Microsoft Video and Connected TV ads

Microsoft Video ads can appear across Microsoft properties, premium publishers, and partner experiences. Examples may include websites, apps, games, news content, sports content, entertainment content, and other video-enabled placements.

Microsoft Connected TV ads can appear on streaming platforms and connected TV environments. These are full-screen video ads shown while people stream content on smart TVs, streaming devices, and other internet-connected TV experiences.

Many advertisers know Microsoft Advertising for Search, but Microsoft also offers video and CTV inventory. These ads can help brands reach people beyond the search results page, using richer creative and audience targeting to build awareness, increase consideration, and support future conversions.

Video and CTV ads are especially useful for awareness, reach, brand recall, product education, audience engagement, and consideration. They can also support lower-funnel goals when paired with clear calls to action, strong landing pages, audience targeting, and follow-up campaigns.

No. Video and CTV ads can help businesses of different sizes reach relevant audiences with video creative. Advertisers can control budgets, bids, targeting, and frequency caps, which makes video advertising more accessible than many traditional TV advertising options.

Use Video ads when you want to introduce your brand, explain a product, tell a story, show how something works, or stay visible while people browse and watch content. Use Search ads when you want to reach people who are actively searching for something related to your business.

Use Connected TV ads when you want a premium, full-screen video experience that feels closer to traditional TV advertising. CTV can be a good fit for brand awareness, product launches, seasonal campaigns, local market awareness, and campaigns that benefit from a bigger-screen experience.

You need video creative that clearly communicates your message. Strong video ads usually include your brand early, a simple message, clear visuals, readable product or offer details, and a call to action when appropriate.

Many video and CTV campaigns use short creative, often 15 or 30 seconds. The right length depends on your message, placement, audience, and campaign goal. Shorter ads can work well for quick awareness, while slightly longer ads may help explain a product or service.

Instream video ads appear within video content, such as before, during, or after a video someone chooses to watch. These placements are useful when you want your ad to appear in a video-viewing context.

Outstream video ads appear outside a traditional video player, such as within article pages, feeds, or other content environments. They can help expand reach beyond video-only content while still using motion and visual storytelling.

You can use audience targeting to reach people who are more likely to be relevant to your business. Targeting may include signals such as demographics, interests, intent, remarketing audiences, location, and other Microsoft Advertising audience options.

Genre targeting lets advertisers align Connected TV ads with certain types of content, such as action, business, gaming, travel, sitcoms, and other categories. This can help match the campaign message to the viewing environment.

A frequency cap limits how often a person may see your video ad during a specific time period, such as per hour, day, or week. Frequency caps help advertisers manage reach, reduce wasted impressions, and avoid showing the same ad too often.

Measurement depends on your goal. For awareness, review reach, impressions, video views, completion rate, and frequency. For consideration, review clicks, site visits, engaged sessions, and audience activity. For conversion-focused campaigns, review downstream actions such as leads, purchases, sign-ups, or other business outcomes.

Yes. Video and CTV ads often work best as part of a larger media plan. They can introduce your brand at the top of the funnel, educate people in the middle of the funnel, and help create audiences that can be reached again through Search, Display, Native, remarketing, or other campaigns.

Show the brand early, keep the message focused, design for sound and motion, use strong visual contrast, and avoid trying to communicate too many ideas at once. For CTV, remember that people may be watching from across the room, so visuals should be simple and easy to understand.

Advanced advertisers should test different creative lengths, messages, audiences, genres, bids, budgets, and frequency caps. Review performance by audience, placement, creative, device, and geography where reporting is available. Use what you learn to refine targeting, refresh creative, and connect video exposure to later customer actions.