Wang Yibo Is Removed From Show’s Credits
Chinese actor Wang Yibo (王一博) and co-star Sean Xiao Zhan (肖戰) soared to fame on the back of The Untamed <陳情令>‘s success. This year, his popularity streak continued with collaborations with Li Qin (李沁) in Joy of Life <慶餘年> and Wang Yang (王陽) in espionage war drama War of Faith <追風者>, which garnered positive critical and commercial response.
Name Removed from Yue Hua’s Talent Show
When he has no new drama projects since wrapping War of Faith in May of 2023, and instead appeared only in reality show Exploring The Unknown <探索新境>.
Wang Yibo’s company, Yue Hua Entertainment recently announced a new talent reality show Arena of Youth <年輕的戰場> on its Weibo page, but was discovered to have silently removed the tag of Wang Yibo’s name after initially tagging the star. This roused eyebrows as the editing of an artiste’s tag was too deliberate, fanning speculation from fans that their idol had been frozen, amid his boy group UNIQ’s disbanding announcement.
Wang Yibo’s Money-making Powers Ahead By a Wide Margin
In fact, Wang Yibo is the most profitable artist under Yuehua Entertainment, and he leads by a wide margin. He once brought in around 2.9 billion TWD for the company in a single year, with his personal earnings reaching as high as 1.3 billion TWD.
When his contract was renewed in 2022, Wang Yibo’s commission rate increased to 56%, almost a 50-50 split with the company. This shows that he holds significant influence within the company, so it’s not an exaggeration to say that Yue Hua is practically a ‘Wang Yibo concept’ stock!
Premiering on October 18, Youth of Arena touched on Wang Yibo’s ability to generate revenue. He ranked first among all the company’s artists in terms of performance for the first half of the year, having already achieved 87% of his annual targets. The agency’s staff further revealed that the star has filming, song release and concert plans in the second half of the year, refuting talk that Wang was being frozen. It was possible that the company removed the name tag to quell rumors that Wang singlehandedly supported the entire company; by removing the program’s association with the star so that it could better focus on unearthing new stars with high potential.
With the success of War of Faith both critically and commercially, Wang Yibo’s commercial opportunities have only gotten better. This year, he secured endorsements with nine brands, including Lacoste, Evisu, and Jimmy Choo, and renewed contracts with 13 others.
His top ranking in brand endorsement influence, with numerous companies vying to collaborate with him, fully demonstrates his star power. For instance, at the recent ‘VOGUE Forces of Fashion’ event in China, Weibo viewership of his Vogue parade-related threads reached 8.01 million the moment his attendance was announced, propelling him far ahead of other artists in terms of popularity.
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