raknovel Chapter 17, "Remaining Sins," is now available.
Chapter 17, "Remaining Sins," is now available.
iQiguo Data Monitoring Center, 12 midnight.
Wang Lei let out a big, long yawn, and tears welled up in his eyes.
Monitoring real-time data streams during the night shift is the most tedious job in the department.
Especially after midnight, apart from a few major dramas that were released during the day and a few sporadic clicks, the data curve of the entire platform was so stable that it was almost hypnotic.
He stretched, got up and went to the break room, where he made himself a cup of piping hot instant coffee to refresh himself.
Back at his workstation, he lowered his chair, intending to doze off for another ten or twenty minutes in the dim blue light of the screen, figuring nothing could possibly happen.
However, just a second before his eyelids began to droop and his consciousness was about to slip into chaos.
The real-time line chart under the "Newly Launched Content" category that he was monitoring seemed to... jump slightly.
It's not the kind of smooth, regular growth that comes in tens or hundreds of dollars per hour.
It suddenly spurted upwards a little.
Wang Lei blinked his sleepy eyes, thinking he had misread it.
He leaned closer to the screen and adjusted his glasses.
On the line graph, the curve representing a web series called "Yu Zui" is steadily and gradually climbing upwards.
The real-time click count next to it is refreshing at a rate of tens or hundreds per second.
At this hour, for a completely new web series that quietly went live at 10 o'clock, it's practically unbelievable!
"Holy crap..."
Wang Lei instantly woke up, all sleepiness gone.
His first thought was that it was a system bug, or that a recommendation slot from some channel might have been accidentally placed in the wrong location.
He quickly switched to the backend and checked the recommended resource slot for "Yu Zui"—it was a regular, B-level recommendation, not visible on the homepage at all, only appearing in one spot on the "Suspense Theater" category page.
There was no unusual promotion.
He then switched to traffic source analysis.
Data shows that the sources of clicks are very diverse: some come directly from searching for the title of the show, some are redirected from external links, and a significant portion are "user recommendations/shares".
"Social media platforms? Sharing?" Wang Lei was even more puzzled.
How can an unknown web series that was released in the middle of the night generate social media buzz?
He casually clicked on the details page of "Yu Zui" to see if there were any bizarre stills or synopsis that would catch his eye.
When the page loads, the poster features several young people in police uniforms or plainclothes, their faces unfamiliar.
The description is just a typical undercover criminal investigation plot. Seems... nothing special?
But in the few seconds he was looking at the page, the real-time click count jumped by several thousand more.
Wang Lei sat up straight, his professional instincts telling him that this might not be a coincidence.
He pulled up the real-time comments for "Yu Zui," and the latest comments were increasing at a rate far exceeding that of ordinary new dramas.
[Night Owl Listener]: "I couldn't sleep at dawn yesterday, so I listened to the radio. They played 'Chasing the Light,' and the host said it was the theme song for a web series. I didn't expect it to be released today, so I clicked in out of curiosity... and ended up watching two episodes in one go! This show is addictive!"
[Old Zhang, a crime enthusiast]: The pacing in the opening is quite good, and the male lead, Yu Zui, is portrayed with a carefree attitude that isn't awkward; it's quite interesting. I'll continue to observe.
[Looking for a drama substitute]: My best friend forced me to watch this, saying the male lead isn't like a traditional policeman. He's both ugly and handsome, and after watching it, I can confirm! This kind of character seems more appealing? The female lead, Lin Yujing, has such a clean and pure aura; she's also the singer? Her voice and face match!
[Midnight Rooster Crows]: The opening sequence used a lot of quick cuts and sound previews, a rather novel approach, unlike the typical drawn-out style of TV dramas. The director has a good vision.
[Mantou and Coffee]: Yu Zui and his police academy brothers' daily lives are so realistic, both sarcastic and exciting, just like me and my college roommates! Finally, domestic campus dramas are no longer about abortion, I'm watching!
[Voice control passerby]: I came here specifically for "Chasing the Light" and the female lead's voice. The contrast between the song and the tone of the drama is huge, but they surprisingly match? The quality of the drama is better than I expected; it's not cheap special effects.
[Natsuki Can't Climb Trees]: Fu Guosheng (is that his name?) who appeared at the end of the second episode, he has such a strong presence! Who is the actor? He looks unfamiliar, but his acting is solid.
[Handsome Guy]: I checked and it seems there are only 12 episodes? That's not enough! We need more fast-paced dramas like this!
[Sunny and Flirtatious Guy]: Was the song written by the director? And sung by the female lead? Is everyone in this production crew multi-talented? The song is indeed nice, but why call her "Big-Breasted Sister" when she clearly doesn't have big breasts?
"The Light Chaser"? A radio program?
Wang Lei vaguely remembered that during the day shift handover, his colleague on the day shift mentioned that there seemed to be a new song on the music chart that was the OST of a certain web drama. Could this be it?
He immediately searched for "Chasing the Light" in the internal system and, sure enough, it was linked to "Yu Zui". The song's data was also showing a slight increase.
So... it's a musical with a drama?
How could a theme song, after being recommended on a late-night radio show, generate such a direct traffic effect?
Moreover, judging from the comments, the retention rate and willingness to interact among these attracted viewers seem to be quite good?
Wang Lei no longer hesitated. He quickly recorded the start time and characteristics of the abnormal data fluctuation, then left a message for his colleagues in the content operations team on the internal communication software (even though they didn't start work until the morning). In accordance with regulations, he marked this "unexpected data fluctuation" and submitted it to the duty supervisor.
After finishing all that, he sat back down in his chair, no longer caring about his coffee, his eyes fixed on the data curve of "Yu Zui" that seemed to have been injected with life.
The curve is still steadily climbing.
In the still of the night, amidst a vast ocean of dormant data, it is like a fish suddenly awakened and beginning to swim upstream.
While it may not yet have created a huge wave, its active trajectory has already disrupted the tranquility of this "stagnant water".
Wang Lei pushed up his glasses, thinking to himself: This show... it's a bit eerie. Someone's probably going to bring it up at tomorrow's morning meeting.
He suddenly realized that this night shift wasn't so boring after all.
......
At 9:00 AM, the company's content operations and data analysis morning meeting was held.
The meeting room was filled with the aroma of coffee and fast food breakfast.
The atmosphere was somewhat somber as department heads and core operations staff listened to the routine data briefing.
It was Zhao Ming, the data analyst from the content operations team, who reported on the performance of the new content launched yesterday and in the early hours of the morning.
He adjusted his glasses, his tone carrying a subtle change from his usual demeanor:
"Everyone, before reporting the routine data, we need to focus on an anomaly." He opened a chart he had prepared overnight and projected it onto the large screen.
"The B-level web series 'Yu Zui,' which premiered at 10 p.m. yesterday, has far exceeded expectations in terms of data performance without any additional promotional resources, forming an atypical growth curve."
On the screen, the curve of "Yu Zui" that suddenly rose from the early morning starkly contrasted with the steady or even declining lines of other new dramas released at the same time.
"It was night shift monitor Wang Lei who marked the starting point of the abnormal fluctuation around 12:00 AM," Zhao Ming said, pointing to a red-marked timestamp on the chart.
"Based on his notes and subsequent data tracking, the initial assessment of the growth driver is related to the popularity of the drama's OST 'Chasing the Light' on radio and social media platforms. As of 9:00 AM this morning, the drama has accumulated 850,000 views, with an average completion rate of 76% for the first episode, and user interaction data (comments, bullet comments, and sharing) activity is significantly higher than that of similar new dramas."