Microsoft's Sainsbury-Carter argues that ad experiences may vary as the company continues testing and applying feedback. She claims that users click on ads in Copilot at nearly twice the rate they do for equivalent ads in traditional search results and that they prefer a Copilot experience with ads than without. The company is also using multimedia ads, which have received three times more clicks in Copilot than elsewhere in Bing. However, the company declined to share specific figures.
Key takeaways:
- Microsoft's Copilot has been criticized for not adequately disclosing sponsored links, with some users claiming that the 'Ad' label is only visible if a user hovers over the link for a moment before clicking.
- Senior Vice President for insights and technology at Mediasmith, Marcus Pratt, has expressed concern over the blending of organic recommendations and sponsored listings, stating that it blurs the lines more than he has seen in the past.
- Despite criticism, Microsoft's Sainsbury-Carter claims that users click on ads in Copilot at nearly twice the rate they do for equivalent ads when they’re shown as the first ad above traditional search results. She also states that users prefer a Copilot experience with ads than without by a slim margin.
- Microsoft and Google are currently pulling from customers’ existing ad campaigns for other environments to fill the ad slots in Copilot and Overviews until more data is gathered on their effectiveness.