Tencent loses 50 million yuan after glitch offered VIP video access for 0.2 yuan a month
Technical error offered one-month subscription for a hundredth of the original price. Tencent has now swallowed the US$7.7 million cost of the blunder after social media outcry
It seemed an attractive offer: a one-month subscription to China’s most popular video-streaming platform for 18 yuan, a 10 per cent discount on the usual 20 yuan.
Indeed, hundreds of thousands of internet users rushed to take advantage of the special New Year offer for VIP membership of Tencent Video.
But then the deal became even more alluring, thanks to a technical glitch. When they went to pay, subscribers were astonished to find they were only charged 0.2 yuan – a hundredth of the original monthly fee.
The numbers suggest this phenomenal – and entirely accidental – offer was simply too tempting for many to resist signing up again … and again, and again. In fact, 390,000 users between them took out 2.87 million subscriptions, an average of more than seven each.
The glitch has proved a costly one for Tencent, who have now agreed to soak up the loss of just over 50 million yuan (US$7.68 million) – the amount they would have made from 2.87 million subscriptions at the intended 18 yuan rate.