening to cancel their previously reserved albums."

"To the guy in front, although you mentioning Wu Mu’s high popularity in your game may be a bit of survivorship bias, my sense is that Wu Mu indeed has a bit more notoriety than others. I rarely encounter other top influencers’ songs and shows in real life, but Wu Mu’s music is played even in hair salons."