Blog post
Connecting with audiences across work and life
The advertising industry is evolving fast. Across industries and around the world, we’re seeing marketers leverage Microsoft Advertising to recover and accelerate their businesses as they adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Digital acceleration, new consumer behaviors and values, and expectations for privacy are requiring brands to adapt how they reach and best serve people’s needs. As a result, there has never been a more crucial time for marketers to forge deeper relationships with people.
One of the most unique ways that Microsoft Advertising can help marketers is by connecting them with audiences at the intersection of work and life. The lines have blurred between people’s professional and personal lives. As people adapted to working, shopping, and living from home, we’ve seen digital engagement evolve and accelerate across devices. For example, prior to the pandemic, e-commerce was heaviest in the evening and morning hours, before and after commuting times. Since the pandemic we've seen shopping behaviors expand across a 12-hour period throughout the day. Consumers are ready to act at any time. And the behavior is not reverting, as these trends appear here to stay.
Microsoft Advertising helps marketers reach people as they navigate between personal and professional task completion throughout their day. From Microsoft Bing to Edge to Microsoft News (MSN) to Outlook.com, marketers can be there in the moments that matter. At the heart of it all is Windows, and the 1.3 billion Windows devices that people rely on monthly to get their most important tasks done across work and life.1 Windows usage has surged to more than 4 trillion minutes a month.1 Windows users make up the majority of people that marketers can reach across the Microsoft Search Network and Microsoft Audience Network, and Microsoft Advertising is the most efficient place for marketers to reach them due to our audience makeup and the exclusive placements we offer.
The Windows audience on Microsoft Advertising:
- Purchasing power — Windows audiences on the Microsoft Advertising Network have a higher buying power index compared to the total internet population. Users on our Microsoft Search Network have a Buying Power Index (BPI) of 179, or spend 79% more online that the average internet users, while audiences on our Microsoft Audience Network have a BPI of 207, or 107% more than the average internet user.2
- Propensity to purchase — Windows users are more likely to make a major purchase online versus the average internet user. For example, Microsoft Search Network users on Windows are 27% more likely to have purchased a car online than the average internet user.3 Bing users on Windows are more likely to make a purchase than Google users on Windows across verticals and many purchase types. Extending that same example, Microsoft Search Network users on Windows are 14% more likely to have purchased a car online than Google users on Windows.3
- Engagement with ads — Microsoft Advertising audiences are more inclined to engage with ads to try new offers. When comparing ad engagement by operating system type, Windows users have a greater inclination to engage with ads than other platforms — regardless of device type.
In addition to a highly relevant audience for marketers, Microsoft Advertising provides access through unique and exclusive placements, including the Windows search task bar and Microsoft Edge default tabs. These placements not only foster high-quality engagement along the consumer decision journey, but also position marketers to connect with people in a meaningful context — before they might even go to any specific website. As we look forward, we’re making investments to continue to bring marketers new innovations and opportunities.
Microsoft Bing in the Windows search taskbar
Microsoft Audience Network on Edge new tab page
If audience quality matters, then context also matters. In an area that’s being defined, and redefined, by privacy expectations, Microsoft Advertising provides marketers access to rich audience intelligence through Microsoft consumer datasets — which consist of billions of signals, including LinkedIn data — so they can deliver more personalized experiences using privacy-centric tools in brand-safe environments. In addition, marketers can enrich their own first-party data with Microsoft audience intelligence to uncover new opportunities using Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and target audiences directly on the Microsoft Advertising Network using Customer Match, activate across a myriad of marketing channels, or scale through the Microsoft Advertising platform targeting capabilities.
We’re entering an era where relationships and partnerships are both becoming increasingly critical and yet must be sealed by trust and authenticity. Our approach to partnership is about providing access to audiences that can help grow our clients’ business, and multi-channel solutions and insights that empower marketers to leverage their most valuable assets to improve their bottom line — not ours.
[1] Microsoft internal data.
[2] Comscore Custom Reporting, Aggregated browser, US, Sept 2020 to Dec 2020
[3] Global Web Index, US, Q2 2020-Q1 2021.
