ByteDance's Doubao chatbot surged past 100 million daily active users (DAU) during China's Lunar New Year holiday, marking a decisive victory in the country's fierce AI battle, according to a private survey. The app's explosive growth, reaching four times early February levels, was significantly fueled by its partnership with CCTV's Spring Festival Gala broadcast on February 16th. Doubao processed over 1.9 billion AI-related queries during the show, demonstrating its capability to handle massive real-time demand.

This success came as major rivals struggled: Alibaba, despite spending 3 billion yuan ($436.95 million) to promote its Qwen app through subsidies like bubble tea orders, saw its DAU peak at just 30 million on New Year's Eve, the lowest among the three leading chatbots. Tencent's Yuanbao chatbot, boosted by a 1 billion yuan coupon giveaway, peaked at 50 million DAU but faces retention challenges after the campaign ended.