The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
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.
With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.
Investors are bracing for a steep slowdown in luxury sales when luxury companies report their first quarter results, reflecting lacklustre Chinese demand.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.