• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, August 2, 2022

Microsoft Advertising is poised to make its automotive ad unit, Automotive Ads, available to all advertisers globally, the company announced Tuesday.

The rollout, which will happen during the next several weeks, follows pilots for similar verticals in categories such as travel and financial services. 

The vertical ad formats are different for each industry, because they focus on information specific to consumers looking for products relevant to those categories.

They are supported by dynamic data feeds, and use search intent data.

Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) uses these feeds to source attributes displayed in the ads, using advertisers’ existing digital catalogues.

The vertical ads also minimizes the time and resources required to set up and manage campaigns on Microsoft's network, according to Kevin Salat, product marketing manager at Microsoft Advertising. 

There are no keyword requirements. Vertical ad auctions are independent from text ad auctions. This means that marketers may serve ads in the text ad block and the vertical ads block. The ad unit is based on cost-per-click (CPC).

Salat, in a video on YouTube, said the ads serve up on Outlook.com, Microsoft Edge, MSN, and select publisher partners.

Consumers go to Bing, search on the keywords “used cars near me,” and the ads serve up on the right rail in a box that highlights the options. The ads also are found in the image and video results of Bing. Microsoft also added syndication partners like Yahoo.

The ad format displays a photo of the vehicle for sale, along with the year, make, and model, dealer website, price, and a short description.

After testing the ad unit in North America and Europe, the ads will further roll out to advertisers in the Asia Pacific and Latin American markets in the coming weeks.