China’s biggest tech companies and a clutch of fast-rising consumer electronics brands are battling for coveted sponsorship slots at the Spring Festival Gala, as intensifying competition in artificial intelligence turns the country’s most watched television broadcast into a rare nationwide marketing battleground.
Major players including ByteDance, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding had all held discussions with state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) over high-stakes partnership packages, according to people familiar with the matter.
ByteDance’s cloud computing arm, Volcano Engine, had previously been reported as the gala’s exclusive AI cloud partner, while the company’s AI chatbot app Doubao was expected to introduce new interactive features during the broadcast, Chinese business outlet LatePost reported last week.
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However, the final sponsorship structure had yet to be settled, one person familiar with the talks said, as ByteDance had pushed for exclusive AI-related terms that would effectively bar the mention or use of rival cloud and AI software providers – a demand that has complicated negotiations.
The fight is about more than logos: the gala has a track record of turning product features into mass adoption moments.
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Shanghai-based robotics start-up Agibot had also been reported as bidding for a slot. Unitree Robotics secured a partnership for the previous show in January, one person said, adding that the deal cost about 100 million yuan (US$14 million). The company made headlines at that gala performance when six humanoid robots performed a folk dance.