Microsoft Audience Network: Where Audience Ads Show and How to Control Them

This guide uses Microsoft Advertising Help only: What is the Microsoft Advertising Network?, What are Audience campaigns? and Ad distribution settings, plus the pages linked where they are used. The audiences you can target (remarketing, in-market, customer match, LinkedIn profile targeting) are in our Microsoft Ads audiences guide, and the account basics are in Microsoft Advertising basics.

What the Audience Network is

Microsoft's help pages describe the Microsoft Advertising Network as two parts: search advertising and audience advertising. Search advertising shows ads to people searching for something. Audience advertising, the part this guide calls the Microsoft Audience Network, "shows ads to your ideal audience when they interact with websites across the internet." Microsoft lists MSN, Microsoft Start, Microsoft Edge, Outlook.com and publisher partners as places these ads can appear.

The ads are matched to people, not to a query. Microsoft says its AI learns about content preferences, what people search for and read, what they have bought and LinkedIn profile data, and matches individuals with ads. It also says the placements are brand-safe, with brand safety protection from Integral Ad Science (IAS), a point covered in detail below.

Which campaigns serve there

Microsoft's network page lists three campaign types that can serve in audience placements:

• Audience campaigns, with Display, Native and Online Video ads. One campaign can hold several of these ad types under one budget, or you can split them into separate campaigns.
• Performance Max campaigns, which serve on search and audience placements. Our Microsoft Performance Max guide covers them.
• Shopping Audience campaigns, for product ads.

Search campaigns can also reach audience placements. Microsoft's What are Search ads? page says Search campaigns "may also be extended to audience placements," including MSN, Microsoft Start, Microsoft Edge, Outlook.com and publisher partners. That matters if you run only Search and expect only search traffic; see how to opt out.

If you already run Google Display, Meta, or Pinterest campaigns, Microsoft lets you create Audience ads by importing them. Our Google Ads import guide covers the Google side.

Ad formats and specs

Native ads are built from assets and blend into the page. From How do I create Native ads?:

• Up to 15 short headlines (40 characters or fewer), up to five long headlines and up to five descriptions (90 characters or fewer). Each ad needs at least one of each.
• A business name, an optional call to action ("Automated" by default) and up to five logos, at least 128 x 128 for 1:1 and 512 x 128 for 4:1.
• Up to five videos, with the same technical requirements as Online Video ads.

For the images, Best practices for Audience ad images gives JPEG or PNG, recommended 1200 x 628 pixels or higher, minimum 703 x 368, with 1.91:1 the recommended aspect ratio. Microsoft crops each image into eight ratios from 2.01:1 to 1:1, so it advises against text or logo overlays in the image itself; use the logo, headline and description assets instead, or the disclaimer field when wording is legally required.

Display ads are image ads in fixed sizes. About Display ads lists the sizes per placement, for example 300 x 250, 728 x 90 and 970 x 250 on Microsoft Edge, and 160 x 600, 300 x 600, 300 x 250 and 728 x 90 on Outlook. Microsoft recommends choosing sizes that are eligible on Microsoft sites. Animated HTML5 display ads need your account manager to turn them on; the page sets account requirements (open more than 90 days, more than $1000 spent and at least $100 a month for the last three months) and a 600 KB ZIP limit.

Online Video ads run instream (while people stream media) and outstream (inside page content). About online video ads rates videos one, two or three stars by quality. One star needs 6 to 90 seconds and 2,500+ kbps and reaches some placements; three stars needs set lengths (10 to 90 seconds), MP4 or MOV and 10,000+ kbps for MP4, and is eligible for all placements, including the premium ones. Microsoft says vertical video fits gaming placements best.

Choosing placements and topics

For Audience campaigns the placement choice sits in the ad group settings, under Placements: the entire Microsoft Advertising Network, or Microsoft sites only. Choosing Microsoft sites opens specific placements, as listed in About content targeting:

• Microsoft Edge browsers: Native ads on the Edge new tab page.
• Productivity: Outlook, Native and Display.
• Gaming: Native, Display and Video on Microsoft Casual Games and King Games.
• MSN: Native, Display and Video with all MSN content, plus MSN - Health and MSN - Money for those content areas only.

The same page adds topic targeting, so ads appear alongside the topics you pick, and a Content view (Campaigns > Content) with conversions, impressions and clicks per content target. Microsoft notes that not every account has placements or topics yet.

Each Microsoft property also has rules on top of the ad policies, on Microsoft publisher preferences. Outlook, for example, takes no ads for email and calendar apps, and Microsoft Edge takes none for competing browser, search or AI products. Check it before you target one property only.

Bidding and budgets for Audience campaigns

How do I create an Audience campaign? offers three bid strategies: Manual CPM (you set the price per 1,000 viewed impressions, with an optional frequency limit per hour, day or week), Enhanced CPC and Maximize conversions (with an optional CPA and max CPC). Budgets can be daily, shared or lifetime, and you cannot switch between a standard and a lifetime budget after saving. A lifetime budget needs an end date.

Two delivery warnings from the same page: a new remarketing or custom audience list has a 48-hour delay before it delivers, and "Target and bid" audiences need at least 1,000 possible impressions or the ad group shows "Targeting too narrow". When unsure of size, Microsoft recommends "Bid only". Before launching, the Audience planner (Tools > Audiences > Audience planner) estimates audience size, impressions, clicks and spend as ranges for a given targeting, bid and budget.

Keeping a Search campaign off audience placements

There is no separate "Audience Network" switch on a Search campaign. Microsoft's Search ads page says: "To opt out of Audience ads, we recommend using website exclusions." How to prevent your ads from showing to certain people explains the limits. For Search campaigns you cannot block Yahoo and Microsoft search traffic (Bing, AOL), "but you can block your ads from serving on audience traffic (including MSN, Microsoft Edge, and Outlook.com)." About website control lists confirms it: for Search campaigns, ads do not show on Microsoft sites you have excluded.

The ad distribution setting (an ad group setting) is a different control. It chooses between the entire Microsoft Advertising Network and "Microsoft sites and select traffic", which drops the additional partner traffic. Microsoft notes that all options include search and Audience ads, so it does not take a Search campaign off audience placements by itself.

Website and app exclusions

Website control lists come in two kinds: exclusion lists (where ads must not show) and targeted website lists (where you want them, Audience campaigns only). Per Microsoft's control list page:

• Manager accounts create cross-account exclusion lists; accounts create campaign-level exclusion and targeted lists. A list only takes effect once it is associated with at least one account or campaign.
• Lists sit under Tools > Content suitability > Website control lists. You can also add URLs by hand in campaign settings, and ad group exclusions override campaign ones.
• Enter a domain without "www" (for example contoso.com) to cover all its subdomains.
• Audience campaigns "will always serve on Microsoft sites" even if you exclude them, and Microsoft sites stay targeted alongside any targeted list.

The exclusions page sets a maximum of 2,500 URLs, each with a domain, at most one subdomain and two directories. To keep ads out of a specific app, run the Website URL (publisher) report, add the Mobile Bundle column, and put that bundle ID on your exclusion list.

Brand safety and content suitability

About content suitability describes three account-level controls, available for Audience, Performance Max, Search and Shopping campaigns:

• Website control lists, as above.
• Content exclusions. By default, IAS screening blocks audience placements on sites rated medium or high risk for adult content, alcohol, gambling, hate speech, illegal downloads, illegal drugs, offensive language and violence. On top of that you can exclude sensitive categories: crime, infectious diseases and outbreaks, kids' content, natural disasters, politics, protests and demonstrations, and sensitive social issues.
• Excluded content terms, up to 1,000 terms that keep ads away from pages whose titles contain them. Not every account has this yet.

Microsoft adds that it "cannot guarantee that all content exclusions will be blocked," so the reports below still need a look.

Seeing where your ads ran

The main report is Website URL (publisher). Microsoft's Report Builder page says it shows impressions, clicks, spend and conversions for websites on the Microsoft Advertising Network, by URL, account, campaign, ad group and asset group, so you can exclude sites that do not perform. Microsoft notes that "select partner traffic" is reported in aggregate, so you cannot see each of those domains separately.

For Audience campaigns, also use:

• The Content view for results per placement and topic target.
• Unique reach and average impression frequency per user, currently for native ads only, with a three-day delay.
• Video metrics for Online Video ads: average CPV, views at 25%, 50% and 75%, completed views and completion rate.

Conversions on any of these need the UET tag; our Microsoft Advertising basics guide covers it.

Our view

This part is our opinion, not Microsoft's. For a lead-generation Search campaign we check the Website URL report in the first weeks and exclude audience traffic that brings clicks without enquiries. If the client wants reach on MSN or Outlook, we prefer a separate Audience campaign with its own native assets, budget and frequency limit, so it can be judged and stopped on its own. We start with native ads, since one set of assets covers many placements, and only add fixed-size display or video when there is creative made for it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Microsoft Audience Network?

It is the audience advertising part of the Microsoft Advertising Network: display, native and video ads shown to people while they use sites and apps such as MSN, Microsoft Start, Microsoft Edge, Outlook.com and publisher partners, rather than next to search results.

Do Search campaigns in Microsoft Ads show on the Audience Network?

They can. Microsoft says Search campaigns may be extended to audience placements such as MSN, Microsoft Edge and Outlook.com. Microsoft recommends website exclusions to opt out.

Can I exclude MSN or Outlook.com?

For Search campaigns, yes, through website exclusions. For Audience campaigns, no: Microsoft says they always serve on Microsoft sites even if you exclude them. You can instead choose specific Microsoft placements in the ad group's placement settings.

What image size do Microsoft Audience ads need?

For native ads, JPEG or PNG, recommended 1200 x 628 pixels or higher and at least 703 x 368, ideally at 1.91:1. Microsoft crops images to several ratios, so avoid text or logos in the image itself.

How do I see which sites my Microsoft ads appeared on?

Run the Website URL (publisher) report. It lists impressions, clicks, spend and conversions per website; select partner traffic is reported in aggregate.

Wherever the ads show, the landing page decides whether the click turns into an enquiry. See our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].