Dappier launches Sponsored Conversations, letting brands deploy custom AI agents inside publisher chatbots. A new ad format that blurs the line between content and commerce.
The ad that talks back. Not a popup. Not a banner. An agent that answers your question with a product recommendation.
A company called Dappier just launched a new ad format called Sponsored Conversations. The concept: brands deploy their own AI agents inside publisher chatbots.
Baby monitor brand Miku is an early adopter. When a reader on a Lilly Broadcasting site asks the publisher's chatbot a question about baby products, Miku's branded agent can respond with product-specific information. The agent is contextual to the content and functions as a differentiation tool rather than a traditional display ad.
Early results from Lilly Broadcasting show roughly 5% of readers engage with the chatbot. The publisher reports the ads feel less like ads and more like a part of the experience. Readers stay active on the site longer.
CPM range Dappier claims for publishers, significantly above traditional display
This is interesting for three reasons.
First, the format is genuinely new. Display, video, native, sponsored content, influencer. We have not had a new category of ad format in years. An AI agent that responds to user questions in real time, inside a publisher's editorial environment, is a different thing.
Second, the engagement model is different. Traditional ads interrupt. Native ads blend in. Sponsored Conversations respond to active questions. The user initiates the interaction by asking something. The brand agent answers. That is a fundamentally different attention dynamic.
Third, the economics could work for publishers. Dappier claims $5 to $15 CPMs. Most Australian publishers are getting $2 to $6 for standard display. If those CPM claims hold at scale, this is a meaningful revenue upgrade.
The concerns are obvious. Disclosure is the big one. If a reader asks a chatbot for advice on baby monitors and a branded agent responds, is that clearly marked as advertising? The FTC in the US and the ACCC in Australia both require clear disclosure of commercial relationships. How that disclosure works inside a conversational AI interface is an open question.
There is also a quality control problem. Brand agents need to be trained not to make claims the brand cannot support. A baby monitor company's agent giving safety advice that turns out to be wrong is a liability nightmare.
For Australian publishers, the opportunity is worth watching. The local digital advertising market is brutally competitive on CPMs. Any format that delivers meaningfully higher revenue per impression while maintaining reader engagement deserves attention.
For advertisers, the format suits consideration-phase marketing in categories where buyers research before purchasing. B2B, high-value consumer goods, financial products, health and wellness. If your product requires explanation and your competitors are still running display banners, this is a differentiation play.
The format is early. The scale is small. But the logic is sound: meet people where they are asking questions, and give them useful answers. That has always been the best version of advertising.