Microsoft Advertising boosts Performance Max and adds new Display Ad features

In a series of announcements made on October 1, 2024, Microsoft Advertising unveiled several significant updates to its platform, including enhancements to Performance Max campaigns and new features for display ads. These changes aim to provide advertisers with more robust tools for reaching customers and optimizing their campaigns.

Performance Max gets Search Term Insights and New Pilots

Microsoft Advertising has expanded the capabilities of its Performance Max campaigns, which leverage AI to optimize ad placement across multiple channels. According to Microsoft data from June to August 2024, Performance Max-powered multimedia ads in Copilot have seen a 3.5x boost in impressions compared to standard ads, while product ads experienced a 5x increase. Additionally, conversion rates for these ads in Copilot were 63% higher than traditional search ads.

The company has now introduced search term insights reports for Performance Max and other campaign types. These reports allow advertisers to analyze specific search terms that triggered their ads during a selected timeframe, grouping them into relevant categories with key performance metrics.

Microsoft Advertising is also piloting several new features for Performance Max campaigns:

1. Brand exclusions: Advertisers can now indicate which branded search queries they don't want their ads to appear for.
2. URL rules at the asset group level: This feature is set to be available in mid-October.
3. Personalized recommendations for upgrading Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) campaigns to Performance Max.

Future updates to Performance Max will include support for video assets and new customer acquisition goal settings.

Enhanced Display Ad Options

Microsoft Advertising has expanded bidding strategies and targeting options for display ads. Advertisers can now choose from various bid strategies, including:

• Manual CPM (Cost Per Mille)
• Enhanced CPC (Cost Per Click)
• Maximize conversions with target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)

New audience targeting options have been introduced:

• In-market audiences
• Dynamic remarketing
• Custom audiences
• Combined lists
• LinkedIn Profile targeting
• Predictive targeting
• Impression-based remarketing (currently in pilot)

Additionally, advertisers can now track conversions directly within the Microsoft Advertising Platform for their display ad campaigns.

IAS Verification for brand safety

Microsoft has partnered with Integral Ad Science (IAS) to offer verification for viewability, invalid traffic, and brand safety across native, display, and video ads. This feature is now available for all bid strategies, allowing advertisers to ensure their ads are seen by real people in brand-safe environments.

AI-powered Asset Recommendations

For advertisers using Microsoft Invest, the platform now offers AI-generated image and content recommendations for native ads. By inputting a specific landing page, the system can create relevant and personalized ads based on the existing images and copy.

Microsoft owned and operated packages

The company has introduced new Microsoft Owned and Operated (O&O) packages in its Inventory Library. These packages provide access to display, video, and native ad placements across Microsoft properties, including MSN, Microsoft Start, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Casual Games.

New bidding strategy recommendations

To help advertisers optimize their automated bidding strategies, Microsoft has introduced two new actionable recommendations for search, shopping, and Performance Max campaigns. These status updates help identify when a campaign isn't performing optimally and whether performance is limited by budget or automated bidding targets.

Key takeaways

• Performance Max campaigns now support search term insights reports.
• New pilots for brand exclusions and URL rules in Performance Max.
• Expanded bidding and targeting options for display ads.
• IAS verification available for all bid strategies.
• AI-powered asset recommendations for native ads in Microsoft Invest.
• New Microsoft O&O packages for premium ad placements.
• Actionable recommendations for automated bidding strategies.