Chinese tech giants are locked in a high-stakes battle for visibility on the stage of CCTV's Spring Festival Gala, the nation's premier variety show airing on Monday, which draws hundreds of millions of viewers and serves as a massive marketing platform akin to the Super Bowl in the United States. Companies including ByteDance, Unitree, RedNote, Bilibili, and Kuaishou are vying for attention during this annual spectacle, which also signals alignment with Beijing's industrial priorities.
ByteDance's cloud computing arm, Volcano Engine, has clinched the "exclusive AI cloud partnership" for this year's gala, succeeding last year's sponsor, Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing and artificial intelligence unit of Alibaba Group Holding. The partnership comes amid surging demand for computing power in China, fueling intensifying competition among the country's major cloud-service providers.
To promote its consumer-facing Doubao app, ByteDance plans to distribute more than 100,000 tech products—including drones, electric vehicles, robots, and 3D printers—through lucky draws on Monday. The promotion will also feature digital red envelopes worth up to 8,888 yuan (US$1,286), tapping into the traditional Lunar New Year custom of giving lucky money.
This initiative directly challenges rival AI apps from other tech behemoths. Tencent's Yuanbao app rolled out giveaways worth 1 billion yuan in cash and vouchers ahead of the holiday, while Alibaba's Qwen app offered an even larger 3 billion yuan in similar incentives, transforming the age-old tradition into a fierce battleground in the AI era.
Barred from the CCTV partnership by ByteDance's deal, Alibaba has pivoted to sponsor galas organized by local broadcasters in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Henan provinces, ensuring Qwen gains exposure through these regional events.
The flurry of promotions underscores the strategic importance of the Spring Festival Gala, where tech firms not only showcase their innovations but also demonstrate their prowess in cloud computing and AI, key areas of national focus as China pushes to bolster its technological self-reliance.
