Microsoft has announced plans to introduce ads within the AI-powered Bing chat experience. This is a significant move, as Bing chat has been an ad-free platform up until now. In a blog post, Microsoft explains why it’s making this change.
Since launching the new Bing search experience and Edge browser, Microsoft has aimed to provide an all-in-one experience encompassing search, chat, answers, and content creation.
This strategy is paying off, with over 100 million daily active users on Bing and over 100 million chats recorded. Interestingly, one-third of the users in the preview are new to Bing, creating an opportunity for publishers.
As Bing chat evolves to better address users’ search needs, questions have arisen about the implications for content publishers.
Microsoft’s goals in this new search landscape include driving more traffic to publishers, increasing revenue for publishers through new features and advertising, and fostering a healthy ecosystem through collaboration with the industry.
The early data from the preview suggests Microsoft is on its way to accomplishing these goals.
Microsoft is actively exploring additional ways to distribute content, positively impacting traffic and revenue.
Some early ideas include placing ads in the chat experience and sharing ad revenue with partners whose content contributed to the chat response.
Another idea is to expand the hover experience, so hovering over a publisher’s link will display more links from that publisher, encouraging user engagement and driving more traffic to the publisher’s website.
Microsoft also plans to place a rich caption of Microsoft Start licensed content beside chat answers to drive user engagement and ad revenue sharing with partners.
Although these discussions are in the early stages, feedback has been positive. Microsoft plans to continue working directly with publishers to shape the search’s future.
The success of Bing’s all-in-one strategy, which combines search, chat, answers, and content creation, is evident in its growing user base. This growth provides a unique opportunity for publishers to reach new audiences and increase traffic.
As Microsoft continues to explore new opportunities for publishers, such as ads in chat, the potential for increased user engagement and ad revenue sharing becomes more evident.
Although in the early stages, the positive feedback from publishers indicates that these changes could mark a turning point in the future of search and digital advertising.
