Baidu Announces Upgraded Mobile Ecosystem Strategy Focused on Services and Humanization at 2021 Wanxiang Conference

• Baidu's mobile ecosystem to focus on two pillars of "servitization" and "humanization" under new strategic layout
• Baidu App has grown to 558 million monthly active users (MAUs), with 4,200,000 Baijiahao accounts
• Baidu App releases a new slogan, "Baidu for a Better Life"

BEIJING, April 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU and HKEX: 9888) today held the 2021 Wanxiang Conference in Aranya, China, an annual event for the company's Mobile Ecosystem Group (MEG). During the event, Baidu MEG unveiled its new X+Y strategy to advance intelligent search through "servitization" and "humanization", and Baidu App announced a new brand slogan, "Baidu for a Better Life", as Baidu strives to support content creators and developers, deliver a superior end-to-end experience to users, and diversify its income stream.  

Speaking at the event, Baidu Executive Vice President Dou Shen explained the context and purpose of the X+Y strategy: "As Internet infrastructure continues to be perfected, information flow in society is constantly improving, leading to demands for faster, closed-loop services from users. Based on this trend, Baidu is implementing a strategy of 'humanization' and 'servitization' which will allow users more immediate access to the information and services they need. Especially for key industries like healthcare, live streaming, short video, and education, Baidu will construct its own closed-loop mobile experiences."

According to data released by Baidu at the conference, Baidu App now has 558 million MAUs, among which daily logged in users accounted for over 75% in March 2021. The app also features 4.2 million Baijiahao accounts, with Smart Mini Programs encompassing 271 industries that have 416 million MAUs. Baidu Smart Mini Programs is the only open-source platform of its kind in the industry. Baidu's health platform is home to 300,000 doctors and medical experts, with peak-day healthcare related search queries reaching 190 million in 2020, with a daily high of 850,000 online consultations.

Under the new strategic layout, X, referring to the horizontal axis, is comprised of Baidu App, Baidu short video platform Haokan, iQIYI, Baidu Post, and other user portals. The main goal of these products is to serve as platforms for users to meet their diverse needs in different scenarios, while expanding the scale of users. Y, the vertical axis, is mainly aimed at expanding the range of content and services offered to users with information-focused channels like Baidu Wiki and Baidu Knows, as well as major verticals like healthcare, live streaming, e-commerce, and education.

Based on the strategic business layout of X+Y, and the core technologies of intelligent search and intelligent recommendations, Baidu is aiming to achieve servitization and humanization of the entire mobile ecosystem to enhance the user experience. Humanization aims to amplify the talents of each creator by directly connecting them with relevant users in the ecosystem and fostering more authentic connections between people, which will also meet the needs of users more quickly. For example, Baidu provides opportunities for users to directly communicate with content creators, service providers, and merchants in search results and address more potential service needs along with relevant content, through following, messaging, and live video. Servitization aims to provide users with closed-loop services, so that users can get what they wish to see in a fast and convenient way, without leaving the original app. Baidu has been transforming from offering simple search to comprehensive one-stop services.

Search has always been the core advantage of Baidu's mobile ecosystem. With the support of AI technology, human-machine interaction in search contexts is becoming more intelligent and the application scenarios of voice search and image search are increasing. With the new X+Y strategic layout and focus on servitization and humanization, Baidu will deliver a better end-to-end experience for users and also strengthen the commercial value of search.

About Baidu

Founded in 2000, Baidu's mission is to make the complicated world simpler through technology. Baidu is a leading AI company with a strong Internet foundation. Baidu is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "BIDU", and on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code "9888". Currently, one ADS represents eight Class A ordinary shares.

SOURCE Baidu, Inc.