PeachBlossomGoddess

ISorry my mistake I had came across this and skimmed it quickly. It says Li Dongfanga is dubbed but I think it means the one played by Ci Sha
http://m.mnw.cn/tv/guonei/2763343.html

I don’t think it’s live recorded if that is what you mean. The sound is too even for that. It’s just whether they are dubbing themselves, which it seems they are. I saw an article which says main actor Li Dongfang is dubbed but only just realized they mean the real Li Dongfang.

Should be great for the portfolio! 😆

Well it costs on average 8-10mm RMB per episode to make a drama. Someone has to pay for it.

That is true, the slots should be quite a bit cheaper but it also competes with other similar budget/cost dramas on both Youku and other platforms that have more viewers. Cost is very important but not the only consideration but also their assessment of how well the drama will do relative to competing dramas and whether it reaches their target consumer audience.

I believe among the 3 main roles, only Zhang Yunlong/Li Wu is dubbed by a voice actor. I think his original voice was used in one of the early trailers and it was quite clear it needed to be dubbed. Both Chen Ruoxuan/Lu Zheng and Sun Yi/Shu Tang are movie level actors, I'd be shocked if they didn't dub themselves.

I am fairly optimistic - Chinese economy is coming out of recession and BFB was not that high budget so it should be able to get off the ground some time this year. Worst case in 2H but probably sooner.

Lol - I think they could have better introduced the two sides. Just remember the Jinyiwei/embroidered guards are the emperor's guards and the Yebushou/night scout spies are from the North/Prince Yan.

Yeah Youku only has 70mm paying subscribers so they don't care about international viewers yet. They are just trying to catch up with iQiyi and Tencent who both have 120mm paying subscribers in China. iQiyi has the most paying international subscribers and that no is only 1mm and it doesn't make enough money for them. That is why Youku is staying focused on China for now.

Yups - in the end advertisers choose which dramas they want to place ads on considering price/slot and audiences reached. Youku approaches advertisers with several choices at the same time and whichever sells out first airs first. It is as simple as that and nowhere near as complicated as the other headache inducing conspiracies out there about why such and such drama went first.

No, Baba's digital media went from losing ~RMB 1.4bn in 4Q 2021 to only RMB 25mm in 4Q 2022. Subscribers have risen but unfortunately
revenue still fell by ~ RMB 500mm bc of advertising weakness. All 3 platforms have similar trends. Youku managed to almost break even by airing lower budget dramas - they can price the ad slots much lower bc the dramas cost less and meet advertisers' reduced budgets. That's just how the business works. Their CEO has no control over the weak Chinese economy and advertisers unwillingness to spend money on ads as a result. Only one out of 3 subscribers are paying subscribers in China. All the rest watch for "free" which means advertisers have to pay for it.

No, I cover Alibaba for work and talk to the company regularly. I don't put stock into Douban melon threads. Under HK listing rules, in order to list a company must post two years of profits. So the digital entertainment business which still printed a small loss last quarter has to make money for the next two years before it can list. Therefore, they will not be airing dramas at a loss anymore. Alibaba the parent will no longer support that kind of nonsense. Starry Love was also broadcast on TV and had broader distribution so their ad slots were perceived to be more attractive to advertisers. Thus they were able to make enough profit to air. Its just a purely financial decision on Youku's part and perfectly rational. iQiyi also just turned a profit for the first time this year bc Baidu cut them off and put an end to overpaying actors and inflating the cost of dramas. The reason most of the big projects - TLP, TTEOM, Anle are struggling to air is bc they paid so much for their idol actors they have to sell ad slots at a huge price to break even. In this current market it is impossible. But that could change in a few months if consumer spending recovers now that China has come out of covid.

I don't think it will take years - the Chinese economy is slowly recovering and its not a high budget drama. It should be able to sell enough slots to at least make some money.

Alibaba is spinning off its businesses into 6 units, one of which is the digital media and entertainment which includes Youku. This business has been loss making for years but in order to list it has to turn a profit. So no dramas that lose money will be dropped from now on. BFB like all other Youku dramas will only be able to air when they are able to get enough advertisers to buy slots for it. So far, they haven't been successful in this area. If they can, there is no reason it can't come back to back or even at the same time as TTEOM.

Some history/terminology:
Hongwu - refers to Zhu Yuanzhuang or Hongwu Emperor's long reign. Zhu Yuanzhuang was a conqueror and the founding Ming emperor who reigned ~30 years, outliving his son and heir.
Xiaozhang Emperor - was Zhu Biao, Hongwu's oldest son and crown prince. This posthumous title was conferred on him by his son the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen who is the sitting emperor in this drama. His father, Zhu Biao/Xiaozhang did not live long enough to ever be crowned emperor. But he was Zhu Yuanzhuang's eldest legitimate son and his chosen heir.

Wu Tang clan!!! OMG I almost died!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Han is cute but Ye Cha is.... fans self... words not needed...

Yes, he lets her be her but Han wants to bend her to his will.

Exactly. Too many cut scenes unfortunately.

Well if you believe there are six degrees of separation between everybody in this world then it is simply a corollary that this must happen all the time, just the people are not aware or don't remember they actually met before. But its one of those (still) unprovable math theorems that may be proven soon with the help of super-computers but it will still take a sheer brute force approach rather than an elegant math proof.