On 2 December, the state media company China Media Group, owner of China Central Television (CCTV) and China National Radio (CNR) etc, signed a deal with e-commerce giant Alibaba for the CMG New Year’s Gala for the Chinese New Year (CNY) of the Snake next January. In doing so, Alibaba has, for the first time, become the exclusive e-commerce engagement partner.
The CMG New Year’s Gala has been THE CNY Gala since its launch in 1983, and Alibaba has partnered with the Gala several times before in different capacities. From interactive partner as the official distributor of the Gala’s virtual “red envelopes” to Alipay’s “Collect the 5 Fu’s” gamified experience, the Taobao and Tmall Group owner has a long history of working with the biggest celebration of the year. Competitors have also been fighting for a CNY partnership when WeChat became the “Red Packet” Partner in 2013, Baidu in 2019, Kuaishou in 2020 and JD.com in 2022.
Around the end of November, Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma (马云) was spotted at the group’s Hangzhou HQ. 5 years into his retirement, Ma still commands huge popularity among younger employees at the company as many went to welcome him. Ma was photographed sipping coffee and chatting with former CEO Daniel Zhang Yong (张勇). Jack Ma’s whereabouts post-retirement has been the topic of speculation, especially when he returns to China.
Ma has also made comments about the company from time to time. Last year, he suggested three directions for Taobao and Tmall Group, which are: return to Taobao, return to users and return to the internet. Pundits view the deal with CMG New Year’s Gala as a step towards returning to users, instead of simple KPIs like low prices. Interestingly, Tmall did not host its annual Double 11 Gala this year, which was gradually becoming more popular than the CNY Galas.
