Deja Mu: Why Temu bought so many Super Bowl ads

2/13/24 7:00PM

I think I’ve seen this ad before…

‍Online marketplace Temu ran the same ad so much during the Super Bowl broadcast that newspublications can’t agree on whether it aired 5 or 6 times, as the Chinese-owned platform looks to keep interest in its app burning in the US.

With the average 30-second slot reportedly costing ~$7m, PDD Holdings, the company behind Temu, may have splashed out as much as $42m on the promotions… and that’s before accounting for the $10m in giveaways it promised on game day.

‍Shop ‘til you drop

‍Having not even celebrated its 2nd birthday as a company, Temu has exploded onto the crowded e-marketplace landscape, becoming the most downloaded iPhone app last year in the US. The platform promises the ability to “shop like a billionaire”, with its gamified and giveaway-heavy storefront offering millions of low-cost products (mostly shipped from China) proving to have piqued American interest.

Even compared to Shein, an e-commerce giant that’s scaled at hyperspeed, Temu’s rise has been meteoric, with Google searches soaring since its US launch in September 2022. However, like the platform’s controversial compatriot — which it filed an antitrust lawsuit against in July ‘23 — Temu is attracting the ire of politicians and accusations of forced labor, at a time when US sales on the platform are already reportedly dropping.

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The e-commerce giant reported solid numbers for the third quarter on Wednesday, with revenue up 9% as reported to $2.8 billion and gross merchandise volume rising 10% to $20.1 billion, topping the average analyst forecast of $19.4 billion, per Bloomberg.

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