Native display across Microsoft's content network.
Microsoft Audience Ads are native display advertisements served across MSN, Outlook.com, Microsoft Edge New Tab, and Microsoft's content partner network. They reach Microsoft's 35+ million monthly Australian touchpoints with native ad formats that blend into editorial content — high-attention placements with lower competition than Google Display.
Microsoft Audience Ads — native display on MSN, Outlook, and Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft Audience Ads (formerly Microsoft Audience Network) are native advertising placements across Microsoft's owned-and-operated content properties — MSN (news, finance, sport, entertainment), Outlook.com (email), Microsoft Edge New Tab page, and Microsoft's extended partner network. They appear as native content recommendations — "You might also like" style units that blend with editorial content rather than interrupting it. Microsoft Audience Ads use AI-powered contextual and behavioural targeting, with the unique addition of LinkedIn demographic signals for B2B audience layering. For businesses wanting display reach beyond Google's network, Microsoft Audience Ads access a distinct, complementary set of content placements with a demographic profile that skews toward professional and higher-income users — the people who use Outlook for work email and MSN as a default news source on Windows devices.
Get a free audit35 million monthly touchpoints Google Display does not reach.
Microsoft's owned properties — MSN, Outlook, Edge New Tab — are among the most-visited websites in Australia, driven by Windows' dominant position in corporate and home computing. These placements are not available through Google Display Network. Microsoft Audience Ads therefore reach an audience that is additive to Google Display, not duplicative. The demographic profile of Microsoft's content audience skews toward 35–65 year olds, higher household income, and corporate computer users — the same profile that makes Bing Search valuable for financial services, professional services, and home improvement categories. Native ad formats on MSN news pages and Outlook sidebar placements also benefit from being adjacent to high-quality editorial content, which improves brand association compared to long-tail Display Network placements.
Contextual, behavioural, and LinkedIn-powered targeting.
Microsoft Audience Ads offer three targeting approaches not available on Google Display — we use all three where relevant.
Display reach beyond Google for the right audience and category.
LinkedIn Ads are expensive per impression. Microsoft Audience Ads deliver LinkedIn-targeted display impressions on MSN and Outlook at a fraction of LinkedIn's CPM — reaching the same professional audience in a different, complementary context.
Microsoft's content audience is concentrated in the 35–65 demographic that spends time on MSN news, Outlook email, and Windows devices. For categories where this demographic is the primary buyer — home improvement, financial services, healthcare, professional services — Microsoft Audience Ads reach them in their daily digital environment.
Google Display remarketing reaches website visitors on Google's partner network. Microsoft Audience Ads reach the same visitors on Microsoft's separate content network. Combined, they provide broader multi-touchpoint reach that improves overall conversion rates from warm audiences.
MSN Finance, MSN News, and MSN Real Estate are high-traffic editorial properties. Businesses in financial services, real estate, home improvement, and professional services benefit from contextual adjacency to these content categories — appearing as relevant native recommendations rather than display ads.
Awareness first, conversion data second, optimisation third.
Native display behaves differently from search, so we run it on a deliberate sequence rather than switching everything on at once. We start with remarketing and tightly contextual placements where intent is already warm, let the campaign gather impression and placement data, then widen reach into in-market and LinkedIn-layered audiences once the conversion signal is clear. This keeps early spend efficient and gives Microsoft's algorithm clean data to learn from. Every step ships with conversion tracking through the UET tag so awareness is measured against real outcomes, not vanity impressions.
We map remarketing lists, contextual categories on MSN, and any LinkedIn overlays that fit your buyer, then produce native assets — headline, description, and image variants — sized for Microsoft's responsive placements.
We activate remarketing and high-relevance contextual placements first. These convert fastest and give the campaign a profitable base before we spend on colder awareness.
Once the warm base performs, we widen into in-market segments and LinkedIn-layered audiences to grow top-of-funnel awareness against the same demographic profile.
We read the placement report every month, exclude publishers that waste spend, shift budget toward Microsoft's owned inventory, and move to Target CPA bidding once conversion volume supports it.
Audience Ads earn their keep as part of the stack.
Native display rarely works hardest on its own. It compounds when it sits alongside the channels that capture intent and the audiences that justify the awareness spend. Here is where it fits in a coordinated Scalepoint stack.
Search captures the moment someone looks for your service. Audience Ads keep you visible to those same people between searches — building the remarketing lists that make display profitable and reinforcing brand recall before the next query.
For B2B awareness, LinkedIn overlays let your native ads reach the Operations Manager or Finance Director by job title and industry — on MSN and Outlook, at display CPMs rather than LinkedIn's premium rates.
Microsoft's owned properties sit outside Google's network entirely. Running both gives you additive, non-duplicative display reach across two separate content ecosystems, which lifts overall conversion rates from warm audiences.
If you already run Google Ads, importing your search structure gets the Microsoft account live in hours. Audience Ads then build naturally on top of the remarketing audiences and conversion tracking that import sets up.
From $690 per month plus ad spend, with no lock-in.
Scalepoint runs Microsoft Audience Ads on a month-to-month basis — no lock-in contracts and prices that stay on the page. Management starts at $690 per month plus your media budget, and because Audience Network CPMs sit well below Google Display, a modest spend buys real awareness volume. The fee covers audience build, native creative, placement curation, conversion tracking, and a monthly report you can actually read. When Audience Ads run as part of a wider stack — search, LinkedIn targeting, remarketing — the Surge and Scale tiers package multiple channels under one operator. See the full breakdown on the pricing page; we never hide a number behind a quote request.
See pricingA one-page audit of your microsoft audience ads opportunities.
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Common questions about microsoft audience ads
What is the Microsoft Audience Network?+
The Microsoft Audience Network is a native display channel that places ads across MSN, Microsoft News, Outlook, and a network of partner publishers. Ads appear as sponsored content within editorial feeds rather than as banner ads — they match the look of the surrounding content, which typically produces stronger engagement and lower bounce rates than traditional display. It's Microsoft's equivalent to Google's Display Network, but with a more tightly controlled publisher environment.
Who sees ads on the Microsoft Audience Network?+
Audience Network ads reach signed-in Microsoft account holders — people reading news on MSN, checking email in Outlook, or browsing Microsoft News. The audience skews toward 35 and above, with higher-than-average household incomes and a strong professional demographic. For B2B advertisers and businesses selling considered purchases, this is a meaningfully different profile from broad programmatic display networks.
What creative format does it use?+
Audience Network ads are responsive native ads: you provide a headline, description, and image, and Microsoft assembles and optimises the layout across placements automatically. There are no fixed banner dimensions to design for, which simplifies production. The native format means ads inherit the visual styling of the surrounding editorial content, making them less disruptive and more likely to be engaged with than traditional display units.
Is it worth adding alongside Search Ads?+
For B2B campaigns and considered purchases, yes. The Audience Network delivers low CPMs for brand awareness and remarketing between active search sessions — keeping you visible to prospects who've already shown intent through search but haven't converted yet. Scalepoint typically introduces Audience Network once Search campaigns have established conversion data, so we can build remarketing audiences and in-market segments with real signals rather than assumptions.
How does targeting work on the Audience Network?+
The Audience Network uses Microsoft's in-market and interest audience segments, LinkedIn Profile Targeting overlays (job title, company, industry), and remarketing lists from your own site visitors. This combination is what separates it from most display networks — you can reach people reading MSN News who also match a specific professional profile and have previously visited your website. Scalepoint layers these signals deliberately based on campaign goals rather than activating everything at once.
What does Microsoft Audience Ads cost to run with Scalepoint?+
Scalepoint manages Microsoft Audience Ads from $690 per month plus your ad spend, month-to-month with no lock-in. Audience Network CPMs sit well below Google Display for comparable placements, so a modest media budget buys meaningful awareness volume. Our management fee covers audience build, native creative setup, contextual placement curation, conversion tracking, and monthly reporting. You can see the full tiers on the pricing page — every price stays on the page, and we never ask you to request a quote.
How long before Microsoft Audience Ads show results?+
Awareness metrics — impressions, reach, and view-through — appear within the first week of activation. Direct conversions take longer because display sits higher in the funnel than search. Scalepoint usually waits two to four weeks for the campaign to gather placement and audience data before optimising bids and trimming low-performing publishers. Remarketing audiences built from search visitors tend to convert fastest, which is why we sequence them first when a Search campaign is already running.
Can I control which publishers my ads appear on?+
Yes. Microsoft Audience Ads support placement exclusions, so we can block specific sites or categories that do not fit your brand, and we monitor the placement report monthly to prune anything that wastes spend. Microsoft's owned properties — MSN, Outlook, Edge — carry the bulk of premium inventory, and we weight delivery toward those rather than the long tail of partner sites when brand adjacency matters.