Kuaishou Breaks Record with 63.9 Billion User Engagements During 2020 Spring Festival Gala

Kuaishou, one of China’s most prominent short-video disruptors and the exclusive interactive partner of the 2020 Spring Festival Gala aired on the Chinese New Year’s Eve, released their user engagement data. The annual event that this year fell on January 24 according to the Chinese Lunar calendar saw 63.9 billion user engagements made through the Kuaishou app during the live broadcast, the highest number in the history of the gala. 

The short-video company handed out five rounds of virtual “red envelopes” during the live broadcast, totaling a record-breaking 1 billion yuan ($144 million). Roughly 2.21 million people managed to snatch envelopes with amounts ranging from 66.6 yuan to 2020 yuan, according to the company.

In the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, Kuaishou also added a new virtual gift named “Wuhan, go go go” to the interface of the live broadcast on Kuaishou. All the profits from this virtual gift will be donated to the Wuhan Charity Association in the fight against the novel coronavirus. People could also donate all the envelopes they snatched during the event to the cause of fighting the virus in Wuhan, with Kuaishou adding 10% on top of every donation.

CCTV’s “red envelope” campaign in partnership with internet companies has been around for six years now. Companies who gave out virtual red envelopes during the live broadcast before Kuaishou included Alipay, WeChat and Baidu.