24: Chapter 24 of the program is now online.

Over the next half month, after Qin Mo rejected Zhou Rui, the Tencent Group side temporarily fell into silence.

No new black PR trending searches appeared on Weibo, and the streamers from Douyu and Huya stopped collectively stirring up trouble.

Both official accounts updated with tepid content, like two tigers tired from fighting, retreating to their own territories to lick their wounds.

But everyone knew this silence was only temporary.

Inside Inspur Technology, Zhao Lei and Lin Xiao knew better than anyone what Tencent Group was waiting for.

They were waiting for the day the Big Data Recommendation Algorithm task force produced results.

Once Weikan installed its own Recommendation Algorithm, this war of Short Video would truly enter the second half.

By then, Tencent Group would likely launch an even more exaggerated offensive than before.

During this half month, Douyin also had its own moves.

The live streaming section's functionality had already been tested and was just waiting to be launched during Douyin's next massive user surge.

And this timing was pinned on the program "The Rap of China".

Although there wasn't much time left before the broadcast, because the program had few viewers and few sponsors, when Douyin approached with a generous price for negotiations, both sides quickly signed the contract.

The price was more than an order of magnitude lower than the title sponsorship for "Singer".

When the business team brought the contract back, Zhao Lei was still muttering, saying, "This program doesn't even have a decent promotional poster, will it work?"

Qin Mo glanced at the number on the contract and said, "It's enough."

By the day "The Rap of China" and "Singer" simultaneously launched, Douyin's daily active users had been steadily climbing, from 1.2 million to 1.3 million.

As for Weikan, because it launched long-term check-in activities and game collaboration tasks, its daily active users were barely stable at around 2.3 million.

The gap between the two software remained, but it was no longer the despairing cliff-like difference of the fourth day after launch.

Tencent Group was using all its resources to keep Weikan on life support, while Douyin hadn't spent a cent to buy traffic, relying on accumulated word-of-mouth and the advantage of the Recommendation Algorithm to close the gap step by step.

On this day, both programs launched simultaneously.

"Singer" was a TV program, premiering every Saturday at 8 PM on satellite TV, with simultaneous streaming across the entire internet.

As a trump card variety show that had long been ranked at the forefront of domestic viewership ratings, it had overwhelming publicity before the first episode aired.

Weikan's title sponsorship advertisements were interspersed in every segment of the program: the opening had the title logo, contestant entrances had title shout-outs, the halftime break had interactive segments, and even the judges' tables had Weikan standees.

On the day the program aired, Weikan's download volume soared along with the rise in ratings, and its daily active users jumped from 2.3 million to 2.7 million.

"The Rap of China" was an online program, launching every Saturday at 8 PM on a video platform, with no TV broadcast and no satellite coverage.

The broadcast page was an inconspicuous sub-column entry, and it didn't even get a recommendation spot on the homepage.

On the night the first episode launched, the discussion across the entire internet was almost zero.

Except for a few niche bloggers in the rap circle who mentioned on Weibo, "It seems like there's a new rap program that just launched," there were no other ripples.

A week later, the second episode of "Singer" aired, and its ratings continued to lead all variety shows in the same period.

Because of the boost from the program's popularity, Weikan's download volume jumped again, and its daily active users exceeded 3 million.

Although the average usage time per person was still less than ten minutes, the user base had come up after all, coupled with the long-term collaboration activities of various games and social software under Tencent Group.

With continuous traffic diversion, Weikan's daily active users finally stabilized and did not experience a cliff-like drop after the activities ended as they had before.

In contrast, after the first two episodes of "The Rap of China" aired, Douyin's daily active users grew from 1.3 million to 1.5 million, an increase of 200,000.

This increase looked passable, but Zhao Lei himself admitted that at least half of these 200,000 were Douyin's own natural growth, and the number of new users actually brought over by "The Rap of China" was probably only around 100,000.

Although the sponsorship fee wasn't expensive, spending money without hearing any ripples was ultimately not a pleasant thing.

...

Tencent Group headquarters.

The day after the second episode of the two programs aired, the atmosphere in the conference room was completely different from the last meeting.

Several data reports were laid out on the long table, and a comparison curve chart was fixed on the projection screen.

Weikan's daily active user curve rose significantly after the two episodes of "Singer" aired, forming almost a beautiful upward parabola.

Douyin's daily active user curve was also rising, but it was rising slowly and flatly, without the slightest ripple.

Sun Qiang leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the table intermittently, a rare smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.

"Although the price for the "Singer" sponsorship isn't low, the effect is better than expected."

He looked at everyone present in the conference room, clearly in a good mood.

"Zhang Li, summarize the current situation."

Zhang Li stood up and flipped a page of the PPT.

"The second episode of "Singer" continues to lead in ratings. According to our backend data, Weikan's download volume has seen a significant boost after each episode airs."

"Plus the long-term game collaboration activities and check-in rewards we launched last month, Weikan's daily active users have now stabilized at 3 million."

"Although there is still a gap compared to the peak of the first three days after launch, reaching this base is already a good starting point."

"What about Douyin? How is the program they sponsored?" an executive asked.

Zhang Li couldn't help but chuckle.

Others in the conference room also laughed, their laughter tinged with some contempt.

"Douyin sponsored an online rap program called "The Rap of China"."

"Two episodes have aired, and the discussion across the entire internet is almost zero; it hasn't even been on a decent trending search on Weibo."

"The new download volume brought to Douyin by the first two episodes can basically be ignored."

There was another burst of laughter in the conference room.

"Spending that little money can only buy this kind of program."

"They can't even touch the threshold of the "Singer" sponsorship fee; they can only pick up this kind of unwanted variety show to fill the numbers."

"Qin Mo is indeed capable when it comes to technology, but in terms of promotion and product selection, I think he's just so-so."

"He was able to charge into the blue ocean of Short Video, but once out of the Short Video field, his judgment and experience are not enough."

"You can tell from the matter of choosing the program: the gap between Douyin and Weikan is not in technology."

"It's in the vision."

"We hold the best variety show sponsorship in the country, while they hold an online program that can't even get on TV."

Sun Qiang leaned back in his chair, not participating in the mockery, but not stopping it either.

"How is the Big Data Recommendation Algorithm task force doing?"

His judgment on the landscape of this track had never changed.

Whether it was Short Video or other fields in the future, what ultimately decided life or death must be the technical barrier.

Sponsoring programs, buying trending searches, and organizing collaborations were all just transitional means, used to maintain appearances before the algorithm came out.

The real war was still on the battlefield of the algorithm.

The technical lead stood up from the corner, his expression slightly more relaxed than at the last meeting, but still carrying some unconcealable concerns.

"The algorithm team has been running for nearly a month."

"We pulled the best engineers from the Social Business Group and the Video Business Group, totaling forty people, and we approved an uncapped budget and server resources for the team."

"According to the current development progress, if everything goes smoothly, we can deliver our own Recommendation Algorithm in over a month."

"However..."

Zhang Li took over.

"If there's a problem, just say it."

The technical lead exchanged a look with the person beside him, took a deep breath, and said the second half of his words.

"However, we discovered during the development process that the architecture of Douyin's Recommendation Algorithm is far more complex than we previously estimated."

"We originally thought that we could completely replicate it if we spent time on it, but the more we do it now, the more we find that there are many things in this algorithm logic that we simply cannot understand."

"It's not that there is insufficient information; it's that it cannot be understood."

The conference room went quiet.

Those who were just mocking Douyin stopped talking because they heard a trace of wavering in the technical lead's voice that had never appeared before.

Sun Qiang's brow furrowed.

"Do you mean that the thing you are doing now has an essential gap with Douyin's algorithm?"

"Yes."

The technical lead bit the bullet and nodded, but he knew Sun Qiang would not be satisfied with this answer, and he couldn't make the boss lose face too much, so he added,

"However, 80% of the effect should be achievable."

"After all, we have forty of the best programmers and the company's highest priority resource guarantee."

When he spoke, he exchanged a look with another colleague beside him.

That look contained a sentence—where does 80% come from? I'm afraid it's not even 30%.

The logic architecture of Douyin's algorithm was too advanced, so advanced that it made this group of the country's top algorithm engineers feel what a generational gap was for the first time.

It wasn't just a little bit; it was a whole generation behind.

All the efforts they were making now could at best imitate the surface behavior patterns of Douyin's algorithm; they hadn't even touched the door of the underlying logic.

But no one dared to say this fact in front of Sun Qiang.

After all, even with only 30% of the algorithm, with the help of Tencent Group's traffic entrance, it wasn't impossible to fight.

If they admitted it now, I'm afraid they would all be kicked out.

"80% is enough."

Sun Qiang's voice returned to calm.

"80% is enough to let Weikan survive, and then slowly polish the remaining 20%."

"By then, combined with Tencent Group's traffic entrance and the national popularity of the champion program, taking Douyin down won't be a problem."

People in the conference room nodded one after another.

The technical lead also nodded, but the range of the nod was very small, as if he was nodding to himself.