Interpretation of the "15th Five-Year Plan" for the Development of the Advertising Industry

Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television jointly issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Advertising Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). The relevant content is interpreted as follows:

1. What is the overall development status of my country’s advertising industry?

In recent years, the scale of my country's advertising industry has rapidly expanded, its quality and efficiency have significantly improved, and the foundation for high-quality development has been further consolidated. First, the industrial scale has jumped. The advertising business revenue of public institutions and enterprises above designated size nationwide exceeded 2 trillion yuan, doubling during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. 30 national advertising industry parks and a number of provincial advertising industry parks have been built, and the trend of industrial agglomeration is obvious. Second, the innovation drive continues to strengthen. Digital transformation is advancing in depth, and Internet advertising revenue accounts for 89.1% of all media advertising revenue. The supply of creative advertising continues to be enriched, effectively playing the role of shaping brand image and spreading advanced culture. Third, integrated development has become more prominent. "Advertising helps enterprises" and "advertising helps farmers" have achieved remarkable results, and the employment creation effect is obvious. Public service advertisements have effectively promoted the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. Fourth, breakthroughs were made in spatial layout. A coordinated development mechanism around major regional strategies has been basically established, and cross-border advertising service capabilities have been improved, effectively helping Chinese brands to "go global." Fifth, the business environment continues to be optimized. The "Three Products and One Machinery" advertising review has been fully implemented online and "transprovincially accessible". The advertising monitoring system operates efficiently. Advertising governance in the field of people's livelihood has achieved remarkable results, and the foundation for the long-term and healthy development of the industry has become more solid.

2. What new situations is my country’s advertising industry facing in its development?

During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the development environment of the advertising industry has undergone profound and complex changes and is facing new opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, strategies such as manufacturing a strong nation, a quality strong nation, and a cultural strong nation are being implemented in depth, and the expansion of capacity and quality of the service industry has been accelerated, further strengthening the advertising industry's mission of serving the country's overall situation and empowering thousands of industries; the foundation of the real economy has been continuously consolidated, and the construction of a modern industrial system has been accelerated, laying a solid foundation for the deepening and integrated development of the advertising industry; digital and intelligent technology has been fully penetrated to drive the development model of the advertising industry Innovation and efficiency improvement have injected strong impetus into the transformation of the advertising industry; the strategy of expanding domestic demand has been advanced in depth, and demands for brand marketing and scene cultivation have continued to be released, expanding a broad space for advertising services; the construction of a national unified market and high-level opening up have been coordinated to create a good development environment for the advertising industry to utilize two domestic and international markets and two resources to upgrade its energy level and improve its level of innovation. On the other hand, the acceleration of technology iteration has brought about new governance problems such as data security, content generation, and algorithm ethics; the external environment has become increasingly complex, and the uncertainty of the advertising industry's "going global" has further increased; the effective demand in the domestic market is insufficient, and small and medium-sized advertising companies are facing greater pressure to survive and develop. At the same time, we must also see that core shortcomings in the industry still exist, and breakthroughs still need to be accelerated in improving innovation capabilities, enhancing originality, cultivating leading enterprises and independent brands, and coordinated regional development.

3. What are the development goals of the advertising industry during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period?

The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for basically realizing socialist modernization, laying a solid foundation and making full efforts. It is also a critical period for the advertising industry to comprehensively improve its development level and comprehensively enhance its ability to serve the national strategy. The "Plan" seizes the period of strategic opportunities for the development of the advertising industry and determines the following development goals. First, the scale and strength have reached a new level. The scale of the advertising industry has grown at an average annual rate of about 10%, and the development quality of business entities has continued to improve. Second, the level of innovation has reached a new level, investment in industrial R&D and creativity continues to increase, and the level of digital intelligence has significantly improved. The third is to empower the real economy to show new results, with advertising supporting industrial upgrading and boosting consumption more powerfully, promoting the advancement of "brand globalization". Fourth, the industrial ecology has formed a new atmosphere, with integrated development of large, medium and small enterprises, in-depth collaboration between the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and new breakthroughs in coordinated regional development. Fifth, social value has been newly expanded, the quality of advertising works has been significantly improved, a number of high-quality advertisements have emerged that demonstrate cultural confidence and tell Chinese stories, and the creation and communication mechanism of public service advertisements has become more complete. Sixth, governance efficiency has reached a new level, advertising laws and regulations have been further improved, supervision and law enforcement effectiveness has been significantly improved, and people's satisfaction has continued to increase.

4. What key tasks does the Plan propose?

The "Plan" systematically puts forward five key tasks around the development goals of the advertising industry during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. The first is innovation-driven, coordinating digital and intelligent transformation, subject cultivation, creativity improvement, and talent training, promoting all-round innovation in advertising technology, content, models, and business formats, and improving the core competitiveness of the industry. The second is integration and empowerment, combining useful experience during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period to deepen the integration of advertising with manufacturing, comprehensive rural revitalization, other service industries, consumption promotion and other fields, and enhance the advertising industry's ability to serve the real economy. The third is collaborative opening. In response to the problem of unbalanced development of the advertising industry, it is proposed to deepen major strategic regional linkages; support each region to take measures to local conditions, follow a path of characteristic and professional development, and support the development of industrial agglomeration. In response to the international development trend, we support advertising and brands to collaborate overseas and deepen international exchanges and cooperation. The fourth is to build value into the soul, strengthen the supply of high-quality public service advertisements, improve the investment mechanism for the creation and communication of public service advertisements, gather the diversified synergy of public service advertisements, carry out the "Public Service Advertisement Quality Improvement Action", and promote the development of high-quality public service advertisements. The fifth is efficient governance, insisting on equal emphasis on regulatory regulation and promotion of development, improving the advertising supervision system, improving the multi-disciplinary co-governance supervision mechanism, strengthening the connection between executions, carrying out joint punishment, and actively promoting the construction of the advertising standard system.

5. How does the Plan further promote innovation and upgrading of the advertising industry?

Facing the wave of digital intelligence, the "Plan" takes innovation as the first task, coordinates innovative development and standardized governance, and promotes the digital transformation and upgrading of the advertising industry throughout the chain.

On the one hand, support the construction of underlying technology and data resources, encourage the research and development of intelligent agents and lightweight large-model tools for the advertising industry, and enrich the supply of digital advertising products; on the other hand, strengthen the application of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, strengthen smart supervision, standardize the development of artificial intelligence-generated advertising, and achieve the integration of technological innovation and industry governance. In addition, the "Plan" deploys and promotes key tasks such as cultivating advertising business entities, improving advertising creativity, and cultivating advertising talents. For example, it supports qualified advertising companies to apply for specialized and new small and medium-sized enterprises; encourages the use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to promote the innovative transformation of cultural elements and expands the supply of high-quality advertising; supports qualified general universities and vocational schools to strengthen the construction of advertising-related majors, develop interdisciplinary majors related to digital intelligence in advertising, and cultivate compound talents who understand both technology and creativity.

6. What arrangements does the "Plan" make for the development of public service advertisements?

Public service advertisements are an important form of communication that is different from commercial advertisements, and are also an important carrier for promoting advanced ideology and culture. The Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that the state encourages and supports public service advertising activities to spread socialist core values ​​and advocate civilized trends. In order to implement relevant regulations, the "Plan" deploys and implements the "Operation to Improve the Quality of Public Service Advertisements". In terms of system construction, the "Plan" focuses on overall planning and coordination, establishes a multi-department consultation and judgment mechanism, strengthens cross-field and cross-department linkage, and firmly grasps the correct publicity orientation of public service advertisements through regular study and judgment of industry trends and releases of major creative themes, laying a solid foundation for standardized development. In terms of content creation, we organize high-quality creations around themes such as Chinese-style modernization, socialist core values, and citizen moral construction, and promote public service advertisements that take into account domestic value guidance and international communication empowerment to help tell Chinese stories well. In terms of communication channels, based on the omni-media communication pattern, we will open up print media, radio and television, and new media communication channels, build a global communication matrix, and continuously expand the coverage of public service advertisements. At the same time, the "Plan" promotes the joint efforts of government, enterprises, schools and media to carry out innovative research, improves the library of public service advertising works, actively advocates the public, various enterprises and industry organizations to participate in public service advertising activities, and enhances the value guidance, cultural communication and social influence of public service advertising.

7. How can the advertising industry better serve the development of the real economy during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period?

Advertising is a producer service industry, and the vitality of the advertising industry lies in its service and promotion of other industries. The "Plan" deploys and implements the "Advertising +" action, which is guided by in-depth integration and targeted empowerment of "one industry, one policy" to comprehensively improve the efficiency of advertising services in the real economy. In terms of serving the upgrading of the manufacturing industry, we use high-quality advertising to help the manufacturing industry increase variety, improve quality, create brands, and accelerate the market-oriented development of emerging industries and future industries. In terms of serving the overall revitalization of rural areas, we will continue to deepen actions such as "advertising to help farmers", "branding to strengthen agriculture" and "digital business to promote agriculture" to help build a livable, industrial and beautiful countryside. In terms of promoting the expansion of capacity and quality improvement of the service industry, we provide full-link services for the producer service industry, innovate the advertising service model for the daily service industry, and help create a number of "Chinese service" brands with international influence. In terms of promoting the release of consumption vitality, we should give full play to the important role of advertising in brand design, reputation promotion, image maintenance, etc., enhance the consumption vitality of domestic trendy brands and "first releases, first stores, first shows, first exhibitions", support the sinking of high-quality advertising resources, and expand county and rural consumer markets.

8. How to organize and implement the Plan?

The "Plan" upholds and strengthens the Party's overall leadership over the development of the advertising industry, and extends the Party's leadership to all areas and the entire process of plan implementation. The State Administration for Market Regulation and other departments will strengthen coordination and promote the organization and implementation of the "Plan" through various methods. The first is to strengthen overall planning and coordination, and relevant departments to strengthen cross-departmental linkage, promote the integration of the advertising industry into the overall layout of local economic and social development, and make good use of policies in the fields of finance, land, talent, investment, data, security, etc., to support the development of the advertising industry. The second is to encourage pioneering trials, support qualified localities to carry out pilot exploration of major initiatives and innovative policies determined in the plan, and summarize and promote replicable experience. The third is to strengthen monitoring and evaluation, improve the statistical monitoring system, strengthen dynamic monitoring, mid-term evaluation and summary evaluation of the implementation of the plan, optimize policy measures in a timely manner, and ensure the implementation of the plan goals and tasks.