Alibaba has formally entered China’s Chinese language New 12 months AI subsidy battle. On February 2, Alibaba’s Qwen app introduced a 30 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) initiative dubbed the “Chinese language New 12 months Deal with Plan,” which can launch on February 6.
Through the vacation interval, Qwen will accomplice with a number of companies throughout Alibaba’s ecosystem—together with Taobao Flash Purchasing, Fliggy, Damai, Freshippo, Tmall Grocery store, and Alipay—to supply customers free meals, journey, leisure, and procuring via a “zero-cost order” mechanism.
Alibaba mentioned the marketing campaign represents the biggest Chinese language New 12 months promotional funding within the firm’s historical past, and at present stands as the very best publicly disclosed spend amongst main Chinese language web corporations’ AI-focused vacation initiatives.
Tencent kicked off the Chinese language New 12 months competitors earlier. On January 25, the corporate introduced a ten billion yuan ($1.4 billion) money giveaway through its Yuanbao app, which formally launched on February 1. Customers can share hyperlinks and full duties to obtain money pink packets, with particular person rewards reaching as much as 10,000 yuan ($1,400).
At Tencent’s inside workers assembly the next day, CEO Pony Ma described the marketing campaign as an try to “recreate the WeChat Purple Packet second from 11 years in the past.”
In 2015, Tencent’s collaboration with China Central Tv (CCTV) in the course of the Chinese language New 12 months Gala popularized WeChat’s “Shake to Seize Purple Packets” function, cementing WeChat Pay’s rise in cell funds. Tencent information confirmed that on Chinese language New 12 months’s Eve alone, 1.01 billion pink packets have been despatched and acquired, with complete interactions reaching 11 billion, peaking at 810 million interactions per minute.
Tencent Yuanbao’s marketing campaign has already proven sturdy traction. As of February 1, the app climbed to No. 1 on Apple’s App Retailer free app rankings in China. Tencent acknowledged transient service disruptions on account of site visitors spikes however mentioned providers had since stabilized.
Baidu has additionally joined the race. On the night of January 25, the corporate introduced a 5 billion yuan ($700 million) Chinese language New 12 months pink packet marketing campaign. Along with distributing rewards via AI interactions and collectible card mechanics throughout the Baidu app, Baidu built-in its Ernie Bot (Wenxin Assistant) into the giveaway system. Baidu can even seem because the “Chief AI Associate” of the 2026 Beijing Tv Chinese language New 12 months Gala.
In the meantime, ByteDance has secured a strategic place by partnering immediately with CCTV’s Chinese language New 12 months Gala. Its cloud computing arm Volcano Engine will function the unique AI cloud accomplice for the 2026 broadcast, whereas its AI assistant Doubao will roll out a number of interactive options. Doubao at present ranks No. 2 on China’s App Retailer free app chart, simply behind Tencent Yuanbao.
Collectively, these campaigns sign a brand new part of competitors in China’s AI sector, the place Chinese language New 12 months pink packets are being repurposed as large-scale person acquisition instruments for AI apps, echoing the function cell funds performed a decade earlier.
Supply: Jiemian Information
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