Microsoft Advertising has introduced several updates in September 2024, focusing on improving advertising efficiency, relevance, and accessibility across various formats.
Audience Ads Enhancements
Microsoft is making display, native, and video ads more relevant and efficient using machine learning technology and signals. New features include:
- More performance features for display and video ads
- Additional bidding strategies and targeting options
- Improved conversion tracking
These updates will be available later this month, offering advertisers more customization options to achieve goals across the funnel.
Native Ad Improvements
Starting September 30th, advertisers can add business logos and call-to-actions to native ads on the Microsoft Advertising Network. Features include:
- Option to add or import business logos
- Automated call-to-action selection (default)
- Manual call-to-action selection from a predefined list
- Import option from Google
These additions aim to drive higher ad engagement and emphasize brand visibility.
Ad Verification Expansion
Advertisers can now use IAS verification for all bid strategies on native, display, and video ads. This includes:
- Viewability verification
- Invalid traffic detection
- Brand safety and suitability checks
To use this feature, advertisers partnering with IAS can add their IAS tag URL to ads within the Microsoft Advertising Platform.
Connected TV (CTV) Accessibility Improvements
Microsoft is working to make CTV advertising more accessible to businesses of all sizes. Updates include:
- Support for 45 and 75-second video ad creatives
- AI-powered asset recommendations for CTV ads, using website content and existing assets to generate ad copy and assemble TV-ready videos
New Microsoft O&O Packages
Three new packages have been introduced:
Fall and Holiday Seasonal Moments packages:
- Includes takeovers on MSN homepage and vertical pages
- 20% off promotional pricing with minimum spend commitment
Product Launch packages:
- Prominent units for new releases
- Video, audio, and interactivity capabilities
Cross-Screen Gaming packages:
- Reaches audiences across CTV and mobile gaming
- Utilizes premium partner CTV and Activision Blizzard mobile gaming supply
Performance Max (PMAX) Enhancements
Several updates to Performance Max include:
- SA360 now supports PMAX, with imported Google PMAX campaigns converting to Microsoft PMAX campaigns
- Search term insights report rolling out to all advertisers and campaign types
- Search themes available for pilot, allowing advertisers to associate words or phrases with campaigns
IndexNow Integration
IndexNow has been introduced to improve web indexing for advertising on Microsoft Copilot experiences. Benefits include:
- Faster indexing of website content
- Improved performance for Dynamic Search ads and ads in Copilot
- Potential for increased click-through rates and conversions
Bidding Strategy Update
The Max Conversion value bid strategy is now available for portfolio bid strategies, allowing advertisers to optimize for high-value conversions and total sales value across campaigns.
These updates reflect Microsoft's ongoing efforts to improve its advertising platform, providing advertisers with more tools and options to optimize their campaigns across various formats and platforms.
