Q&A: Nikhil Kolar, vp Microsoft AI scales its ‘click-to-sign’ publisher AI content marketplace

Microsoft is moving its publisher AI content marketplace pilot beyond the initial pilot phase, laying the groundwork for a broader ecosystem to connect publishers with a growing set of AI builders looking to license premium content.

What started with a limited group of publishers and Copilot as the first customer is now evolving into a more scalable model, with Microsoft testing pricing, access and compensation as usage grows.

Business Insider Inc, Vox Media Inc, USA Today Co., People Inc, The Associated Press, Hearst Magazines, and Condé Nast are the first wave of publisher pilot partners. But the goal is to start expanding to more publishers and demand partners — aka LLMs and any AI builders — both in the U.S. and internationally.

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Financial Times, Twitch and Politico are among the winners of this year’s Digiday Media Awards Europe

The winners of this year’s Digiday Media Awards Europe reflect a shift toward experiences that are participatory, connected and built across ecosystems rather than single channels. Digital campaigns increasingly crossed into the physical world, while data and technology enabled personalization at scale without losing cultural relevance or human tone. Interactivity replaced passive reach as the primary driver of engagement, inviting audiences to shape outcomes in real time.

Across categories, technology served to connect rather than to be a spectacle, supporting trust and emotional impact. The strongest work was rooted in integrated partnerships, where brands, platforms and publishers aligned to deliver unified experiences with measurable influence.

Financial Times, in partnership with FedEx, won the award for Best Branded Content Program — B2B — a new category this year — for “Champions of Business,” a campaign spotlighting 31 small and mid-sized enterprises working behind the scenes of elite football.

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