Microsoft Advertising unveils major updates to Performance Max and Ad Tools

Microsoft Advertising yesterday announced a series of significant updates to its platform, introducing new features and enhancements designed to improve advertisers' campaign performance and efficiency. The updates, which span across various aspects of the platform, include improvements to Performance Max campaigns, AI-powered content recommendations, expanded targeting options, and streamlined shopping campaign setup processes. These changes aim to provide advertisers with more control, reach, and tools to optimize their advertising efforts across Microsoft's network.

One of the most notable updates is the enhancement of Performance Max campaigns. According to Kevin Salat, who detailed the updates in a Microsoft Advertising blog post, Performance Max has become a key campaign type for driving results with less effort. The new features for Performance Max include brand exclusions, which allow advertisers to prevent their ads from appearing alongside specific brands, and campaign-level auto-generated asset settings. These additions give advertisers more control over their campaign performance and brand safety.

The introduction of AI-powered content recommendations and generation capabilities for video ads marks another significant development. This feature, powered by Copilot in the Microsoft Advertising Platform, enables advertisers to generate new recommendations for video ads simply by inputting a landing page URL. The system provides inline asset recommendations during ad creation, allowing advertisers to choose from various creatives and edit them as needed. This enhancement extends the AI-powered asset recommendations that were previously available for search, native, and display ads.

In a move to ensure ad integrity and brand safety, Microsoft has expanded its collaboration with Integral Ad Science (IAS). This partnership now offers third-party verification reporting on both the Microsoft Advertising Platform and Microsoft Invest. The reporting provides actionable insights such as viewability metrics, time in view, percent completed, invalid traffic rate, and brand safety pass and fail rates. This comprehensive verification covers desktop, mobile web, and in-app environments for display, video, native, and Connected TV (CTV) campaigns.

Multimedia ads have received an update with the introduction of ad customizers, now available globally in all markets and languages. This feature allows advertisers to create numerous tailored ad variations efficiently, ensuring that messaging remains relevant and impactful. Ad customizers can include location callouts, countdown timers, and dynamic text parameters, offering precise real-time messaging capabilities.

To streamline the ad creation and management process, Microsoft has implemented inline editing for Responsive Search Ads (RSA) and Multimedia Ads. This feature allows advertisers to edit assets directly in reporting, eliminating the need to navigate through the creation workflow. This time-saving enhancement aims to improve efficiency in campaign management.

Expanding its reach, Microsoft has extended LinkedIn targeting and similar audiences to additional markets. LinkedIn targeting, which allows advertisers to target audiences based on company, job function, and industry, is now available in 27 markets across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions. Similar audiences, a feature that helps advertisers find new prospects similar to their best customers, has been expanded to all Microsoft Advertising markets except China.

For e-commerce advertisers, Microsoft has enhanced the setup workflow for creating Shopping campaigns in Search. This streamlined process has resulted in a 10 to 15% reduction in setup time, based on recent beta testing results. The improvement aims to simplify campaign creation and help advertisers launch their campaigns more quickly.

Addressing privacy concerns, Microsoft has introduced Universal Event Tracking (UET) consent mode. This feature gives advertisers control over whether first and third-party cookies are stored, enhancing privacy capabilities for UET. This update is particularly relevant for advertisers targeting end users in markets where consent may be enforced.

These updates come at a time when digital advertising platforms are continuously evolving to meet the changing needs of advertisers and consumers alike. The integration of AI-powered tools, expanded targeting options, and enhanced privacy features reflect the industry's broader trends towards more personalized, efficient, and privacy-conscious advertising practices.

The enhancements to Performance Max campaigns, in particular, demonstrate Microsoft's commitment to competing with other major advertising platforms. Performance Max, which uses machine learning to optimize ad placement across multiple channels, has become increasingly important for advertisers seeking to maximize their reach and efficiency.

The expansion of LinkedIn targeting capabilities to new markets represents a significant advantage for Microsoft Advertising. By leveraging LinkedIn's professional network data, Microsoft offers advertisers unique targeting options that are not available on other platforms. This expansion could be particularly valuable for B2B advertisers looking to reach specific professional audiences across a wider range of global markets.

As digital advertising continues to grow more complex, the introduction of AI-powered content recommendations and generation tools addresses the need for more efficient content creation processes. These tools can help advertisers, especially those with limited resources, to create more diverse and engaging ad content across various formats, including video.

The collaboration with IAS for third-party verification reporting addresses the ongoing industry concerns about ad fraud, viewability, and brand safety. By providing independent verification, Microsoft aims to build trust with advertisers and ensure that ad budgets are being spent effectively on real, engaged users in brand-safe environments.

The August 2024 updates to Microsoft Advertising

Enhancements to Performance Max campaigns with brand exclusions and auto-generated asset settings

AI-powered content recommendations and generation for video ads

Expanded third-party verification reporting through IAS

Global availability of ad customizers for Multimedia ads

Inline editing capabilities for Responsive Search Ads and Multimedia Ads

Extension of LinkedIn targeting and similar audiences to additional markets

Streamlined setup process for Shopping campaigns

Introduction of Universal Event Tracking (UET) consent mode