Advertisers are watching Bing’s AI Chatbot change the face of search advertising

It has been reported that Microsoft had a conversation with an ad agency and revealed its intention to start displaying paid links within its search results on the new generative AI-powered Bing.

Sharing a demo of the new Bing, Microsoft has reportedly said that it plans to generate revenue from it by including search ads – where brands pay to display either their websites or products in the search result lists for keywords that are relevant to their businesses. Microsoft hopes to integrate these search ads in the responses that the Bing chatbot generates.

This is based on the hope that the almost human-like responses from the chatbot will attract more search users and so, more advertisers and consequently more ad revenues. Also, the positioning of the search ads, will be on a more prominent part of the page, it is said, making it more attractive to advertisers.

Saying that generative AI has captivated the attention of the whole world is not an exaggeration.

Jumping on the bandwagon, Alphabet’s Google and Microsoft announced generative chatbots a day apart from each other.

Both bots have been released only to a small group of users.

Both of them can aggregate material from the web for the most complex of queries.

Both of them work at lightning speeds.

Both of them have a waiting list of millions, biding their time to get on board.

And so far, both of them are slightly unpredictable! (We will wait to see how that pans out)

But the big news for advertisers is that Microsoft is already testing search ads in its juiced up Bing – including the traditional kind, according to Reuters.

In a nutshell – a ginormous amount!

Why do we think so?

Generative AI is shaping the way people find information, across the globe. And given how important search revenue is, it is no surprise that Alphabet and Microsoft are considering monetizing this. The Chatbot’s conversational style is novel and appealing, and will bring in hoards of new users and that is where Brands and Advertisers will want to be!

The Chatbot has the potential to expand and widen the current target audience for advertisers using Bing. The novelty is huge and the impact of a generative AI Chatbot, exponential.

There is talk of more prominent placement of Ads on the page as well (compared to traditional placements) – which is very attractive to advertisers. More visibility and more traction!

There is talk that Microsoft is planning a different format where industry-specific ads will be served – depending on the keywords used to search. For example, a search for the best burritos in town, will fetch ads that are related to restaurants. More focus – more ad revenues.

Bing is historically not the search engine of choice for users – Google is the unbeaten king of this arena. But a significant amount of people use Bing. Brands can use this opportunity to expand their target audiences and plug into hitherto untapped territory.

And for Microsoft, this can be the chance to alter its destiny from being “who Bing?” to a search engine worth reckoning. This could mean more competition for Google and an increased market share for Microsoft, which is just what the company needs.

On a lighter note, Bings growth might unintentionally help Google bail itself from the charges of monopolizing the search business.