Microsoft has announced that Bing Ads, its advertising platform, is being rebranded to Microsoft Advertising. The change in name is meant to reflect the availability of the platform beyond the search engine, but the company reiterates that Bing remains the search platform for consumers, highlighting 100 months of consecutive share growth for the search engine.
Along with the name change, Microsoft announced expanded capabilities for its advertising partners. For starters, the Microsoft Audience Network, which was first introduced last year, is getting new capabilities such as viewable impressions, image uploads, and new management tools to make it easier to manage images. Microsoft is also bringing audience campaigns to the UK and Canada, giving advertisers better reach beyond the United States.
Additionally, Microsoft is introducing Sponsored Products in the U.S. Sponsored Products let manufacturers give more visibility to their top products during promotional campaigns, and help retailers and manufacturers align their marketing efforts more easily. For manufacturers, Sponsored Products offer new reporting and optimization capabilities, and retailers get better support for product marketing with a "fair cost split". If you"re interested, you can sign up for the beta of Sponsored Products.
Microsoft plans to share more about its roadmap for Microsoft Advertising at its Partner Summit starting tomorrow. The firm will also be launching new AI-powered advertising products over the next year.