Red envelope battle subsides! The 2026 Spring Festival AI "ranking competition" undergoes a major reshuffle: Yuanbao temporarily drops out of the top 20, and the "tug-of-war" between Doubao and Qianwen has just begun.

As the Spring Festival holiday comes to an end, this intense “red envelope” battle has temporarily subsided.

As of February 24, major internet companies have gradually reported their results. A review by Daily Economic News (hereinafter referred to as “the reporter”) found that “user acquisition” is undoubtedly the most important achievement for these giants during this year’s Spring Festival.

On February 23, Qianwen App announced that during the holiday, it helped users place nearly 200 million orders with “one sentence,” meaning on average, one in every ten people nationwide used Qianwen to place an order.

Earlier, on February 18, Tencent announced that its Yuanbao daily active users (DAU) exceeded 50 million, and monthly active users (MAU) reached 114 million.

Officially, on February 17, Doubao revealed that on New Year’s Eve (February 16), Doubao AI (artificial intelligence) had a total of 1.9 billion interactions. During the “Doubao New Year” event, it helped users generate over 50 million New Year-themed avatars and more than 100 million pieces of New Year greetings.

Before the 2026 Spring Festival, the domestic general large model industry had experienced years of technological racing and hundreds of model battles. Now, with internet giants entering forcefully with a “spending spree” stance, the penetration rate of AI applications is soaring to unprecedented heights. This year’s Spring Festival has undoubtedly become a milestone for AI in China, transitioning from early experimentation to widespread adoption.

However, according to Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst at iiMedia Consulting, the surface prosperity also faces deep challenges: user retention after subsidy withdrawals, capability gaps in complex scenarios, and unverified profit models remain the “three mountains” blocking industry development.

After the red envelope battle subsides, the AI “ranking competition” during the Spring Festival is also facing a major reshuffle. As of February 24, when this report was published, Doubao still ranked first on the App Store free charts, with Qianwen in second place, and Ant A Fu in fourth. Tencent’s AI assistant “Yuanbao” ranked 17th, having temporarily fallen out of the top twenty.

“User acquisition” battle is just the prelude: user retention is the real “touchstone”

From a data perspective, this Spring Festival red envelope war ultimately evolved into a tug-of-war between ByteDance and Alibaba’s AI assistants.

According to QuestMobile data, on February 6 (the first day of the Spring Festival red envelope event), Qianwen App’s DAU surged by 727.7%, reaching 58.48 million, an increase of over 51 million from the previous day. The gap with Doubao’s DAU narrowed to just 22.75 million. The earliest to launch cash activities, Yuanbao, had a DAU of 23.99 million on its first day (February 1), doubling compared to the previous day.

The report also shows that from February 9 to February 20, there were significant changes in App Store rankings. Between February 9 and 13, Qianwen App briefly topped the charts; from February 14 to 16, Ant A Fu was first; starting February 17, Doubao took the top spot, with Qianwen in second and Ant A Fu in third.

The reporter noted that on February 24, Doubao remained first on the App Store free charts, Qianwen was second, and Ant A Fu was fourth. Notably, Tencent’s AI assistant Yuanbao temporarily dropped out of the top twenty.

However, the AI application ranking race continues, and it remains uncertain whether these user acquisition results will translate into actual user retention for the major companies.

Guotai Haitong Securities’ research report states that the Spring Festival, as a concentrated marketing window, reflects the giants’ competition for the next traffic entry point. Marketing budgets determine short-term user growth, but the real key lies in user retention, which ultimately depends on the foundational capabilities and infrastructure support behind AI entrances and ecosystems. During this year’s CCTV Spring Festival Gala, internet companies not only used subsidies for user acquisition but also focused more on guiding users to form AI usage pathways.

On February 15, Wu Jia, President of Qianwen’s consumer business group, told the reporter that DAU is not their primary metric.

Wu Jia said they mainly focus on user feedback and user experience. “For example, how many times users say ‘Qianwen help me,’ which indicates the formation of user awareness. I also look at which scenarios have the strongest user demand, which areas need improvement, and how to enhance them.”

Wu Jia mentioned that Alibaba cares whether AI can truly serve users’ lives and improve their ability to handle tasks.

It is worth noting that during the Spring Festival, the layout of internet giants went far beyond superficial “spending to acquire users.” While distributing red envelopes and seizing traffic entrances, they also simultaneously released new large models, deeply integrating technological iteration with the red envelope war.

On February 14, after releasing the Seedance 2.0 video model and Seedream 5.0 Lite image model, ByteDance officially launched the Doubao large model 2.0 series. On February 16, Alibaba open-sourced the new generation large model Qwen 3.5-Plus, topping the global open-source model rankings.

Tian Feng, director of the Fast and Slow Thinking Institute and special commentator, told the Daily Economic News that the 2026 Spring Festival AI war will be more intense than ever, calling it the first “AI Spring Festival Olympics.”

He noted that China’s internet and AI industries are experiencing the most intensive wave of flagship model releases in history, no longer a single head model show, but a game of who can fastest turn “technology spillover” into “consumer-grade blockbuster.”

He said that in this “AI Spring Festival Olympics,” mere technological leadership is no longer enough to guarantee market victory. The key is how quickly a company can convert technological advantages into measurable commercial revenue.

Signals of change in the Spring Festival AI war: “The era of AI oligarchs” is coming?

The 2026 Spring Festival holiday also became a concentrated testing ground for the implementation capabilities of top AI companies. Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent, leveraging their deeply cultivated core ecosystems, have taken three completely different paths toward AI commercialization, which have been validated in this practical battle.

Currently, the AI strategies of these giants are showing clear divergence.

Tian Feng said that Alibaba’s choice to combine Qwen 3.5 with a 3.0 billion yuan red envelope reward plan is essentially a “e-commerce flash sale + model + traffic” combo. “More importantly, Alibaba is trying to connect its ecosystems—Taobao, Alipay, Fliggy, Amap—into the Qianwen App, and use ‘task assistants’ to handle complex tasks, attempting to turn AI into a new ‘business entrance’,” Tian Feng explained.

He believes ByteDance’s “three-models” strategy reflects its consistent “traffic + scenario” saturation attack capability. “ByteDance’s logic is clear: by covering all user scenarios with multimodal capabilities, then leveraging traffic advantages for rapid penetration.”

Tencent, on the other hand, relies again on its social ecosystem to build Yuanbao’s core moat. Through the “Yuanbao派” AI social new玩法, AI is integrated into real social relationships. Users create a “派,” with AI acting as group members, answering questions or lightening the atmosphere in family or interest groups.

In Zhang Yi’s view, these three companies, based on their core strengths, are pursuing differentiated long-term commercialization paths. However, achieving stable profitability still requires time.

Zhang Yi said that Alibaba’s approach directly connects the commercial loop, making its long-term commercialization prospects relatively higher and future profit paths clearer. Doubao, boosted by the Spring Festival and broad traffic, proves that “AI national entrance” is feasible, with traffic continuously monetized into content, e-commerce, and tools. Yuanbao also demonstrates the huge potential of “AI + social + community,” but ecological limitations and the lack of a closed loop have indeed weakened conversion.

While there is ongoing debate about whether AI can truly become universally popular, it is undeniable that during this Spring Festival, major companies invested heavily in a large-scale mental education campaign, expanding their user base beyond those who previously downloaded native AI apps. More age groups are entering the scene. According to Qianwen officials, “Qianwen help me” can be completed in just two or three dialogue rounds, half the steps of traditional point-and-click ordering, making it convenient for over 4 million users over 60 to place orders with just one sentence.

Zhang Yi also mentioned that the large-scale entry of lower-tier markets and the silver-haired demographic indicates that AI is no longer a niche technology. The value of the Spring Festival lies in transforming AI from a novelty into a practical tool, with scenario-based habits directly integrated into daily life. Future penetration into work, life, and consumption is inevitable. The Spring Festival is not just a short-term spike but a historic shift in user habits.

However, behind the lively traffic frenzy, core industry issues are also exposed.

Zhang Yi pointed out that the Spring Festival AI war revealed several problems: “First, there is a heavy reliance on subsidies, and active users without subsidies still need verification; second, AI has become usable but is not yet friendly or smooth enough, and capabilities in complex scenarios are still lacking; third, costs are high, compliance is a pressure, and profitability still requires burning money.”

Additionally, the reporter found that on New Year’s Eve, Doubao temporarily suspended red envelope withdrawals and shut down high-computation video call functions to ensure the stability of core services during peak traffic. In the future, whether AI industry computing power supply can match large-scale civilian demand, and how well computing power can withstand pressure in universal scenarios, are ongoing challenges on the road to AI popularization.

At the same time, talent competition is also intensifying. Maimai reported on February 24 that since 2026, new AI-related job postings on the platform have increased 14-fold year-over-year, with Doubao offering a 1.28 million yuan annual salary for “large model application architecture experts.” The shortage of high-end AI talent has become a second battleground for companies.

Although the Spring Festival has passed, the competition among internet giants is far from over. The fierce battles early in 2026 are just the beginning.

Looking ahead, Zhang Yi said that for the consumer side, product innovation, necessity, retention, and daily penetration are key. For the enterprise side, focus remains on commercialization and service capabilities. “The era of hundreds of models is probably over, and the era of oligarchs is beginning. The user acquisition battle is over, but the value battle is just starting.”