After the door of the conference room was knocked, it was still the female staff member who walked in, after the lesson just now, this time the female staff member did not say too much nonsense, smiled and handed the result directly to Katzenberg, and said softly: "Mr. Katzenberg, this is half an o'clock data." ”

Although he is impatient, this does not mean that Katzenberg is unsophisticated, noticing the smiling expression of the female staff, Katzenberg immediately realized something, nodded slightly at the female staff, and Katzenberg looked at the half-o'clock ratings data table.

The first place is still "The X-Files", but the ratings have slipped from 22.1 million at the beginning of the broadcast to 21.2 million, a drop of 900,000 people. The ratings of "Seinfeld", which ranked second, rebounded, rising from 19.9 million at the beginning of the broadcast to 20.6 million, an increase of 700,000.

Immediately after, "Survivor", which ranked third, made Katzenberg's sharp eyes suddenly light up, 19.1 million, compared to the 700,000 increase of "Seinfeld", the number of viewers of "Survivor" soared by 1.3 million in half an hour.

Tom Murphy and Robert Iger, who were gathered around Katzenberg, smiled at the same time.

"The number of viewers has increased by 1.3 million," Robert Iger said in a somewhat excited tone: ""Seinfeld only aired one episode, NBC took over a new sitcom "Perfect Town", this new drama that relies on the precursor of "Seinfeld" will definitely not be able to compete with "Survivor", "The X-Files" has slipped again, in this case, maybe "Survivor" has the possibility of hitting 20 million." ”

The ratings data table quickly circulated around the conference room, just now when the start data came. Few people dared to speak. After all. Everyone here is thinking of the sky-defying ratings of "Who Will Become a Millionaire" a few years ago. Even if everyone knows that comparing it with "Who Will Be a Millionaire" can only be boring. The ratings of 17.8 million at the beginning of the broadcast are already good. But no one can guarantee where the next ratings curve will go.

But now, with the release of the half-o'clock ratings data, the atmosphere in the conference room suddenly warmed up, and a group of executives expressed their opinions.

As soon as Robert Iger's words fell, another executive continued: "Yes, the highest rating of the premiere is 20 million, although it is not as good as "Millionaire" a few years ago, but this is definitely the highest record in reality TV shows in recent years. ”

"Again: after the end of The X-Files. There is one more episode of "Survivor", maybe this number can be higher. ”

"If the ratings can rush to 20 million, such a gimmick must be used well, and the publicity department should come up with a new marketing plan. ”

"Maybe next week's new drama, we can use "Survivor" as a precursor. ”

In some chaotic discussions, Allen, who had a happy smile on his face, raised his fist and touched his fist with the director, screenwriter and other creators of "Survivor" one by one, and the ratings rose at all, indicating that "Survivor" has basically succeeded, and all the worries in the hearts of all the creators have disappeared.

Katzenberg, Tom Murphy and Robert Iger also warmly walked over to congratulate them.

In the excitement of the crowd. The next half hour seemed unusually short, on the color TV screen in the conference room. The first episode of "Survivor" has come to an end imperceptibly, and after a short commercial, the opening credits of the second episode begin. After about ten minutes of data statistics, the door of the conference room was pushed open again, and the eyes of everyone who were still whispering just now focused on the female staff who walked in.

Suddenly, she was watched by more than a dozen pairs of eyes, and the female employee's face was slightly red, but she still raised the latest ratings table in her hand, and also took the initiative to report the latest ratings data with some excitement: "The hourly ratings of "Survivor" are 20.6 million, surpassing the 100,000 viewers of "The X-Files" and ranking first. ”

"Wow ......"

Although several group bigwigs were present, there was still a burst of cheers in the conference room.

After whispering a few words to Tom Murphy and Robert Iger, Katzenberg walked over to Alan and the others: "Alan, Mark, Charlie, maybe you can start preparing for the next season." ”

Allen nodded, and the ratings of the show's premiere began to be noticeably popular, and the number of viewers exceeded 20 million, and the production of the new season was almost a certainty.

Standing next to Allen, Charlie Parsons, the screenwriter of "Survivor" and the founder of the show, was extremely excited, but he couldn't help but think of Eric.

If it weren't for Eric's personal selection of Survivor among a bunch of project ideas, Charlie Parsons wouldn't have known if Survivor would have made it to the screen, let alone succeed today. Thinking of this, Charlie Parsons couldn't help but say, "Mr. Katzenberg, I have heard that Mr. Williams is currently in New York, and perhaps we should share this good news with him." ”

Hearing Charlie Parsons's words, Katzenberg, Tom Murphy, Robert Iger and even Allen all had strange expressions.

Charlie Parsons looked at the group suspiciously, pondering it several times, but he didn't realize that he had just said something wrong.

Of course, Katzenberg and the others knew very well where Eric was at the moment, but they remembered the positive attitude that Eric had been showing since the beginning of the selection of the "Survivor" project. Katzenberg and the others realized that the first 20 million ratings of a new show were indeed good news worth hype, but for Eric, this may have been expected, otherwise Eric would not have maintained a strong support for the show from beginning to end.

Noticing Charlie Parsons' doubts, Katzenberg exchanged his eyes with Tom Murphy and Robert Iger before replying, "Now, probably...... It's not too convenient to bother Eric, I'll give him a call when the full data after the two episodes are out. ”

Katzenberg thought that Eric, who had already created the ratings miracle of "Millionaire", would not care too much about the premiere data of "Survivor", so he did not plan to disturb Eric to accompany the woman and the child at the first time.

Charlie Parsons, who didn't know anything about the inside story, thought of Eric's various lace rumors, thinking that Eric was in a gentle township now, so the few bigwigs in front of him had that weird expression just now. Although he admired Eric's Yanfu in his heart, Charlie Parsons quickly smiled at everyone, and Cha was very 'interesting' to not mention the topic again.

Compared with the mediocre of the first episode, the second episode of "Survivor" came up with a heavy eating competition that many fans of the previous life talked about.

Considering the audience's acceptance, the first selection of the program team was not the more and more extreme beetle larvae, animal embryos, etc., but a live octopus tentacle, which is a very widely accepted delicacy in East Asia, after the host's introduction, although the octopus tentacles that are still squirming on the plate make people a little frightened, but the people in the conference room did not have much disgusting feeling, but looked at the various embarrassments of the contestants in the show with relish or schadenfreude.

Of course, although all kinds of worries were put aside and started to enjoy this reality show, everyone's mind did not leave the focus on the ratings data.

When the female staff member came in at half past the second episode and announced that "Survivor" had reached 22 million viewers, even Tom Murphy, who has always been conservative and reserved, couldn't help but shout to the assistant next to him: "Open the champagne!"

In the end, the highest ratings for "Survivor" that night were fixed at 23.6 million, which surprised all Nielsen's ratings staff. After the broadcast, Katzenberg very simply paid out of his own pocket and invited all the staff on duty in the ABC building to party all night in the headquarters cafeteria.

The next day, Nielsen released more detailed Tuesday ratings data, and the premiere of "Survivor" topped the list with a maximum of 23.75 million and an average of 21.12 million, surpassing the second place "The X-Files" with a maximum of 22.1 million and an average of 20.96 million ratings, and won the single-day ratings championship.

Because the majority of the audience for "The X-Files" is concentrated in the young audience, ABC was also concerned that "Survivor" would have lower ratings than "The X-Files" in the core audience of 18 to 49-year-olds, and advertisers are often most concerned about the viewership data of this segment of the population.

But the real data is very surprising, the ratings of 18 to 49-year-olds on the night of "Survivor" reached 8.7, and the market share of effective viewers was 23%, which means that a total of about 120 million North American viewers aged 18 to 49 watched "Survivor", which is equivalent to 120 million total 8.7% of the viewers who watched "Survivor", accounting for 23% of the total number of viewers aged 18 to 49 who watched TV shows that night. The corresponding figures for "The X-Files" are only 7.1 and 17% respectively, although this result is still impressive, but it can no longer compete with "Survivor".

Behind the popularity of "Survivor" was the heated discussion of the show, and in the days that followed, almost all Americans would have the word "survivor" in their ears at one time or another. The New York Times openly praised "Survivor" as "a surprisingly real game of human and human, human and nature", and The Washington Post praised "Survivor" as "a complete subversion of reality TV, which is the real 'live-action' show."

As the topic increased dramatically, ABC TV soon announced the renewal of "Survivor" and launched the audition for the next season of "Survivor". (To be continued.) )