(Image source: TMTPost AGI Editor Lin Zhijia)

TMTPOST — Moonshot AI, the company behind the Kimi smart assistant, has decided to temporarily halt its "money-burning" advertising campaigns due to the ripple effect of the DeepSeek craze.

The decision follows a significant rise in the organic growth of Kimi's user base, driven by enthusiasm towards AI products following the release of DeepSeek, leading the company to reassess its promotional strategies.

Sources familiar with the matter confirmed that Moonshot AI’s decision was primarily determined by the success of its user base’s natural growth. The company’s organic traction has lessened the immediate need for extensive advertising. This shift suggests that Moonshot AI is adjusting its marketing approach in line with changes in the competitive landscape.

China’s “Six Little Tigers of Large Models” — Moonshot AI, Baichuan Intelligence, Zhipu AI, 01.AI, MiniMax, and StepAI— have all recently reduced or paused their advertising spending, except for StepAI. 

In China’s app market for October 2024, Pinduoduo ranked first in advertising expenditure, with a total of 1.159 billion yuan. Douyin (TikTok) ranked second with 971 million yuan spent, but its ad creatives were the highest in number, far exceeding Pinduoduo's, while Kimi ranked 16th, spending approximately one-tenth of Pinduoduo's monthly ad budget, totaling 199 million yuan. However, Kimi's smart assistant is a free app, and there are currently no paid plans available.

As of October 29, the total advertising expenditure for AI apps, including Kimi Smart Assistant, ByteDance's Doubao, and Tencent's Yuanbao, exceeded 300 million yuan.

The pause in Moonshot AI’s advertising is not surprising, as the company has not launched any new products in recent months.

When it comes to competition on platforms like Xiaohongshu, ByteDance’s Doubao and Baidu’s Ernie bot are currently the dominant advertisers. Meanwhile, AI application and hardware companies, including Keep, have been ramping up their presence on these platforms.

Founded in 2023, Moonshot AI focuses on developing domestic large AI models and applications. The company’s founder and CEO, Yang Zhilin, is an influential figure in the AI community. Yang graduated from Tsinghua University and Carnegie Mellon University and has previously worked with Meta AI and Google AI research teams.

Yang recently said that the monthly active users (MAUs) of Kimi had surpassed 36 million, and the company’s current focus is on improving user retention.

(1 USD equals 7.28 yuan)