Chapter 425: Chapter 239: Becoming a Big Shot Influencer! A Comedian Seeks Advice

What’s more, Tiao Yin quickly developed a data algorithm just like Kuaishou’s and pushed for reform. They even continued to upgrade it later on, adding multiple interest and preference algorithms.

For example, many people enjoy scrolling through videos of women with long legs. They’ll do it every day, marking everything else as "Not Interested." Then, when eight out of every ten videos in their feed feature long legs, they’ll sigh with satisfaction, "I’ve finally trained my account."

Naturally, Tiao Yin’s most crucial move was using its financial might to break the deadlock.

In the other world, during the Spring Festival of 2020, everyone knew what happened. It was a time when no one could leave their homes.

And it was precisely at this point that Tiao Yin found its opportunity to completely surpass Kuaishou.

This was a result of the differing philosophies of their respective decision-makers.

To put it simply, Kuaishou’s leader was an extreme product purist. This belief was reinforced after they integrated AcFun’s resources and their daily active users surpassed Tiao Yin’s. He felt a product shouldn’t rely on marketing and personally disliked it.

At the time, major e-commerce platforms had New Year’s red envelope promotions. One platform, in particular, had built its brand on cash giveaways. A manager at Kuaishou suggested that since people were stuck at home for the holidays under special circumstances, Kuaishou should run a red envelope event too, just to make the users happy.

Kuaishou’s leader gave a direct "no."

He even went on to state, "Kuaishou focuses on the product itself. We shouldn’t engage in excessive marketing. Over-the-top marketing is a sign that a product can’t compete on its own merits."

This remark was aimed at Tiao Yin, mocking them.

Because at that very moment, Tiao Yin had already begun promoting its own red envelope event. Everyone remembered that Spring Festival—Tiao Yin’s two-billion-yuan giveaway, which dwarfed another major platform’s 500-million-yuan event.

They even spent 600 million yuan to stream a Spring Festival blockbuster for free.

Additionally, there were various e-commerce subsidies totaling as much as 1.5 billion yuan.

To put it simply, Tiao Yin reportedly blew six billion yuan on its users that Spring Festival, betting all of its available capital.

As it turned out, throwing money around was incredibly effective. With that one campaign, Tiao Yin’s user traffic exploded, completely reversing the dynamic between the two platforms.

But Kuaishou’s leader was disdainful of such money-flinging marketing tactics.

Most importantly, the explosive popularity of Lion King that year allowed Kuaishou to come from behind and surpass Tiao Yin in the e-commerce space. It became the fourth e-commerce platform with a GMV exceeding a trillion yuan, which gave Kuaishou a false sense of security. They began to see Tiao Yin as a pushover, nothing to worry about.

Faced with Tiao Yin’s surging traffic that year, they made a critical error. They assumed the growth was bought with six billion yuan and lacked user stickiness, believing users would soon return to Kuaishou. They also clung to the mistaken belief that Kuaishou’s product was fundamentally more competitive.

So, they celebrated at halftime. For the entire next year, they focused all their energy on a single goal: their IPO.

Even when they later realized something was amiss, the IPO process was like riding a tiger—impossible to get off. It had to go forward. Their only hope was to try and reverse the situation after the company was listed.

Kuaishou did eventually have a successful IPO, with its market cap peaking at 1.8 trillion Hong Kong dollars.

But during that same period, after the massive traffic surge from its cash giveaways, Tiao Yin implemented a series of reforms. They released new features and strategies that successfully retained the new users. Quietly, their daily active users grew to 600 million, putting them nearly on par with Penguin.

Kuaishou, in contrast, had 380 million daily active users back when its traffic surpassed Tiao Yin’s. But after its IPO, that number had dropped to 270 million. It was only then that they seemed to realize it was too late to reverse the tide.

What happened next was predictable. Kuaishou’s supposedly invincible star, Lion King, finally met his match. In ’21, Three Sheep started live-stream selling on Tiao Yin and could directly compete with Lion King.

Then came Dong Yuhui.

Kuaishou’s premature celebration led to a drop in daily active users. Its top star, Lion King, grew unruly and started causing trouble periodically. In any case, the platform became more and more like a stagnant pond over time.

Naturally, Kuaishou’s market cap plummeted within six months, falling to just 300 billion. By the time he transmigrated, it was down to 190 billion, and there were even frequent rumors that the company was up for sale.

’So, if I play my cards right and seize the upcoming opportunities, the chance for the Python and Sparrow Swallowing Dragon isn’t out of the question.’

’But that’s all in the future. Right now, it’s only the National Day holiday in ’18. What I need to do is demonstrate my value and accumulate capital.’

’Later, during that period when Tiao Yin gets into trouble, Kuaishou and Weishi will be looking to poach talent. There’s no reason they wouldn’t come looking for me, right?’

’That will be my chance.’

’At that point, if I can also secure official support from the Coastal City government, my chances will be even better.’

’So, I have to make some waves. Get everyone to take me seriously.’

’The November 22nd Hanfu Travel Day and the Jinglan City project must be absolutely foolproof. And I need to generate as much hype as possible.’

’I have to use every resource at my disposal.’

’For instance, Xue Zhiqian likes historical costumes, right? He’s filmed plenty of videos in historical cosplay, and he looks great in them. If I could get him on board, and maybe even have him invite a few other celebrities, the hype would be way bigger than my original plan.’

’Then there’s the Soda recipe. That’s another way for me to accumulate capital quickly.’

’If all this succeeds, my status will change from just another influencer to a true internet tycoon.’

"Boss, Boss, what are you daydreaming about?" Sister Hong’s voice rang in his ear.

Chen Jincheng snapped out of it and said with a smile, "I was just thinking about becoming an internet tycoon. When that day comes, Sister Hong, you’ll have to call me Boss Chen."

Sister Hong assumed he was just kidding and asked, "Boss, about that inquiry from Kuaishou... should we respond?"