Chinese tech companies are intensifying competition at CCTV's Spring Festival Gala, the nation's top entertainment event akin to the US Super Bowl. ByteDance's Volcano Engine has secured an exclusive AI cloud partnership, while Alibaba turns to local galas for visibility. Firms are showcasing AI apps and robots in promotions.
CCTV's Spring Festival Gala serves as an annual spectacle, offering a rare nationwide marketing opportunity like the US Super Bowl and signaling alignment with Beijing's industrial priorities. Scheduled for Monday, ByteDance's cloud computing arm, Volcano Engine, has taken over from last year's sponsor Alibaba Cloud as the “exclusive AI cloud partnership” holder. This shift comes amid surging demand for computing power and intensifying rivalry among China'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—along with digital red envelopes worth up to 8,888 yuan (US$1,286) through lucky draws on Monday. The initiative competes with Tencent's Yuanbao and Alibaba's Qwen AI apps, which rolled out giveaways worth 1 billion yuan and 3 billion yuan, respectively, in cash and vouchers before the holiday, transforming the ancient lucky money tradition into an AI-era battleground.
Excluded from the CCTV-ByteDance partnership, Alibaba is sponsoring galas organized by local broadcasters in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Henan for Qwen. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Humanoid robots are expected to entertain audiences again, following a viral Yangge folk dance performed by Unitree robots on last year's stage. Involved firms include ByteDance, Unitree, RedNote, Bilibili, and Kuaishou.