TikTok parent company ByteDance Ltd. will replace Pinduoduo Inc., as exclusive partner for the upcoming state broadcaster China Central Television's 2021 Spring Festival Gala - a five-hour long televised variety show broadcast on the eve of the holiday since 1983, news reports say.
TikTok, known as Douyin in China, is in talks with the gala. The gala has the largest audience of any entertainment show in the world. Last year it attracted 1.23 billion viewers in China and overseas.
Douyin hasn't made an announcement and isn't responding to inquiries.
ByteDance is seeking 57 "exclusive work positions for Lunar New Year" - including 56 research and development positions and one risk control position.
"ByteDance is improving its content delivery network as a high-volume and concurrent traffic of handing out red-envelopes can be a big challenge for cloud computing and other technology infrastructures," sources familiar with the matter said.
Douyin first collaborated with CCTV on the 2019 gala as the exclusive social-media partner. It handed out 500 million yuan ($77.12 million) in red envelopes. A year later saw its daily active users increase to 400 million from 250 million, according to a company report.
Kuaishou Technology Co. Ltd. became the exclusive social-media interactive partner for 2020 and handed out 1 billion yuan in red envelopes. In return it saw 63.9 million user engagements made during the live broadcast and peaked at 282 million.
Technology and internet companies battle fiercely to promote their branding information on the most-watched gala via red envelope cash giveaways. This year, however, it is unlikely to see such a boom in user engagement growth, analysts said.
If the Douyin deal comes through, it would be the first time that the gala has changed its alliance after an official announcement.
Last September, CCTV said it would continue the exclusive deal with Pinduoduo who would continue its 1 billion yuan in "red envelopes." A Pinduoduo representative said at the time that, through the collaboration, it would "continue to create value for consumers." Pinduoduo merchant vendors were reportedly actively stocking up.
Part of Pinduoduo's initial red-envelope plan was to enlarge its influence - expanding its grocery group buying program Duo Duo Maicai, sources told 36kr.
Pinduoduo has attracted public anger as a result of a working-conditions scandal .
Business Times reported earlier this month that a 22-year-old female employee of Duo Duo Maicai died after working past midnight. Shanghai's labor protection department investigated.
Within a week of the incident, a 23-year-old Pinduoduo engineer jumped to his death after asking for leave without a reason and traveling back to his hometown in Changsha, Hunan province.
"CCTV felt recent public opinion about Pinduoduo was negative so it decided to end the deal," unidentified sources told the South China Morning Post.
The cancellation of the CCTV deal concerned many Pinduoduo merchants. To compensate vendors, the company, China's second-largest e-commerce company by volume, will provide reimbursement or extra marketing exposure and traffic, Pinduoduo said in a statement.
