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TikTok’s Chinese sister app, which signed on to be the annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala’s top sponsor, poured 1.2 billion yuan ($185 million) into digital red packet giveaways during the celebratory broadcast. The giveaway brought over 70 billion digital interactions to its platform, where red packets were claimed, Chinese media outlet The Paper reported.
For years, digital red packets sponsored by tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent have upped engagement for the Spring Festival Gala — the most-watched television program in the country, which drew a record-breaking total of 1.14 billion people this year, according to state-owned media China Daily.
Where Douyin is a newcomer to the tradition (its rival Kuaishou handed out 1 billion yuan in red packets last year), the power move highlights the Chinese population’s sky-high digital engagement rates and the increasingly competitive battle for screen time. This year, internet firms poured over 18 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) into the blockbuster event, according to Sohu.
