8: Chapter 8 introduces the advertising function.

Inspur Technology.

Zhao Lei stared at the creator registration data on the backend, his smile much more restrained than it had been two days ago.

Ever since Su Xiaomo's video hit the Weibo trending list, the daily active user curve of Douyin looked like it had been kicked from behind, soaring upwards.

Within a week, daily active users had jumped from 96,000 to 210,000.

A large influx of new creators came with it.

It used to be difficult for them to beg others to join, but now, people were applying in the backend every day.

"Boss, there are already over three thousand registered creators."

Zhao Lei pulled up the data.

"According to the cash incentive rules we set earlier, the content creation incentives for these people last month add up to... let me calculate."

He lowered his head and tapped on the keyboard a few times.

Then he looked up, his expression somewhat stiff.

"It will cost about three hundred thousand."

Three hundred thousand.

The three hundred thousand that Qin Mo had scraped together was already mostly spent after one month.

Server costs, office rent, employee salaries, content procurement, plus the creator incentives now.

Lin Xiao pushed up his glasses; although he didn't speak, his hand gripping the mouse tightened visibly.

Zhao Lei looked at Qin Mo's expression cautiously.

"Boss, the money in our account... is not much left."

"Although we pay quarterly and we still have over a month, if we don't have revenue before then, I'm afraid we'll face big problems when the time comes."

"We need to find a way to monetize."

He paused.

"Because of the increase in users and the rising maintenance costs, we might not even make it to next month."

Qin Mo leaned back in his chair. On the computer in front of him was the Douyin backend management panel, with various data points appearing before his eyes.

However, Qin Mo's expression remained calm.

"I know."

"Then..."

"I have a way to deal with the money."

Qin Mo turned around, his voice unhurried.

"There are many ways for Douyin to make a profit."

In his past life, Douyin had too many ways to make a profit.

Livestreaming, Livestream E-commerce, the mall, advertising—any one of these could bring Douyin a massive amount of revenue.

You have to realize that in this world, although there were two livestreaming platforms, Douyu and Huya, their method of livestreaming was still the most primitive game streaming; they didn't even have a PK function.

Not to mention Livestream E-commerce, which could bring in huge cash flow.

However.

Because Douyin's scale wasn't large enough yet, the only source of revenue they could roll out was advertising.

Before long, Douyin would definitely launch a livestreaming feature, and the popularity at that time would once again shock the internet of this world.

"It is indeed time to add an advertising feature now."

Seeing Qin Mo say this, Zhao Lei breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then will our ad delivery also utilize the Recommendation Algorithm you developed, Boss?"

During this period.

They had also come to realize just how exaggerated the big data algorithm Qin Mo developed really was.

Precisely because of this, they didn't worry about similar software appearing on the market, because as long as they didn't have this Recommendation Algorithm, other competing products couldn't beat Douyin.

Listening to the other party, Qin Mo nodded.

"If a user frequently watches videos about cosmetics, the algorithm will judge that this user has an intention to purchase beauty products."

"Then the ads we push to her will be beauty-related."

"If someone frequently watches car reviews, we will push car advertisements to him."

"This is big data advertising."

Speaking of this, Qin Mo paused.

"So, for the same ad placement, different people see different things?"

"On this basis."

"You can imagine what will happen."

The two paused, then their expressions instantly became excited.

Almost in unison.

"The conversion rate will be an order of magnitude higher than traditional advertising!"

Seeing the two speak up.

Qin Mo also smiled and continued.

"So our ad unit price must also be more expensive than others."

Qin Mo tapped the keyboard twice and brought up a pricing plan.

"Currently, major video platforms price advertising based on CPM, which is how much money for every thousand impressions."

"Our price will be several times more expensive than theirs."

Zhao Lei opened his mouth.

He knew his boss's style, but to demand a price several times higher than the market rate right off the bat.

This was too ruthless.

"Will anyone buy it?"

"Yes."

Qin Mo said as he closed the document.

"Next, we'll have to work a bit harder. Contact various manufacturers, whether they are domestic brands or big international names, and sell the ad placements. The initial price can be slightly lower, and we can raise it later once we have traffic."

"We don't need to rush for the big manufacturers; let's start with small and medium-sized ones."

Zhao Lei and Lin Xiao looked at each other and nodded simultaneously.

"Alright, let's do it."

...

Two days later.

Wenzhou, Lucheng District.

Old Chen sat in his office, which was piled high with shoeboxes, staring at the text message notification on his phone screen, his lips pressed into a thin line.

There were five days left until payday.

But the liquid capital in the account had already dried up this month.

He had been running a shoe factory for ten years, going from a manual workshop to contract manufacturing, and now wanting to build his own brand.

Ten years ago, he was in his early twenties, borrowed money to start a business, was bold, and dared to take any order.

Five years ago, the factory had over two hundred workers, and when sales were at their best, they could produce tens of thousands of pairs a month, supplying distribution points in several provinces across the country.

But these past two years hadn't been good.

After e-commerce platforms rose, prices were driven down to the bottom, and the profit per pair of shoes was compressed to only a few yuan, and that was on the premise that they could be sold.

His brand had no recognition, and offline channels were gradually being eroded by big brands.

He had tried online as well, but the sales for the few stores he opened on Taobao never went up.

There were still over a hundred thousand pairs of shoes piled up in the warehouse, all from last season's styles; if he didn't clear them out, they would be out of season.

The phone rang again.

It was an unknown number.

"Hello, is this Factory Manager Chen? I am a business manager from the Douyin advertising platform, and I have sent you an email before."

Old Chen remembered.

He had indeed received an email two days ago saying that the Short Video platform had opened an advertising business and was inviting merchants to place ads.

He hadn't taken it seriously at the time, and he hadn't even opened that email yet.

"I don't need it right now."

"Factory Manager Chen, you haven't learned about our advertising model yet; let me briefly introduce it to you..."

"I said I don't need it."

Old Chen hung up the phone.

But a few seconds later, he picked up his phone again and found that unopened email.

Douyin.

It seemed like the young people running the machines in the factory had mentioned it, saying it was quite popular recently.

He opened the email.

Inside was a very simple table listing the basic information of the ad placements.

Display position, pricing method, delivery cycle.

The price was indeed not low.

But Old Chen noticed a sentence.

"Targeting objects based on interest tags and user behavior matching."

He didn't understand what interest tags meant.

But below it was a more straightforward explanation.

"Advertisements will be prioritized for users who may be interested in your products."

Old Chen was silent for a few seconds.

Then he dialed back.

"The one just now... Douyin's advertisement, how do I place it?"

...

The process of placing an advertisement was much simpler than Old Chen had expected.

According to the instructions, he only needed to set the budget for the ad, the region, gender, age group to display the ad, and some filtering conditions he had never encountered before in the backend.

"What does interest tags mean?"

He asked over the phone.

The business manager on the other end said that it was automatically judged and matched by the system based on user behavior data such as likes and viewing duration.

Old Chen didn't really understand it.

But he knew this thing made sense.

The shoes he made were originally targeted at a very specific group of people: young people who had limited budgets and needed cost-effectiveness.

If the advertisement could really be accurately delivered to these people.

Then it would be worth it even if it was a bit expensive.

He gritted his teeth and filled in the budget.

One hundred thousand yuan.

It was almost the last bit of liquid money in the shoe factory's account.

While transferring the money, Old Chen felt his whole body go a bit weak; whether his factory could be saved or go bankrupt depended on this final attempt.

And just at this moment.

Another number called in.

It was a local phone number.

Old Chen answered.

On the other end of the phone was the boss of the largest local shoe factory, surnamed Guo.

"Old Chen, I heard your factory can't hold on anymore. We want to talk about the acquisition. The price is negotiable. Don't hold on for nothing."

The tone sounded polite, but Old Chen could hear what was behind it.

Old Chen was not a fool.

His factory had been suppressed to this state in the last two years, and he had a rough idea of who the mastermind behind it was.

It was Fatty Guo.

The other party had always wanted to swallow his factory and sales channels.

But the key was that the price offered by the other party was too low, and he couldn't sell the shoe factory he had worked so hard to build at such a low price.

Old Chen took a deep breath.

"Boss Guo, don't bother."

"I have already advertised for my shoe factory."

"The backlog of goods will be sold out soon."

The person on the other end paused.

"Advertisement?"

"You don't mean that thing called Douyin, do you?"

"That's right." Old Chen nodded.

Fatty Guo on the other end of the phone burst into laughter after hearing this.

"You actually invested in it? I also received a call from that Douyin."

"Old Chen, Old Chen, everyone is in business; who doesn't know that online advertising is all a scam?"

"This is called a death struggle, understand?"

"You are just giving money for free to that whatever broken platform."

"A platform I haven't even heard of, it has only been out for a month, and you really believe it can help you turn things around?"

The laughter grew louder.

"Alright, when you go bankrupt, we'll talk again. By then, this price..."

A hissing sound of being hung up came from the phone.

And Old Chen took a deep breath.

Only then did he remember that although he had heard of Douyin, he hadn't downloaded it yet.

Immediately, he tremblingly clicked on the app store and downloaded Douyin onto his phone.

"I'm counting on you..."