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BIDU · Forward model · AI-native Marketing Services · Ads bottom case

What has to happen in AI-native Marketing Services

Model as of

This page changes AI-native Marketing Services inside the complete BIDU model. Every other vertical, corporate programme and valuation assumption stays in the selected portfolio case.

BIDU forward model
Horizon
Consolidated fair value $139.06 all other verticals held in this portfolio case
Final-quarter revenue $668M 9% of company revenue
Explicit segment contribution $3.55B EBITDA less segment capex, before corporate items

A single-variable case, holding everything else at Base: the +4% sequential move in online marketing this quarter was the bottom, not a bounce. Legacy flattens instead of eroding and AI-native Marketing grows at the pace the AI formats imply. This is the cheapest way for Baidu's total revenue to start growing again - it needs no extra cloud growth and no extra capital at all.

AI-native Marketing Services

Basis quarter$383M
Final quarter$668M
Implied CAGR+12%
Final revenue mix9%

Advertising sold through AI formats rather than the classic search-results page - the part of the marketing business Baidu counts as reborn rather than declining. It was flat year over year and up 11% sequentially in Q2 2026. It is the bridge line: every dollar it gains is a dollar Legacy does not have to lose.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $413M Estimated
2025 Q4 $398M Estimated
2026 Q1 $339M Estimated
2026 Q2 $383M Estimated
AI-generated and agent-led ad formatsAI search result monetisationManaged AI campaign tooling for advertisers
Sequential growth +2.0%/qtr decaying toward +2.0% 2% a quarter, about 8% a year, against 0% year over year and +11% sequentially. Splitting the difference between the trend and the quarter.
AI-native Marketing Services

Latest: $668M (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2025Q1 $251M
2025Q2 $383M
2025Q3 $413M
2025Q4 $398M
2026Q1 $339M
2026Q2 $383M
2026Q3E $394M
2026Q4E $405M
2027Q1E $416M
2027Q2E $428M
2027Q3E $440M
2027Q4E $453M
2028Q1E $465M
2028Q2E $479M
2028Q3E $492M
2028Q4E $506M
2029Q1E $520M
2029Q2E $535M
2029Q3E $550M
2029Q4E $565M
2030Q1E $581M
2030Q2E $598M
2030Q3E $614M
2030Q4E $632M
2031Q1E $649M
2031Q2E $668M

Assumptions & reasoning

  • This line sits INSIDE Baidu's reported Online Marketing Services revenue. It is separated here because the Core AI-powered cut separates it; do not add it to a figure taken from the reported revenue split or you will count it twice.
  • Flat year over year but +11% quarter over quarter, and the reported Online Marketing Services total also rose 4% sequentially - the first sequential increase in the tracked window. Two quarters of that and the advertising bottom is real.
  • 2% a quarter, about 8% a year, is a deliberately unheroic number for a line that has not grown year over year. The Bull case is that AI ad formats price better than the blue links they replace; nothing in the disclosures proves that yet.
  • Margin is set near the old search business because that is economically what it is - inventory Baidu already owns, sold through a new interface.
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