Pinduoduo lands exclusive red packet partnership with CCTV for 2021 Spring Festival Gala

Next year’s show will mark the third consecutive year that CCTV has a major Chinese internet company as its red packet partner

The annual Spring Festival Gala has been a promotional battleground among China’s largest internet firms since virtual red packets were introduced in 2015

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China Central Television’s 2020 Spring Festival Gala, which aired on January 24, was seen by more than 1.2 billion people on TV and on the internet in more than 170 countries. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:45pm, 25 Sep 2020Updated: 3:54pm, 21 Oct 2020

Chinese e-commerce giant Pin duoduo has sealed a deal to serve as the exclusive partner of state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) to give away cash via virtual red packets at next year’s Spring Festival Gala, the country’s most-watched national network TV broadcast.

Since 1983, watching at least part of CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala has been a national tradition for families in China. Previous partners – including Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings’ WeChat, Baidu and Kuaishou – have cumulatively spent billions of yuan in virtual red packets that were given away during the show, as they sought to grab a bigger share of online traffic over the Lunar New Year holiday.

The exclusive partnership with Pinduoduo for the show on February 11 was announced by CCTV at a press event on Thursday. Further details, such as the total amount of virtual red packets Pinduoduo plans to give away, were not disclosed.

“Pinduoduo will collaborate closely with CCTV on the Spring Festival Gala, while continuing to create value for consumers,” a spokesman for the Shanghai-based company said on Friday.

The logo of e-commerce company Pinduoduo is printed on boxes set up in a shopping centre in Shanghai during China’s midyear shopping festival on June 18. Photo: Imaginechina via Agence France-Presse

Next year’s show will mark the third consecutive year that CCTV has a major Chinese internet company as its red packet partner, showing the resilience of the industry amid the economic disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Spring Festival Gala has been a promotional battleground among China’s largest internet companies since Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat first introduced virtual red packets in 2015, sparking a battle for consumers trying to grab as many as they could using their smartphones. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

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