China Broadcasting Association’s GEO three group standards released; Frost & Sullivan leads the drafting of the content source standard.

Recently, three group standards proposed and overseen by the China Advertising Association—"Requirements for Optimized Services for Generative Engine", "Requirements for Monitoring and Verifying the Optimization Effects of the Generative Engine", and "Requirements for Classification, Grading, and Selection of Content Source Subjects for Optimized Services"—have been officially released and will come into effect starting from October 23, 2026.

Currently, generative artificial intelligence is deeply integrated with brand communication, corporate marketing, and consumer decision-making. The optimized use of the generative engine, as an emerging service format, continues to expand its application scenarios. Meanwhile, the overall development in this field remains immature, and market behaviors need to be regulated. In order to guide market entities to fulfill compliance obligations, strictly adhere to laws and regulations such as the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the Advertising Law, and the Law on the Protection of Consumers' Rights and Interests, effectively safeguard consumers' rights and interests, purify the industry environment, and respond to the industry’s demand for high-quality, standardized development, under the guidance and support of relevant government departments including market supervision, standardization authorities, and the Public Sector, as well as industry organizations, the China Advertising Association has brought together the wisdom from universities, research institutions, mainstream media, large model platforms, brand companies, technical service institutions, and professional legal service institutions to compile these three group standards on optimized services for the generative engine in the AI marketing domain.

These three standards provide a powerful tool and normative guidance for addressing irregularities and strengthening industry self-regulation. Among them, "Requirements for Optimized Services for Generative Engine" focuses on standardizing the entire service process, clarifying subject qualifications, implementation norms, behavioral boundaries, and compliance requirements, providing self-regulatory guidelines for service business activities; "Requirements for Monitoring and Verifying the Optimization Effects of the Generative Engine" focuses on the closed-loop measurement of effects, unifying monitoring dimensions, sampling rules, and verification methods, addressing the common issues in the industry such as inconsistent evaluation criteria and difficulty in verifying effects;"Requirements for Classification, Grading, and Selection of Content Source Subjects for Optimized Services for Generative Engine" focuses on managing the content source, establishing a classification and grading model for content source subjects and selection rules, and building a foundation for credibility standards from the information entry point. This standard was drafted led by Frost & Sullivan (hereafter "Sullivan"), as the drafting unit.The three standards cover the entire chain of service provision, effect verification, and content standards, forming an organic self-regulatory norm system that supports each other.

Zhang Guohua, President of the China Advertising Association,states that the wave of generative artificial intelligence technology is reconstructing the underlying logic of information dissemination and also bringing new development themes and governance challenges for brand marketing. While the industry embraces the technological benefits, it must maintain the fundamental principle of authenticity and compliance, protect consumers' rights and interests and the industry’s credibility. Promoting standardization in the field of optimized services for the generative engine is an inevitable choice for the industry to actively adapt to technological change and improve its self-regulatory norm system—it is also an important measure for the association to perform its self-regulatory duties and serve the high-quality development of the industry. The release of these standards will provide the industry with a clear development coordinate system and help brand marketing move forward healthily in the AI era.

Huo Yan, Secretary-General of the China Advertising Association,states that the formulation of the three standards emphasizes both problem-based approaches and systemic thinking, providing systematic self-regulatory references for service operation, effect assessment, and content standards in the field of optimized services for the generative engine, further enriching and improving the standard system construction in the AI marketing domain that the association is systematically promoting. At the same time, the release of the standards is not the end but the starting point for the industry’s standardized self-regulatory norms. The association will, centered on the three standards, continue to work in collaboration with relevant government departments, market entities, and industry organizations to promote the implementation and iteration of the standards, and effectively transform institutional norms into the industry’s own internal driving force for development.

Sullivan’s Greater China Director and President, and the main drafter of "Requirements for Classification, Grading, and Selection of Content Source Subjects for Optimized Services for Generative Engine", Wang Chenhui,states that the content source is the "first gate" for information distribution in the era of generative AI—any disorder at the source means that all optimizations become impossible. Sullivan is honored to have led the drafting of the requirements for classification, grading, and selection of content source subjects, transforming global consulting and research experience and methodologies into an industry public infrastructure. The second half of the GEO competition is, essentially, a competition for the credibility of the content source. As a responsible content source, Sullivan will take the lead in aligning and practicing the standards, embedding them into its own research and consulting processes; leading the dissemination and implementation, helping brands and ecosystem partners understand and utilize the rules; and continuously providing feedback on practice, working together with the association to turn "paper standards" into "industry practices," enabling credible content to become the new foundation for brand growth in the AI era.

Next, the China Advertising Association will comprehensively promote the implementation of the standards and conduct industry compliance assessments based on them, advance the construction of industry public sector services such as the AI marketing review platform, and continuously track industry practice feedback and technological iteration trends, timely revising and improving the standard content to meet the needs of the industry’s high-quality development.

On October 23 (Friday), from 14:00–17:45, during the 33rd China International Advertising Festival, the "2026 New Consumption Brand Transformation and Growth Exchange Meeting," co-organized by the China Advertising Association and Frost & Sullivan, and hosted by the New Consumption Professional Committee of the China Advertising Association, the Internet Advertising Work Committee of the China Advertising Association, LeadLeo Research Institute, and IAB China, will be held at the Haidian Zhongguancun International Innovation Center in Beijing.

This theme exchange meeting will focus on "Leading the New Consumption Wave · The New Era of Brand Export," covering five core topics: global consumption trend insights, AI empowering brand marketing, innovation in new consumer categories, practical brand export experiences, and GEO and new-era brand communication. Research reports series such as Sullivan’s "Global Product Innovation Index" and "China Leading Index" will be presented on site, with two themed roundtables and an interpretation session on the "2026 China GEO Marketing Practice and Compliance Development Report," the release of the GEO map and typical credible GEO cases, and the ceremony for issuing certificates to the participating units of the three group standards. Industry senior leaders, platform heads, leading brand representatives, investment institutions, and senior experts are expected to share on-site, discussing the growth logic and global export pathways for new consumption brands. Industry partners are welcome to register for participation!