Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot is now showing embedded ad links in response to some user queries.
Microsoft confirmed that it is testing “placing ads in the chat experience,” though ads are not showing up for all users yet. The company says this will allow it to “share the ad revenue with partners whose content contributed to the chat response.”
Bing Chat now has Ads!
It's going to be fascinating to see how the unit economics of Ads in language models will unfold and affect search advertising.
1/3 pic.twitter.com/o5YjRjikOP
— Deedy (@deedydas) March 29, 2023
At present, the ads take the form of linked citations and “Learn More” sections below Bing’s responses. However, in the future, Microsoft might launch a more interactive experience where hovering over an advertiser’s link will display additional links from its website, according to Engadget. Additionally, for its Microsoft Start partners, the company is also looking to place “rich caption of Microsoft Start licensed content beside the chat answer helping to drive more user engagement.”
Monetizing the Bing chatbot was always on the cards, and with over 100 million daily active users, Microsoft has a significant opportunity to capitalize on the platform. As noted in the blog post sharing the details, one-third of these users are new to Bing, presenting a new target audience for advertisers. It will be interesting to see how users react to them and how Microsoft continues to develop its advertising strategy within the platform.
Image credit: Microsoft
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