{"id":8943,"date":"2023-04-06T16:49:30","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T16:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/microsofts-vision-for-a-prosperous-content-ecosystem-in-a-generative-ai-world\/"},"modified":"2023-04-06T16:49:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T16:49:30","slug":"microsofts-vision-for-a-prosperous-content-ecosystem-in-a-generative-ai-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/microsofts-vision-for-a-prosperous-content-ecosystem-in-a-generative-ai-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft\u2019s vision for a prosperous content ecosystem in a generative AI world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lost in the non-story about Bing adding ads to Chat (<a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/microsoft-explores-sharing-bing-chat-ad-revenue-with-publishers-395056\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ads were already there<\/a>) was a blog post by Microsoft attempting to assure content creators that the goal of <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/test-driving-the-new-bing-392841\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new Bing<\/a> is to \u201cdrive more traffic and revenue to publishers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Internet works because of an important ecosystem which starts with publishers creating great content which drives traffic and interest by people to consume that content, and then ultimately advertisers that want to reach people in a high quality and targeted environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2013 Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft corporate vice president, Modern Life, Search, and Devices, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bing.com\/search\/march_2023\/Driving-more-traffic-and-value-to-publishers-from-the-new-Bing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Driving more traffic and value to publishers from the new Bing<\/a>\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Mehdi was addressing concerns in the content creator community that search engines that provide results assembled by generative AI (a.k.a., \u201cChat\u201d and \u201cAnswers\u201d in Bing) will upend the ecosystem. The value exchange (content providers creating content in exchange for search engines sending monetizable traffic) will overwhelmingly favor the search engines.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mehdi admits the concern is widespread by authoring this post. Why else would Microsoft need to assure content creators that things will be better in an AI-driven search results world? <\/p>\n<p>Microsoft knows that content creators \u2013\u00a0 publishers, content marketers, brands, and SEOs \u2013 are fretting about the prospect of less traffic and revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/microsofts-vision-for-a-prosperous-content-ecosystem-in-a-generative-ai-world\/#Microsofts_goals_are_laudable\" >Microsoft\u2019s goals are laudable\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/microsofts-vision-for-a-prosperous-content-ecosystem-in-a-generative-ai-world\/#Trafficrevenue_for_all_more_for_Microsoft_Start_participants\" >Traffic\/revenue for all, more for Microsoft Start participants<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/microsofts-vision-for-a-prosperous-content-ecosystem-in-a-generative-ai-world\/#Start_participation_is_%E2%80%98limited\" >Start participation is \u2018limited\u2019\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/microsofts-vision-for-a-prosperous-content-ecosystem-in-a-generative-ai-world\/#Paying_publishers_The_Facebook_experience\" >Paying publishers: The Facebook experience<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/microsofts-vision-for-a-prosperous-content-ecosystem-in-a-generative-ai-world\/#Why_we_care\" >Why we care<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Microsofts_goals_are_laudable\"><\/span>Microsoft\u2019s goals are laudable\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Microsoft is expressing the best of intentions for all of its constituencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Searchers first. \u201cThe new Bing is helping to better address people\u2019s search needs with new capabilities like chat, answers, and content creation,\u201d Mehdi wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft\u2019s vision is to move \u201cbeyond search to create your copilot for the Web.\u201d \u201cPeople are finding value in having search, chat, answers, and creation capabilities all in one experience,\u201d Mehdi wrote.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s difficult to argue with putting users first, but that doesn\u2019t ensure that results generated in this way won\u2019t disadvantage content creators.<\/p>\n<p>For publishers, Mehdi said Microsoft\u2019s goals are to:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Drive more traffic to publishers. Measure success in part by how much traffic is being sent from the new Bing\/Edge.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Increase publisher revenue.\u00a0 Drive more traffic to publishers with new features like chat and answers, and pioneer the future of advertising in these new mediums by sharing revenue directly.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Trafficrevenue_for_all_more_for_Microsoft_Start_participants\"><\/span>Traffic\/revenue for all, more for Microsoft Start participants<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Microsoft claims the benefits of adding a chat interface to search will inure to all publishers. But members of its Start program will reap the lion\u2019s share of those rewards.<\/p>\n<p>For all publishers, additional engagement generated by chat and the inclusion of citations in chat results will drive more traffic and create an opportunity for publishers to monetize that traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft has experienced a <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/new-bing-small-gains-vs-google-search-394733\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">traffic gain of about 15%<\/a> since launching the new Bing. The service has approximately 100 million users and 100 million chats daily, the company said. About one-third of those users are new to Bing; Microsoft concludes those new users are an opportunity for publishers to get more traffic and sell more ads.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Start, launched and in beta September 2021, is Microsoft\u2019s version of Google News or Apple News. It\u2019s a personalized news portal, available as a website or mobile app, where you can manually add or remove interests and content from Start publishers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Start publishers include heavy-hitters (e.g., The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fox News and USA Today) along with less mainstream publications like Past Factory, The Stock Dork and Neon Moon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft is exploring placing ads in chat and sharing ad revenue with Start partners whose content contributed to the chat response.<\/p>\n<p>Traffic-driving tactics for Start members include:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An \u201cexpanded hover experience\u201d where hovering over a link from a publisher will display more links from that publisher, increasing user engagement and driving more traffic to the publisher\u2019s website.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A \u201crich caption\u201d beside the chat answer helping to drive more user engagement with the content on Microsoft Start. Users engaging with content on Start will be the catalyst for sharing ad revenue with partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2023\/04\/microsoft-start-expanded-hover-experience.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Start_participation_is_%E2%80%98limited\"><\/span>Start participation is \u2018limited\u2019\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Start \u201cparticipation is limited right now while this program is in beta,\u201d Mehdi wrote. It\u2019s been in beta for 18 months. Publishers\/bloggers can <a href=\"https:\/\/microsoftstart.powerappsportals.com\/app\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">apply<\/a> if they meet these criteria:<\/p>\n<p>Are based in the U.S., Germany, Spain, France or Italy.<\/p>\n<p>Post frequently and have an \u201cactive content site.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Bloggers\/non-news content producers generally need to produce five articles or more per month.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>News publishers need to produce a minimum of 10 articles per day, including live\/breaking coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>All must use WordPress, Substack, or Medium \u2013 or have a website that generates an RSS feed.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fiction isn\u2019t permitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As for <a href=\"https:\/\/creator.microsoftstart.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">benefits<\/a>? Microsoft says Start has \u201cmillions\u201d of daily users, so it\u2019s good for brand building. You can also earn ad revenue from your content and reader gratuities.<\/p>\n<p>This is the message we received after filling out the \u201cStart\u201d application.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Paying_publishers_The_Facebook_experience\"><\/span>Paying publishers: The Facebook experience<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Facebook dabbled with paying news publishers from 2019 to 2022. <\/p>\n<p>The company shelled out more than $100 million to publishers including \u201cmore than $15 million to the Washington Post, just over $20 million to the New York Times, and more than $10 million to The Wall Street Journal,\u201d according to a June 2022 WSJ article.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2022\/07\/28\/meta-publishers-news-funding-cut\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Meta stopped paying U.S. publishers<\/a> in July 2022, after deciding to diminish the prominence of news in members\u2019 newsfeeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_we_care\"><\/span>Why we care<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Microsoft has boldly stated its ambition to <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/microsoft-is-planning-to-double-the-size-of-its-ad-business-to-20-billion-389796\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">double the sales of its ad business<\/a> to $20 billion in the next several years. Clearly, the company is betting on generative AI to play a role in its ascendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft also knows that it can\u2019t do it alone, and is trying to convince publishers that its vision of a win-win publishing ecosystem will materialize.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At this early stage, who\u2019s to say the brain trust in Redmond is incorrect? <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear that traffic-hungry content creators have to go along with the ride for now. There is no alternative. (Although doubling down on building brand and non-mediated channels like email are wise investments.)<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s heartening to see Microsoft acknowledge that publishers should be compensated for fueling new Bing, but we\u2019re looking for more transparency on the Start program.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We understand that managing Start is an enormous task, even for a company of Microsoft\u2019s resources. Microsoft\u2019s minimum obligation should be to tell aspiring Start participants more about it. Here are some examples:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>How many applications are being approved each month?<\/p>\n<p>How many program participants do you expect by the end of this year? 2024?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Are you committed to publishing a roadmap for the program that informs participants and aspiring participants of plans and progress, e.g., how much traffic are you driving to member sites?<\/p>\n<p>Finally, not mentioning Google\u2019s silence on its vision for the future of content creators would be an omission. Consider it done.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/microsoft-content-ecosystem-generative-ai-world-395352\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Microsoft\u2019s vision for a prosperous content ecosystem in a generative AI world<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lost in the non-story about Bing adding ads to Chat (ads were already there) was a blog post by Microsoft attempting to assure content creators that the goal of new Bing is to \u201cdrive more traffic and revenue to publishers.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe Internet works because of an important ecosystem which starts with publishers creating great content which drives traffic and interest by people to consume that content, and then ultimately advertisers that want to reach people in a high quality and targeted environment.\u201d \u2013 Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}