Microsoft Advertising Powers Sponsored Links In Snap My AI Chatbot

Microsoft has a new advertising partner for its Chat Ads API that will serve Sponsored Links in the Snap My AI chatbot. The companies separately announced the news on Monday.

Snap said in May that it would begin testing Sponsored Links in My AI. Artificial intelligence (AI) helps to pair the Sponsored Link suggestions with user conversation.

If a user asked My AI where to have dinner, the chatbot could reply with a link sponsored by a local restaurant or food delivery app. It also could recommend where to buy a specific product from a local retailer based on location that the user inquired about.

This partnership offers advertisers a "more targeted approach" to connect with Snapchat's 750 million monthly active users. 

My AI is among the largest consumer chatbots available today. More than 150 million people have sent about 10 billion messages within it, according to Snap internal data from June 2023.

Today, Snapchat reaches over 75% of 13- to 34-year-olds in more than 20 countries, and the My AI chatbot is a new offering in the app. The company also said these ads will not serve to users under the age of 18.

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During initial tests of Sponsored Links, advertisers saw an increase of more than 15% in mobile impressions from this category while maintaining or improving cost per acquisition (CPA), the companies said.

The initial impact on mobile traffic has been promising, and led Microsoft to roll out the experience more broadly in the U.S., increasing the use up across 13 other markets, with more to come. 

Advertisers experienced an increase in mobile traffic year-over-year across the Microsoft network and are seeing, on average, more than 15% additional mobile impressions from Microsoft site and select traffic while maintaining or improving cost per acquisition (CPA).

The Microsoft Advertising platform will report the Snap traffic in aggregate in the “Microsoft sites and select traffic” category in the publisher report. The traffic has Microsoft properties as the benchmark. Advertisers can check their mobile traffic reporting for incremental volume.

Microsoft’s Ads for Chat API, introduced in May, is built on the same technology as Bing but allows third-party partners to control and customize the experience. It gives partners the ability to choose the ad formats best suited for their audience and integrate the ads in a way that feels natural to a specific experience. 

Snap is testing a variety of ways AI can increase the company’s advertising business -- not just for enterprises, but for small businesses.

Constant Contact released the results of a study that suggests AI can help to free up more time to do other tasks. When asked what an extra hour in the workweek would mean, 37% of the 486 small business owners and decision-makers participating in the study said they would plan what would be next for their business.

The biggest takeaway from Constant Contact’s report is that AI-powered marketing and advertising tools make an immediate difference for small businesses, with 91% of SMBs polled saying they currently use AI in some capacity. One-third estimate they have saved at least 40 minutes-per-week on marketing, and another 28% expect AI and automation to save them at least $5,000 during the next 12 months.

“Our Small Business Now report revealed that 74% of SMBs are now interested in using AI or automation in their businesses, and 55% are more interested today than they were six months ago,” said Laura Goldberg, CMO at Constant Contact.

She said AI can analyze previous behavior to help SMBs understand what types of products customers like, where they prefer to shop, and when they are most likely to engage.

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