Microsoft adds image animation and performance tracking to Copilot AI tools

Microsoft announced three updates to Copilot in Microsoft Advertising Platform on November 17, 2025, introducing Image Animation capabilities for video creation, expanded API access for generative AI features, and Performance Comparison tools for campaign analysis. The enhancements arrive as Americans spend an average of 4 hours and 14 minutes daily consuming digital videos, according to an eMarketer forecast from June 2025.

Image Animation transforms static images into video assets through Copilot. The feature extends asset performance across Microsoft Advertising Network's video publishers and online video placements globally, except for mainland China. Advertisers can access the pilot program through Ads Studio's video templates.

The video creation capability addresses growing demand for motion content. Online travel agency Priceline demonstrated the platform's scalability by building Copilot functionality into their proprietary advertising platform through Microsoft's API. The integration enabled generation of hundreds of thousands of customized creative assets for smaller cities, independent properties, event-specific travel moments, and upper funnel queries that previously required manual creation.

"Copilot in Microsoft Advertising Platform does the heavy lifting—scraping landing pages for our brand tone and terms, enforcing character limits, and generating quality ad copy across different products and cities. To date, we've seen a 10% lift in CTR thanks to the new ads produced by Copilot," according to Yetish Srinidhi, Senior Analyst for SEM at Priceline.

Microsoft expanded API availability for Background generation, Display ad generation, Video ad generation, and Brand Kit capabilities globally, except for mainland China. The API access enables advertisers to integrate generative AI functionality directly into proprietary platforms and existing workflows.

Performance Comparison capabilities accelerate decision-making by helping advertisers derive meaning from campaign data. The tools enable benchmarking against year-over-year, quarter-over-quarter, month-over-month, week-over-week, or day-over-day results. Advertisers can monitor A/B test progress by comparing test and control groups, analyze performance across multiple months for campaign recaps, and identify top or lowest performing keywords, advertisements, ad groups, and campaigns for optimization.

"Copilot in Microsoft Advertising Platform helps me get performance reports and diagnose issues really quickly. What used to take 30 minutes, with Copilot, it goes down to 1-2 minutes," according to John Fraze, SVP of Paid Search at global media and marketing agency Carat US.

Performance Comparison reached general availability globally, except in mainland China. Microsoft first introduced performance analysis through Performance Snapshot, which provides instant overviews and insights through conversational queries.

The Image Animation launch positions Microsoft within a competitive landscape of AI-powered creative tools across advertising platforms. Research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau released in July 2025 revealed that 86% of buyers use or plan to implement generative AI for video advertisement creation by 2026, with projections showing AI-generated creative accounting for 40% of all advertisements by that year.

Amazon expanded Video Generator capabilities to all United States advertisers in June 2025, producing six different video options per request with multi-scene creation capabilities. Amazon Ads measurement data indicated brands using Image Generator between October 2023 and June 2024 experienced approximately 5% increased sales per advertiser on average.

Google launched Asset Studio as a centralized creative platform in August 2025, enabling advertisers to generate, edit, and scale advertising assets using artificial intelligence. The platform integrates Imagen 4 for image creation and video generation capabilities.

Meta introduced AI-powered video tools for Facebook and Instagram advertisements in October 2024, including Video Expansion and Image Animation features. A Meta analysis of global brand campaigns showed Reels consistently outperformed Feed and Stories in ad recall, favorability, and action intent metrics.

Microsoft's advertising business performance demonstrates the commercial viability of AI-integrated features. The company's advertising revenue surpassed $20 billion annually by April 2025, with search and news advertising revenue climbing 21% in the most recent quarter.

Microsoft Advertising research published in August 2025 documented that Copilot generates 73% higher click-through rates and 16% stronger conversion rates compared to traditional search advertising, with data spanning November 2024 through May 2025. Customer journeys through Copilot measure 33% shorter than conventional search paths.

The Performance Comparison tools address a fundamental challenge in campaign management: translating data into actionable insights. Traditional performance analysis requires advertisers to export data, manipulate spreadsheets, and manually identify trends across reporting periods. Conversational interfaces reduce this work to natural language queries.

Microsoft launched Copilot Search in Bing on April 4, 2025, combining traditional search functionality with generative AI capabilities. Nicole Schumacher, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Microsoft Advertising, explained in July 2025 that traditional search required expertise in keywords and precise query formulation, while conversational AI enables natural language synthesis matching human communication patterns.

Advertisement placement within Copilot follows a distinct structure. Advertisements appear below organic responses accompanied by conversational summaries explaining relevance through "Ad Voice" features that create separation between organic and sponsored content while providing contextual connection.

Video content production presents significant barriers for advertisers without dedicated creative teams or production budgets. Image Animation reduces these obstacles by enabling video asset creation from existing static imagery. The feature maintains brand consistency while expanding content distribution across video placements that historically required separate creative development and budget allocation.

The API expansion enables enterprise-scale creative generation. Priceline's implementation demonstrates how large advertisers with extensive product catalogs and geographic coverage can automate creative production for long-tail queries and specialized markets. The approach addresses a longstanding challenge where manual creative development cannot economically support comprehensive campaign coverage across all potential customer segments.

Small and mid-tier brands demonstrate faster adoption rates compared to larger enterprises when implementing AI capabilities to produce professional-quality digital video advertisements efficiently without requiring extensive production teams or budgets. Connected television's share of media budgets doubled from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025, with 72% of marketers planning increased programmatic advertising investment.

Microsoft announced 12 features for Copilot in October 2025, transforming the AI assistant into what the company describes as a "companion" that connects users to themselves, others, and daily tools. The announcement from Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, represented a shift toward AI systems prioritizing human connection over engagement metrics.

Microsoft introduced Copilot Mode for Edge browser in August 2025, marking a development in AI-integrated web browsing with four primary functionalities designed to reshape browser interaction patterns.

The timing of Microsoft's Image Animation launch aligns with holiday season advertising demands when video content consumption peaks. Advertisers require rapid creative production to capitalize on shortened seasonal windows and respond to competitive pressure across video inventory.

For marketing professionals managing campaigns across Microsoft's advertising ecosystem, the three updates create operational efficiencies at different workflow stages. Image Animation addresses creative production bottlenecks. API access enables custom integration into existing technology stacks. Performance Comparison reduces analysis time from hours to minutes through conversational queries.

Microsoft positions the updates as tools for unwrapping success during the holiday season. The company promoted an upcoming webinar and encouraged following Microsoft Advertising on LinkedIn for information about generative AI releases.

Timeline

• May 2024: Microsoft Advertising Platform makes Copilot available to all advertisers with 24/7 conversational support
• October 2024: Microsoft Performance Max campaigns show 4.2X more conversions with Copilot integration
• April 2025: Microsoft advertising revenue surpasses $20 billion annually as AI-powered features drive growth
• April 2025: Microsoft launches Copilot Search in Bing combining traditional search with generative AI
• July 2025: Microsoft search advertising revenue climbs 21% in record quarter
• August 2025: Microsoft Copilot achieves 73% higher click-through rates compared to traditional search advertising
• August 2025: Microsoft introduces Copilot Mode in Edge browser with AI-powered features
• October 2025: Microsoft announces 12 features for Copilot in AI companion strategy
• October 2025: Microsoft cloud revenue hits $49.1 billion as AI investments accelerate
• November 17, 2025: Microsoft announces Image Animation, expanded API access, and Performance Comparison capabilities for Copilot in Microsoft Advertising Platform

Summary

Who: Microsoft Corporation announced updates to Copilot in Microsoft Advertising Platform, with implementation examples from Priceline and Carat US demonstrating commercial applications.

What: Three updates include Image Animation transforming static images into video assets, expanded API access for Background generation, Display ad generation, Video ad generation, and Brand Kit capabilities, and Performance Comparison tools enabling year-over-year, quarter-over-quarter, month-over-month, week-over-week, and day-over-day campaign analysis.

When: Microsoft announced the features on November 17, 2025, with Image Animation available in global pilot through Ads Studio video templates and Performance Comparison reaching general availability, both excluding mainland China.

Where: The features operate within Microsoft Advertising Platform, extending across Microsoft Advertising Network's video publishers and online video placements for Image Animation capabilities, and providing analysis tools for campaigns across Bing search engine, Edge browser, and associated advertising inventory.

Why: The updates address three operational challenges for advertisers: video content production demands as Americans spend 4 hours and 14 minutes daily consuming digital videos, enterprise-scale creative generation requirements for extensive product catalogs and geographic coverage, and campaign analysis complexity that traditionally requires manual data manipulation and extended time investment.