ByteDance's AI application Doubao has launched a Spring Festival campaign featuring cash giveaways and smart technology prizes, joining a growing field of Chinese AI platforms competing for users during the country's most important holiday season.

The campaign, announced today, will distribute red envelopes to users and offer over 100,000 prizes integrated with Doubao's large language model during China Central Television's New Year's Gala broadcast on Lunar New Year's Eve. The move follows similar initiatives by rivals including Tongyi Qianwen and Tencent Yuanbao, as AI developers leverage the holiday's massive online traffic to expand their user bases.

Unlike traditional internet platform campaigns focused primarily on cash distributions, Doubao has allocated significant resources to physical technology products powered by its AI model. The prizes range from humanoid robots to electric vehicle usage rights, all integrated with Doubao's capabilities through Volcano Engine, ByteDance's cloud computing arm.

Industry analysts suggest that while red envelope campaigns serve as effective user acquisition tools, sustained engagement and retention rates after the holiday will determine their true value in the intensifying competition for AI ecosystem dominance.

Two-Phase Campaign Strategy

Doubao's Spring Festival activity operates in two distinct phases. The first phase launches February 13 at 8 p.m., allowing users to participate in cash red envelope lotteries through the Doubao app by generating AI-created New Year greetings and engaging with festive interactive content. Winnings can be withdrawn directly.

The second phase centers on Lunar New Year's Eve, February 16, coinciding with CCTV's Spring Festival Gala broadcast. Three rounds of red envelope and technology prize drawings will run during the show, with cash prizes reaching up to 8,888 yuan ($1,233) and smart technology products equipped with Doubao's AI capabilities.

The campaign features relatively low participation barriers, with simplified prize acquisition paths that minimize complex tasks and social sharing requirements compared to previous internet platform holiday promotions.

AI-Powered Technology Prizes

The campaign's technology gift package encompasses 17 products, including Unitree robots, Bambu Lab 3D printers, DJI drones, XGIMI projectors, and Supor rice cookers. Additionally, the prizes include usage rights for SAIC Audi E5 Sportback and Mercedes-Benz CLA electric vehicles.

These products represent more than hardware sponsorships. According to Doubao, all items have undergone deep integration with its large language model through Volcano Engine. The Unitree robot's humanized voice tone and manner are supported by Doubao's voice synthesis model, large language model, and vision language model working in combination. The SAIC Audi E5 Sportback features an "Audi Assistant" built on Doubao's model, enabling near-human conversational interactions through natural language.

"We hope through the technology gift package to let more users intuitively experience the changes after large models enter daily life," said the project leader for Doubao's Spring Festival campaign.

Broader AI Application Competition

Doubao's Spring Festival presence extends beyond the red envelope campaign. ByteDance's Volcano Engine previously announced its role as CCTV Spring Festival Gala's exclusive AI cloud partner, participating in program production and video live streaming based on multimodal large models and cloud computing technology.

The application has developed multiple AI interactive functions centered on Spring Festival scenarios. Users can generate Spring Festival portraits, New Year avatars, greeting cards, and celebratory videos. For voice interactions, Doubao invited television personalities Ni Ping and Lu Yu to record exclusive voice tones supporting customized celebrity-version New Year greeting calls. Users can also generate zodiac-year blessings and query New Year's Eve dinner recipes with one click.

Across the Spring Festival period, AI applications are conducting parallel red envelope competitions. Tongyi Qianwen, Tencent Yuanbao, and other products have launched various forms of holiday red envelopes and interactive features, attempting to capture new users during the peak period of nationwide online entertainment.

Retention Over Acquisition

Multiple industry insiders indicate that compared to red envelope amounts and prize scales, the true value of these activities lies in post-holiday user retention and usage frequency.

Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research, told Securities Daily that AI Spring Festival red envelopes possess dual attributes of "user education" and "path dependency." He described the campaigns as necessary actions to push AI from technology circles toward the mass market, while also representing the internet industry's habitual replication of mature models.