At the 57th Super Bowl in February this year, "Pinduoduo Overseas Edition" Temu not only set the highest advertising price in the history of the event, but also became the youngest brand in history to advertise in the Super Bowl, with two 30 second ads worth $14 million and an average advertising cost of $230000 per second.
According to industry insiders, Temu may make another appearance on this highly anticipated "American Spring Festival Gala" stage in February next year
According to insiders, Temu has promised to purchase multiple advertising units during the Super Bowl competition scheduled for February 11th next year. This plan will be a significant advertising expense for Temu. Temu's parent company is Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo.
The annual Super Bowl has long been the most commercially valuable super event in the world. For next year's Super Bowl, a Temu spokesperson had previously stated that the company had discussed the upcoming Super Bowl but had not promised any plans.
Next year's Super Bowl will be broadcasted on CBS, and the advertising costs for this tournament are likely not to be cheaper than this year. An advertising buyer previously revealed that during the 58th Super Bowl, 30 second advertising costs ranged from approximately $6 million to a maximum of $7.2 million.
Advertising buyers claim that according to industry practice, CBS will also require all Super Bowl advertisers to commit to purchasing advertisements for the same time slot in other sports programs on CBS. The advertising rates for large-scale competitions may vary due to factors such as the duration of the advertisement broadcast during the competition and the number of advertisements purchased by the brand during the competition.
Is there another brainwashing advertisement coming?
In February of this year, Temu's debut on the Super Bowl was a huge success and made countless Americans realize this cross-border e-commerce platform from across the ocean for the first time.
In the 30 second long advertisement at the time, a fashionable woman used Temu to constantly dress herself and passersby, accompanied by catchy lyrics, and finally led to the slogan "Shop like a Billionaire".
This English addictive advertisement song by Temu easily reminds people of the brainwashing song "Pinduoduo, Pinduoduo, Pinduoduo, Pinduoduo more, no more" released by Pinduoduo in 2017. At the same time, the slogan "Shop like a Billionaire" is not only full of American humor, but also incorporates Temu's cost-effectiveness advantages, as Temu officials say: "Because of the price we offer, they can shop freely. Because of Temu, 'shopping like a billionaire' is no longer a dream."
After this brainwashing advertisement made its debut in the Super Bowl, it quickly sparked a Temu craze on the American internet. According to statistics from SensorTower, a business intelligence data agency, over 426000 people downloaded the Temu app during the Super Bowl weekend, and in the following month, the global cumulative download volume of Temu reached 50 million times.
Many cross-border e-commerce industry insiders had anticipated that this advertising debut in the "Super Bowl" could be the first step in Temu brand marketing. Following the "playing style" of its parent company Pinduoduo, Temu is highly likely to become a regular on major programs and social media in the United States.
And the fact of the past six months has ultimately proven that Temu has opened the prelude to "multi line attacks". Industry insiders have stated that in order to attract more customers to visit its shopping platform and build a well-known brand, Temu has been spending heavily so far this year.
According to market information company Sensor Tower, so far this year, 46% of Temu's digital advertising spending has gone to Facebook, 22% to Instagram, and 15% to YouTube.
Sky Canaves, Senior Analyst at Insider Intelligence, stated that the massive investment in the Super Bowl reflects Temu's strategy of leveraging the massive advertising budget derived from Pinduoduo's strong funds to gain recognition in the United States and other markets, and ultimately using the customer base won to turn a non profitable company into a sustainable enterprise.
Etsy CEO Joshua Silverman pointed out in a earnings conference call with analysts earlier this month that Temu and its Chinese competitor Shein have "almost independently impacted advertising costs in the United States, especially in some payment channels of Google and Meta.".
Temu is rapidly developing globally
Behind the huge advertising expenses, Temu's commercial achievements over the past year are undoubtedly remarkable. The platform has been increasingly seen by industry professionals as a disruptive force in global e-commerce.
Pinduoduo has been keeping Temu's performance confidential so far, but its US listed stocks have soared by 70% since July, while Alibaba and JD.com have suffered heavy losses. According to Citigroup analyst Alicia Yap, Temu may have processed $4.2 billion in transactions in the third quarter, accounting for about 13% of Pinduoduo's total revenue.
An industry statistics shows that Temu is now the fourth most visited retail website in the United States, after Amazon, Wal Mart and eBay.
According to Second Measure, which analyzes consumer bank card transaction data, Temu's sales in May this year surpassed its competitor Shein for the first time in the United States, by about 20%. Since then, its leading advantage has been expanding every month, and Temu's sales in the United States in September were more than twice that of Shein.
Goldman Sachs report shows that the bank's current valuation of Temu has increased from $20 billion to $37 billion.
"Although our business outside of China is still in its early stages, significant progress has been made since its launch a year ago," said Chen Lei, Chairman and Co CEO of Pinduoduo Group, during a earnings conference call this week
However, Chen Lei also reminded, "Although we have expanded our business scope, our business is still in its early stages and still faces uncertainty."
Liu Jun, Vice President of Finance at Pinduoduo, further explained during a conference call that cross-border business is still in a very early stage, and many of the platform's initiatives are in the customization stage. The team is currently understanding different markets and consumer needs. "This will be a challenging iterative process, but it will also be interesting."
Liu Jun stated that Temu's current consumers come from over 70 different countries and regions, with varying cultural backgrounds. He hopes to purchase directly from factories and provide consumers with the best products and services through direct channels.