Adaptability in advertising & microsoft automotive ad placements

By Hon Lau, Senior PPC Manager

Microsoft Advertising has expanded Automotive Ads placements and rolled out the open beta to all advertisers globally, essentially helping car dealerships and any automotive clients  get in front of more potential customers.

Since its introduction, Automotive Ads have been eligible to show in Bing search, image and video results pages. With this expansion, the format can also display in the Microsoft Audience Network, the Microsoft Autos Marketplace and the Windows search bar

This format will also begin showing on Yahoo! And DuckDuckGo (Microsoft has agreements to show ads on both these platforms).

In addition to the updates above, the company plans to roll out more expansions throughout this year. These include:

• Support for new vehicle types (motorcycles and RVs).

• Support for monthly pricing and leasing options.

• Support for more visuals and attributes (such as an attribute for electric vehicles).

So, why do we care?

 On the Microsoft Search Network, automotive search interest is up 48% compared to 2019,  according to Microsoft internal data. Using this, we know that Automotive Ads can help vehicle sellers tap into this demand with an automated, feed-based format that may be easier to get started with than some of the other digital options out there.

More ad placements may enable businesses such as car dealerships to get in front of more potential customers. And, the updates planned to roll out this year will add more flexibility to the format making them more viable for more businesses. This means ultimately, that Microsoft has introduced a much easier way for automotive businesses and advertising clients to advertise digitally.

We also wanted to highlight that this is a change made based on current data- and in marketing, adaptability is key to reap the results needed.