• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, September 20, 2023

A video ad offering from Microsoft Advertising now allows advertisers to create online video and connected television (CTV) ad campaigns in the Microsoft Advertising platform. Search data supports the engine of the offering.

Advertisers do not need to learn how to use a new platform. The option to target ads on CTV is provided in the same platform being used to target search ads, making it easy to set up campaigns in a couple of clicks. There’s a feature to set frequency caps, report on domains where ads serve, and exclude any domains where ads should not serve.

Ads can be run on CTV or as online video ads. CTV ads can be bought through a cost per completed view model that allow advertisers to reach audiences on smart televisions and connected devices.

Online video ads are bought on a viewable CPM model and allow advertisers to reach viewers on desktop, mobile and table for instream and outstream placements such as MSN, Microsoft Start, Microsoft Causal Games, and a range of CTV publishers such as MAX, Hulu, Samsung Plus, AMC, Fox, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and many more.

While that’s just for the U.S. market, the offering today is in general availability in 12 markets and running pilots in 14 markets, with more than 405 billion monthly CTV impressions and more than 1.6 trillion video impressions.

In the U.K., for example, there are 25.5 million users across the Microsoft Start and MSN, serving 895 million monthly CTV impressions and 62 billion monthly video impressions across publishers such as Rakuten, Discovery Plus, Sky, Dailymotion, and many more.

Search data, per Microsoft, is one of the most valuable pieces to support this CTV and video offering. Online searches have become one of the most powerful intent signals even while watching television, and has become a direct impression of consumer intent. It tells what consumers are looking for in the moment. Search provides insights that can be turned into marketing at a later time.
People will spend 3.5 hours watching digital video daily by 2024, according to Insider Intelligence data, and that might include everything from streaming on living room smart TVs to smartphone videos on the subway.

Sometimes people look at two screens simultaneously. In the U.S., 90% of Gen Z now use the internet and TV. It's long been known that while people stream their favorite shows, they browse online. Online searches have become one of the most powerful intent signals even while watching television.

Microsoft Advertising Video and CTV ads let advertisers use these signals to get brands in front of audiences with the right message based on viewing and browsing data.

This data supported by machine learning algorithms helps to develop audience preferences on consumer products, brands, purchases and conversions, content preferences, and location.

Search is one data point used to build intelligent signals, but Microsoft lets advertisers leverage billions of permissioned first-party data points, combined across multiple properties such as LinkedIn profile profiles, content and brand preference, and many more. All of these signals can be used on the video targeting option.