Microsoft Ads – Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain

By Jarrod Adams

In a space dominated by Google Ads, Microsoft Ads continues to introduce new products, features, and partnerships. All of these changes are undoubtedly aimed at increasing market share and industry perception. While Google Ads still commands a large majority of market share and the media mix we implement for our clients, Microsoft Ads has shown to excel for certain industries.

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Microsoft Ads recently introduced a new multimedia ad format. This ad format appears at the top of search results and the right rail in Bing. Microsoft states this is another step in their journey to innovate and disrupt web search and make Bing more visually immersive. Ad examples include images accompanied by a traditional text ad, interactive search results including video & images, and infographic-inspired experiences depending on the end-user’s search query. Like Google’s responsive ad format, Microsoft uses their machine learning technology to combine the advertiser’s supplied images, headlines, and descriptions to create each ad. 

Another advancement Microsoft made recently is the partnership with Netflix. This partnership will eventually allow advertisers to serve video ads within Netflix’s ad-supported subscription plan. “This deal gives Microsoft something its growing ad business has lacked – quality streaming video inventory that has the potential to scale.” Though lacking key information on when and how the official rollout will unfold, this could help elevate Microsoft Ads’ standing in the OTT/CTV space.  

At Wahl, we have tested several different campaigns in Microsoft Ads. While a handful of those tests have proven to be unsuccessful, some have outperformed their identical counterpart in Google Ads. With the ever-growing advances in ad opportunities, we will continue to test Microsoft Ads and allow the data to prove its worth.