Microsoft wants to drive more traffic, revenue to publishers

“The value proposition that we see for publishers specifically as we go forward is driving more traffic and clicks—not less—and ensuring that publishers and partners earn more money.”

That’s according to new Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Ads Kya Sainsbury-Carter, in an interview published in The Wall Street Journal.

Why we care. The rise of AI chat features in search has publishers, content creators, brands and SEOs concerned about a not-too-far-away future with less traffic and revenue from organic search. Bing has discussed its vision for a prosperous content ecosystem in a generative AI world (unlike Google) – but it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will essentially pick winners (for example, those publisher in its Start program.

‘The future of search is an integrated experience.’ The future is search + answers + chat + creating, according to Sainsbury-Carter. She also once again mentioned the ad revenue sharing model from Bing Chat “in different ways as we learn what behaviors look like.”

But. Bing’s gains have been small so far. Even when Microsoft attracted more users to Edge, it lost potential Bing users to Google Search. So while it’s great that Microsoft is talking about sharing ad revenue, Bing still needs to grow its market share significantly.

Seeking ‘relevant engagement.’ Microsoft has had ads in Chat since the new Bing launched. As it also tests photo and video ads, Microsoft is continuing to find a balance between ad load and the user experience, Kya Sainsbury-Carter said:

• “We have metrics that are looked at up to the highest levels about how consumers engage with ads, such as how quickly they click away from them, demonstrating that it wasn’t relevant or they didn’t mean to click on it.”

Read the full WSJ interview. Microsoft Looks to ChatGPT AI to Transform Its Digital Ad Business.