New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 176

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 176. Filtering (1)

The short-form service was finally officially launched.

A new ‘Video’ tab appeared next to the radio cast category,

and from the first day, countless users flocked to the new feature.

“CEO, the number of users is higher than we expected.”

“It was worth uploading so many videos in advance.”

Before starting the short-form service.

We had cut various videos short and uploaded them.

Especially, we focused on uploading highlight scenes from radio broadcasts, which were Rollbook’s main content.

Viewers who enjoyed listening to radio naturally began to look for videos.

“But we still lack a lot of video content. To increase customers’ viewing time, we need more diverse videos.”

“Don’t worry about that. From now on, we’ll open the door for users to upload videos directly.”

“Would ordinary people bother to film videos, encode them, and upload them?”

“People who like getting attention will definitely do that. Moreover, if advertising revenue is generated, there will be people who upload directly for profit.”

The number of people wanting attention was larger than expected.

And if we just supported such people, short-form content would surely overflow.

“We’ve created a system for general users to easily upload videos, but I’m not sure how to support them yet.”

“We just need to act as a catalyst. First, help with video production for new singers or new comedians. And also draw bloggers to our side.”

It takes a long time for an ecosystem to form naturally.

So we had to step in directly and provide water and fertilizer.

“That level of support wouldn’t cost much.”

“The cost of supporting general users isn’t high. The problem is the cost needed to secure existing content.”

“What kind of existing content are you referring to?”

“There’s nothing other than sports that’s loved worldwide and draws countless people’s interest.”

Sports videos were already overflowing.

Most major sports were broadcasting entire games.

“Ah! When I watch the news, I focus most on the sports highlights at the end. If we make such highlight videos into short-form content, we could create tens of thousands!”

“That’s right. But we need to resolve legal issues first. If sports leagues raise problems, it could become troublesome, so we need to proceed with negotiations as quickly as possible.”

Securing ball game videos was especially important.

Ball sports had active professional sports, making them most suitable for extracting videos.

“First, we should contact the baseball league. We also own a professional baseball team.”

“Agreement with leagues is important, but we need to start with broadcasters first. After all, broadcasters are the ones filming the videos.”

“So we need permission from both leagues and broadcasters to upload sports videos to Rollbook.”

While leagues held complete operational rights for games.

Broadcasters held copyrights for game videos, so in some ways, broadcasters could be more important than leagues.

“If we sign video usage contracts with broadcasters, we can edit and upload not only sports but also news videos. We can secure diverse content all at once.”

“But would broadcasters want to sign contracts? Even if they do, they might demand too high a contract fee.”

“That won’t happen. Illegal clips are already rampant on any website you visit. Broadcasters will be satisfied just by us using those unstoppable illegal clips legally.”

It was impossible to completely stop illegal clips.

In this reality, if a platform appeared that would pay contract fees and use videos legally, broadcasters would have no choice but to welcome it with open arms.

“True, from the broadcasters’ perspective, it’s money rolling in for free, so they wouldn’t oppose it.”

“How about Manager Kim taking on the negotiation?”

“Me? I don’t have such experience yet, so I’m not sure if I can do it well.”

“Of course, I don’t mean to proceed alone. The Tiger Fund Deputy Branch Manager will join you.”

I couldn’t handle everything directly myself.

Just as the General Manager did with me, it was time for me to assign negotiation tasks to employees.

This negotiation wouldn’t be particularly difficult, so it was fine to hand it over to Manager Kim and the Deputy Branch Manager.

“If it’s with the Deputy Branch Manager, I’ll give it a try.”

“You’ll be doing many such negotiations in the future. So think of it as gaining experience and proceed.”

“I’ll definitely make it happen.”

Manager Kim was burning with motivation for his new mission.

He immediately began creating a presentation for negotiations.

After watching him briefly, I called Chairman Robertson.

[What’s the occasion? If you miss me, I could come to Korea tomorrow.]

“I have a favor to ask.”

[Planning to throw more work at me? You know how much I’ve been running around because of Palantia lately, yet you’re asking another favor. Tsk tsk.]

Because I knew this well, I could make such requests.

The lobbying with White House high-ranking officials was roughly finished, so there would be time now.

“CEO Carter Till came and praised you highly, Chairman. He said thanks to you, he could sign contracts with many government agencies.”

[If you know that, shouldn’t you give me some rest time?]

“Please, let me ask this favor.”

[I’ll listen if you accept the Director position.]

I had refused the Director title.

I was already busy with just the Korea Branch, so I didn’t want to take on the headquarters Director title.

“Why do you want to give me that title-only position so badly?”

[Let me ask you the opposite. Why do you oppose a title-only Director position?]

“The Director title feels burdensome.”

[Don’t feel burdened. So what’s the favor?]

“I haven’t said I’d accept the Director position yet.”

[I get it. Just tell me the favor quickly.]

The moment I made the request, I had a hunch I’d have no choice but to take the Director title.

I hesitated briefly, but since taking the Director title wouldn’t disrupt my routine, I decided to accept it.

“The favor I’m asking is negotiation with broadcasters, professional sports leagues, and associations.”

[What are you planning to do now?]

“I want to add a video platform to Rollbook. Cooperation with them is essential to secure diverse content.”

[You’re going to fill the lacking content through broadcasters and sports. I understand. Send me the report. I’ll finish the negotiations as quickly as possible.]

The Chairman gave his confirmation too easily.

Operating sports teams, called the hobby of American wealthy people.

Naturally, the Chairman had connections with many such people, and had ties with broadcaster personnel, so he could speak with confidence.

“I’ll send you a report today including everything from how to process and use videos to contract fees.”

[It’s been a while since I’ve had drinks with entertainment industry people. Of course I should do what this Director wants.]

The Chairman was already starting to call me Director.

Perhaps because it was my first time hearing it, the title felt even more uncomfortable, but I decided to get used to it.

***

As expected, it wasn’t a difficult negotiation.

In less than a month, Manager Kim completed all agreements with major sports.

“We’ve finished negotiations for soccer, basketball, and volleyball. We’ve also signed contracts with all broadcasters handling sports coverage.”

“Good work.”

“The Deputy Branch Manager worked much harder than I did. When he presented exact figures from revenue to detailed conditions, both broadcasters and leagues were convinced and accepted the proposal.”

“What proposals did they mainly accept?”

We had presented two proposals.

First, paying 100 million won annually in usage fees in exchange for using broadcaster videos.

Second, distributing 30% of advertising revenue to broadcasters.

“All broadcasters and leagues accepted the 100 million won usage fee payment method.”

“They chose immediate revenue over future revenue.”

“From the broadcasters’ perspective, 100 million won isn’t a large amount, but they seemed to accept it since we’re the first company to step forward to use illegally circulating clips legally.”

There were portal sites providing video services.

But it was closer to unofficial provision rather than formal contracts.

Since copyright concepts weren’t properly established yet, we could sign contracts at relatively low prices.

“There’s absolutely no reason for broadcasters or leagues to oppose such contracts.”

“But there was exactly one place that wouldn’t agree to a contract.”

“Where was that?”

“The Baseball League. We couldn’t even have proper discussions, let alone a contract.”

I could guess the reason without hearing it.

Our relationship with the league wasn’t good because of the Daehyeon Baseball Team.

“They must be upset that we recruited the players who led the players’ association.”

“They didn’t explain the exact reason, but that seems very likely. They probably won’t show up to the negotiation room unless we show sincerity first.”

“By sincerity, do you mean we need to release the players’ association members?”

“Even if not a full release, wouldn’t they be satisfied if we just sent them down to the 2nd Team for even a month?”

The relationship between the league and players’ association wasn’t something I should interfere with.

After all, they were just organizations moving for their own interests.

But the Daehyeon Baseball Team’s ranking was different.

That represented the results of the system I created, and the higher the ranking, the stronger the unity and pride of Tiger Fund’s subsidiary companies would become.

“We can’t send key players down to the 2nd Team. We barely managed to reach 1st place even after putting hundreds of millions in victory bonuses on the line, and the moment we demote those players, the team’s morale will cool off.”

“Then you have to choose. You need to decide whether to protect the Daehyeon Baseball Team’s performance or maintain the contract with the league.”

It seemed like a multiple choice problem.

But there was an error in the problem, and multiple correct answers were possible.

“There’s a way to protect the players and still upload baseball videos.”

“Is there such a method?”

“We can just bypass the Baseball League and upload the videos anyway.”

“…Would that really be okay?”

“It doesn’t matter, so proceed that way. Starting today, upload videos of all sports including baseball in highlight format. And allow users to upload sports videos too.”

“…”

Manager Kim seemed flustered and at a loss for words.

To him, I dropped another bombshell statement.

“Oh, and upload EPL, Major League, World Cup, and Olympics videos too. The contract issues have all been resolved.”

“Really? We can legally use overseas sports videos too?”

“Chairman Robertson stepped in personally. We even got permission for users to edit and re-upload content, so we’ll never lack content again.”

Manager Kim seemed even more shocked.

He moved his eyes rapidly left and right, as if operating a calculator in his head.

“Wouldn’t the contract fees alone cost billions to contract with all those places?”

“We used ten million dollars total. And we included conditions to distribute 30% of video advertising revenue.”

“Ten million dollars… isn’t that over 12 billion won? I’m not sure if this isn’t a case of the tail wagging the dog. No matter how popular short-form videos become, would advertising revenue alone generate that much net profit?”

That was understandable thinking.

But I made this contract because I thought it was sufficiently profitable business.

“It’s not a 1-year contract but a 4-year contract. If you think of it as spending 3 billion won per year, it’s not that expensive.”

“Still, it’s too large a scale for initial service costs.”

“We might run at a loss for the first 1-2 years, but after that we’ll record profits exceeding the contract fees. Not just Korea, but the entire world will use Rollbook’s video platform.”

Looking at just the Korean market, this would be an impossible contract.

But even just releasing the feature on Rollbook US wouldn’t be a loss.

And if other markets opened up, we could actually generate tremendous profits.

“If it works in the global market… it would certainly be possible.”

“That’s why the pilot launch is important. We need to succeed in the Korean market to convince them of global expansion.”

“I’ll deploy all 300 developers to pour out as much content as possible!”

“There are limits to us providing content. We need to make users pour out new content. So please start paying advertising fees as quickly as possible.”

In the end, it was the users who created the ecosystem.

We just needed to provide the platform and let users play around, so the ecosystem could grow healthily.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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