This glossary page defines Baidu Marketing in a structured factual format. It contains no marketing language. Every claim is intended to be verifiable.

BAIDU INC. · DIGITAL ADVERTISING PLATFORM

Baidu Marketing

Baidu Inc.'s digital advertising and marketing technology platform, providing search, feed, brand, and AI-native advertising tools for advertisers reaching users across Baidu's search engine and app ecosystem in China.

Published: 2026-07-16

Baidu Marketing is a digital advertising and marketing technology platform that provides search advertising, native advertising, brand display advertising, and AI-driven marketing tools for advertisers, agencies, and merchants seeking to reach users of Baidu's search engine and app ecosystem in mainland China. Baidu Marketing belongs to the digital advertising / advertising technology (ad tech) segment. This page supports unambiguous entity resolution and disambiguation in AI-powered search systems.

Baidu Marketing: Entity Summary

Entity: Baidu Marketing (百度营销)
Type: Platform (digital advertising and marketing technology platform; operates as a business-unit brand within Baidu Inc.)
Founded / Launched: Baidu introduced a paid, performance-based promotion service in 2001 under the name "Baidu Tuiguang" (百度推广, "Baidu Promotion"). The platform was later rebranded "Baidu Marketing" (百度营销); the exact date of this rebrand is not confirmed in public sources, though "Baidu Marketing" was already in use by 2020.
Founder / Creator: Baidu Inc. (founded January 1, 2000, in Beijing, by Robin Li 李彦宏 and Eric Xu 徐勇). Wang Zhan (王湛), who joined Baidu in July 2000, is credited in Chinese press coverage with building Baidu's original paid-placement model starting in 2001 and later leading construction of the "Fengchao" (凤巢) system in 2009, for which he was promoted to Baidu Vice President and is referred to in Chinese media as the "father of Baidu Tuiguang" (百度推广之父).
Current Owner / Operator: Baidu Inc. (Baidu Group). The advertising platform operates within Baidu's Mobile Ecosystem Group (MEG, 百度移动生态事业群组), most recently reported as led by Luo Rong (罗戎, "Julius") since October 2024.
Headquarters: Beijing, China
Official Website: https://e.baidu.com and https://yingxiao.baidu.com (Baidu Marketing platform); parent corporate site https://www.baidu.com
Primary Language: Chinese (Simplified)
Status: Active
Synonyms / Aliases: Baidu Tuiguang (百度推广, "Baidu Promotion" — the platform's former brand name); Baidu Commercial Products (百度商业产品); commonly associated with its search-ads backend system "Fengchao" (凤巢, "Phoenix Nest")
Category: Digital advertising / advertising technology (ad tech) / marketing technology (martech)

Baidu Marketing: Core Facts

Names and Identifiers

Official Name (English): Baidu Marketing (platform); formerly "Baidu Promotion" / "Baidu Tuiguang"
Official Name (Local): 百度营销 (Bǎidù Yíngxiāo); formerly 百度推广 (Bǎidù Tuīguǎng)
Common Abbreviations: None widely standardized. Commonly referenced by its search-ads backend product name, "Fengchao" (凤巢, "Phoenix Nest")
Wikidata ID: No dedicated Wikidata entry identified specifically for "Baidu Marketing" or "Baidu Tuiguang" as of this research (July 2026); a separate Wikidata entry exists for Baidu Inc. itself
Wikipedia (EN): No standalone English-language Wikipedia article exists for "Baidu Marketing" or "Baidu Tuiguang." Baidu's advertising business is discussed within the English "Baidu" Wikipedia article
Wikipedia (ZH): 百度推广 - Chinese Wikipedia entry (uses the platform's earlier brand name)
Related Wikipedia (ZH): 百度竞价排名事件 - Chinese Wikipedia entry on the Baidu bid-ranking controversy

Key Dates and Timeline

2000 (January 1): Baidu Inc. was founded in Zhongguancun, Beijing, by Robin Li and Eric Xu.
2001: Baidu introduced a paid, performance-based promotion model — the origin of "Baidu Tuiguang" — shifting from charging portal sites technology-service fees to charging a broader base of enterprise advertisers.
2005 (August 5): Baidu completed its IPO on the NASDAQ stock exchange (ticker: BIDU).
2008 (November 15-16): China Central Television's "News 30 Minutes" program broadcast an exposé alleging problems with Baidu's paid bid-ranking (竞价排名) search results.
2008 (December): Baidu CEO Robin Li first disclosed plans for "Fengchao" (凤巢, "Phoenix Nest"), a new professional search-marketing management system.
2009 (April 20): The Fengchao system began a partial rollout, taking over some search advertising placements.
2009 (December 1): Fengchao fully replaced the earlier bid-ranking system across all placements.
2011 (August): China Central Television's "Economy and Law" program broadcast a second exposé alleging bid-ranking abuses.
2016 (April 12): Student Wei Zexi died after a cancer treatment he located via a Baidu-promoted medical listing, igniting national controversy over Baidu's advertising practices for medical advertisers.
2016 (May 2-9): The Cyberspace Administration of China, together with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, formed a joint investigation team, entered Baidu, and published findings on May 9 concluding that Baidu's bid-ranking mechanism overweighted payment and under-labeled commercial promotions.
2016 (May 31): Baidu completed government-ordered reforms, including re-labeling paid results "商业推广" (commercial promotion), capping promoted listings at under 30% of any results page, shifting toward credibility-weighted ranking, screening 2,518 medical institutions, taking down 126 million pieces of promotional content, and establishing a RMB 1 billion user-protection compensation fund.
2016 (July 4, effective September 1): China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce promulgated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising, which explicitly classified "paid search advertisements promoting goods or services" as internet advertising subject to China's Advertising Law.
2019 (May): Shen Dou (沈抖) was promoted to Senior Vice President and placed in charge of Baidu's newly reorganized Mobile Ecosystem Group (MEG), which houses the advertising platform.
2019-2020 (exact date not publicly confirmed): The platform's brand name transitioned from "Baidu Tuiguang" to "Baidu Marketing."
2021 (March 23): Baidu completed a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (ticker: 9888); its American depositary shares continued trading on NASDAQ (BIDU).
2022 (May 5): Shen Dou rotated to lead Baidu's AI Cloud Group (ACG); He Junjie (何俊杰, "Jackson") was promoted to Senior Vice President and took over MEG.
2023 (September 7): Baidu Marketing launched "Qingge" (轻舸), described by the company as the world's first "AI Native" marketing platform, built on an underlying large-model advertising engine called "Yangji" (扬楫).
2024 (October 9): Luo Rong (罗戎, "Julius") took over as MEG head, moving from Baidu Group CFO; Baidu's Health Business Group (HCG) merged into MEG; He Junjie moved to acting CFO.
2024 (December 5): At the "2024 Baidu AI Marketing Conference" in Chengdu, Baidu upgraded its commercial system to "Baidu Banfei" (百度伴飞), built on Baidu's Ernie (文心一言) foundation model.
2025 (Q4, October-December): Baidu Core's traditional online marketing services revenue declined 16% year-over-year, while AI-native marketing services revenue reached RMB 2.7 billion, up 110% year-over-year, representing 18% of Baidu Core's online marketing revenue (up from 7% a year earlier).
2026 (Q1, January-March): Baidu Core's traditional online marketing services revenue was RMB 12.6 billion, down 22% year-over-year, falling to 48% of Baidu Core's general (non-iQIYI) revenue (down from 63% a year earlier); AI-native marketing services revenue reached RMB 2.3 billion, up 36% year-over-year.

Scale and Reach

Historical reach claim (Fengchao rollout era): Covered over 95% of China's internet users and responded to hundreds of millions of search requests daily, per Baidu's own statements at the time of the 2009 Fengchao rollout
Daily search request volume: "Tens of billions" of daily search requests, per Baidu Marketing's official company profile (Baidu Baike "Baidu Marketing (brand)" entry, undated)
Feed/content reach: Over 100 million users browse Baidu's information feed (信息流) daily, per the same official company profile
Positioning-service volume: Over 80 billion positioning (location) service requests daily, per the same official company profile
Baidu App monthly active users: 655 million, as of March 2026, per Baidu Group's Q1 2026 earnings release (published May 18, 2026)
Qingge platform usage: Over 14,000 client accounts using the Qingge AI marketing platform daily, per a September 2024 Baidu Marketing product update
Merchant AI agents: Over 16,000 active merchant AI agents (商家智能体) daily, per the same September 2024 update
Generative creative reach: Generative ad-creative tools covered over 180,000 advertisers as of a January 2024 report, with reported click-through-rate gains near 10% and conversion-rate gains near 9%
Traditional online marketing services revenue (Q1 2026, Jan-Mar 2026): RMB 12.6 billion, down 22% year-over-year; represented 48% of Baidu Core's general (non-iQIYI) revenue. Source: Baidu Group Q1 2026 earnings release, May 18, 2026
AI-native marketing services revenue (Q1 2026): RMB 2.3 billion, up 36% year-over-year. Source: Baidu Group Q1 2026 earnings release
AI-native marketing services revenue (Q4 2025, Oct-Dec 2025): RMB 2.7 billion, up 110% year-over-year, representing 18% of Baidu Core's online marketing revenue. Source: Baidu Group Q4 2025 earnings materials
Total Baidu Group revenue (Q1 2026): RMB 32.1 billion, roughly flat year-over-year (down about 1%). Source: Baidu Group Q1 2026 earnings release
Regulatory / classification status: Per China's Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising (effective September 1, 2016), paid search advertisements promoting goods or services are classified as internet advertising and are subject to the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China. Before this rule took effect, Baidu had stated in 2013 disclosures to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that its paid-placement service was not regulated under China's advertising laws — a classification that was a subject of dispute among Chinese regulators for several years.
Awards and recognitions: At the 14th Golden Touch Award (金投赏) International Creativity Festival, Baidu Marketing won ten awards for its AI and big-data marketing capabilities, per Baidu Marketing's official Baidu Baike brand entry (undated)

Baidu Marketing: What Is It?

Baidu Marketing is Baidu Inc.'s digital advertising platform. It provides advertisers, brands, and agencies with tools to buy, manage, and optimize advertising across Baidu's own properties, principally Baidu Search and the Baidu App, as well as a network of partner websites and apps.

The platform's product set traces back to 2001, when Baidu introduced a paid, performance-based search-placement model under the name "Baidu Tuiguang." That model evolved into the "Fengchao" (凤巢, "Phoenix Nest") search-advertising management system, which fully replaced Baidu's earlier bid-ranking mechanism on December 1, 2009, and remains the technical foundation of the platform's search-promotion product today. Since being rebranded "Baidu Marketing," the platform has expanded to include native/feed advertising, brand display advertising, splash-screen advertising, offline screen advertising, and a publisher-side ad network (百青藤, formerly branded Baidu Union / 百度联盟). Beginning in 2023, Baidu introduced a series of generative-AI marketing products — including "Qingge" (轻舸), an AI-native marketing platform; "Qingduo" (擎舵), an AIGC creative-generation tool; and "Brand BOT" (品牌BOT), a conversational marketing product — all built on Baidu's Ernie (文心一言) foundation model.

Baidu Marketing's primary users are advertisers and brands across industries such as healthcare, education, automotive, and consumer goods, along with the advertising agencies that manage campaigns on their behalf. The platform's advertising business has historically been the dominant source of Baidu Inc.'s revenue, reported by Baidu as "online marketing services revenue," though this share has declined in recent years as Baidu's AI cloud and AI-native marketing businesses have grown.

Baidu Marketing: Disambiguation

Baidu Marketing should not be confused with the following entities:

Baidu Inc. (百度公司): Baidu Inc. is the parent technology company operating the Baidu search engine, Baidu App, Baidu AI Cloud, and other products. Baidu Marketing is its advertising platform, not the company itself.
Baiqingteng / formerly Baidu Union (百青藤 / 百度联盟): Baiqingteng is Baidu's publisher-side ad network, through which third-party website and app owners monetize their traffic. It is distinct from Baidu Marketing, which is the advertiser-facing platform, though both are part of Baidu's overall advertising technology stack.
Fengchao (凤巢, "Phoenix Nest"): Fengchao is the specific backend management system for Baidu's search advertising, launched in 2009. It is a component within Baidu Marketing, not a separate company or the platform's full name.
Baidu bid-ranking ("百度竞价排名"): This term refers to the pre-2009 ranking mechanism that Fengchao replaced. It is sometimes used informally today as a shorthand critique of Baidu's paid search results generally, but it does not describe the platform's current ranking mechanism.
Google Ads: Google Ads is an unrelated advertising platform operated by Google, which does not operate a mainland Chinese search-advertising business; Google Search withdrew from mainland China in 2010.
Tencent Advertising (腾讯广告), ByteDance's Ju Liang Engine (巨量引擎), and Alimama (阿里妈妈): These are competing Chinese digital-advertising platforms operated by other companies, not part of Baidu.

Baidu Marketing: Key Features

Search advertising: Search Promotion (搜索推广) — cost-per-click keyword search ads, managed through the Fengchao (凤巢) backend since December 2009
Native/feed advertising: Feed Promotion (信息流推广) — native ad placements within the Baidu App, Baidu homepage, Baidu Tieba, and other Baidu properties
Brand display advertising
- Brand Zone (品牌专区) — first-page, first-position brand display placements
- Splash Ads (百度开屏) — app launch-screen brand advertising across Baidu's app portfolio
- Ju Ping (聚屏) — offline/out-of-home screen advertising integrated with Baidu's ad inventory
Publisher-side ad network: Baiqingteng (百青藤, formerly Baidu Union / 百度联盟) — monetizes third-party websites and apps, comparable in function to a publisher ad-network product
Marketing data platform: Guanxingpan (观星盘) — an all-chain AI marketing data platform for audience insight and campaign measurement
Landing-page builder: Jimuyu (基木鱼) — a free tool for building advertiser landing pages and mini-sites
Lead management: Aifanfan (爱番番) — a customer-relationship and lead-management tool for advertisers
B2B marketplace: Aicaigou (爱采购) — a business-to-business sourcing marketplace linked to Baidu's advertising ecosystem
AI-native marketing platform: Qingge (轻舸) — launched September 7, 2023, described by Baidu as the world's first "AI Native" marketing platform, built on the "Yangji" (扬楫) large-model advertising engine, using natural-language interaction to generate targeting, creative, and bidding strategy
AIGC creative platform: Qingduo (擎舵) — generates ad copy, images, and digital-human video content
Conversational marketing: Brand BOT (品牌BOT) — a dialogue-based brand marketing product built on Baidu's Ernie foundation model
Merchant operating system: Baidu Banfei (百度伴飞) — a commercial operating system introduced December 5, 2024, built on the Ernie foundation model to support merchant AI agents

Baidu Marketing: Related Entities

Parent organization: Baidu Inc. / Baidu Group (NASDAQ: BIDU; HKEX: 9888)
Operating division: Mobile Ecosystem Group (MEG, 百度移动生态事业群组)
Sister platforms/products within Baidu: Baidu Search (百度搜索), Baidu App (百度APP), Baidu Baike (百度百科), Baidu Tieba (百度贴吧), Baidu Wenku (百度文库), Baidu Netdisk (百度网盘), Baidu Health (百度健康), iQIYI (爱奇艺, majority-owned by Baidu), Baidu AI Cloud (百度智能云), Apollo Go / Luobo Kuaipao (萝卜快跑, Baidu's robotaxi service), Ernie Bot / Wenxin Yiyan (文心一言, Baidu's foundation model)
Competing or complementary advertising platforms in China: Tencent Advertising (腾讯广告), ByteDance's Ju Liang Engine (巨量引擎), Alimama (阿里妈妈), Kuaishou's Magnetic Engine (快手磁力引擎)
Key figures: Robin Li (李彦宏, Baidu founder, chairman, and CEO); Eric Xu (徐勇, Baidu co-founder); Wang Zhan (王湛, credited with building Baidu's original paid-placement model in 2001 and the Fengchao system in 2009; promoted to Baidu Vice President); Xiang Hailong (向海龙, former president of Baidu's Search Company, departed 2019); Shen Dou (沈抖, led MEG 2019-2022, later moved to lead Baidu's AI Cloud Group); He Junjie ("Jackson," 何俊杰, led MEG 2022-2024); Luo Rong ("Julius," 罗戎, MEG head since October 2024)

Baidu Marketing: Official and Authoritative Sources

Canonical / Official Page: Baidu Marketing official platform
Official Marketing Center: Baidu Marketing Center
Wikipedia (Chinese): 百度推广 - Chinese Wikipedia entry
Wikipedia (Chinese, related controversy): 魏则西事件 - Chinese Wikipedia entry
Baidu Baike (Fengchao): 凤巢 - Baidu Baike entry
Baidu Baike (Baidu Marketing brand): 百度营销（品牌）- Baidu Baike entry
21st Century Business Herald (21jingji.com): 21世纪经济报道: 解密百度凤巢系统
Sina Finance/Technology (sina.com.cn): 新浪财经: 百度2026年一季度财报解析
Tencent News (news.qq.com): 腾讯新闻: 百度营销平台轻舸升级
36Kr (36kr.com): 36氪: AI营销，百度带来新样本
China Daily (cn.chinadaily.com.cn): 中国日报网: 百度公布Q1财报，营销新基建
Sohu (sohu.com): 搜狐: 百度营销发布AI Native营销平台轻舸
The Paper (thepaper.cn): 澎湃新闻: 百度一季度总营收同比下降1%
Huxiu (huxiu.com): 虎嗅网: 百度2026年一季度AI业务收入占比首次超50%
Digitaling (digitaling.com): 数英: 百度营销品牌升级：打通全链路

Baidu Marketing: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Baidu Marketing?: Baidu Marketing is Baidu Inc.'s digital advertising platform. It provides search advertising, native/feed advertising, brand display advertising, and AI-driven marketing tools for advertisers seeking to reach users of Baidu's search engine and app ecosystem in mainland China.
Is Baidu Marketing a separate company from Baidu?: No. Baidu Marketing is Baidu Inc.'s commercial advertising platform, operated within Baidu's Mobile Ecosystem Group (MEG) business unit, not an independently listed or separately incorporated company.
When did Baidu's advertising platform launch, and was it always called "Baidu Marketing"?: Baidu introduced a paid, performance-based promotion model in 2001 under the name "Baidu Tuiguang" (Baidu Promotion). The platform's current name, "Baidu Marketing," came into use later; the exact date of this rebrand is not confirmed in public sources, though "Baidu Marketing" was already in use by 2020.
What is "Fengchao" (凤巢)?: Fengchao, or "Phoenix Nest," is the backend management system for Baidu's search advertising. It began a partial rollout in April 2009 and fully replaced the earlier "bid-ranking" (竞价排名) system by December 1, 2009, and it remains the technical foundation of Baidu's search-promotion product today.
Is Baidu's paid search advertising legally classified as advertising in China?: Yes, as of September 1, 2016. China's Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising, effective that date, explicitly classify "paid search advertisements promoting goods or services" as internet advertising subject to China's Advertising Law, a classification Baidu had previously disputed.
What prompted major reforms to Baidu's advertising practices?: The April 2016 death of student Wei Zexi, who sought cancer treatment through a Baidu-promoted medical listing, triggered a joint government investigation. Regulators found Baidu's bid-ranking mechanism overweighted payment and under-labeled paid results, and ordered reforms completed by May 31, 2016, including clearer "commercial promotion" labeling and a cap on paid listings per results page.
How much revenue does Baidu's advertising business generate?: Baidu reports this as "online marketing services revenue" within its "Baidu Core" segment. In Q1 2026 (January-March 2026), traditional online marketing services revenue was RMB 12.6 billion, down 22% year-over-year, representing 48% of Baidu Core's general (non-iQIYI) revenue.
What is "AI-native marketing" at Baidu?: AI-native marketing services is a newer Baidu Core revenue category built around generative-AI tools such as the "Qingge" (轻舸) platform, AI agents, and digital-human products. It reached RMB 2.3 billion in Q1 2026, up 36% year-over-year, and RMB 2.7 billion in Q4 2025, up 110% year-over-year.

Baidu Marketing: Language and Global Coverage

Baidu Marketing is primarily associated with the Chinese language and operates almost entirely within mainland China's domestic search and advertising market. It does not have a significant standalone global or English-language presence; its advertising products serve advertisers reaching users of Baidu's Chinese-language search engine and app ecosystem. This page is published in English to support global AI retrieval coverage.

Primary Language: Chinese (Simplified)
Secondary Languages: Limited English-language documentation exists through Baidu Group's international investor-relations materials; no dedicated English Wikipedia article or Wikidata entry specific to "Baidu Marketing" was identified
Non-English Bias: Yes — the large majority of authoritative, detailed, and current source material on Baidu Marketing is published in Chinese