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Microsoft Invest - Buying guide

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This guide helps you understand the buy-side capabilities of Microsoft Invest and provides step-by-step instructions for managing all aspects of direct and third-party media buying on behalf of your advertisers. For details about network-level features that apply to all advertisers, see the Network Guide. For direct agreements with sellers, see Buying Deals.

Tip

New to buy-side setup tasks and concepts? Check our Training: Microsoft Advertising's Learning Lab for learning path of Programmatic Advertising.

In this guide

  • Ad Buying with Microsoft Advertising: The combination of market positioning and single-point access to programmatic buying features through Microsoft Invest add up to unparalleled advantages for ad buying.
  • Basic Buy-side Setup Procedures: This overview walks through the essential procedures used to set up ad purchasing in Microsoft Invest.
  • Working with Advertisers: The advertiser object is the top level of the buy-side hierarchy (Advertiser > Insertion Orders > Line Items). Before you can set up line items to define your financial agreement and then start running campaigns and serving creatives on behalf of an advertiser, you must set up the advertiser itself.
  • Working with Insertion Orders: Insertion orders allow you to bucket line items under an advertiser (Advertiser > Insertion Order > Line Items).
  • Working with Line Items: A line item defines your financial agreement with an advertiser, including how much the advertiser has allocated for you to spend (budget), the basis on which the advertiser has agreed to pay you (revenue type), and performance requirements the advertiser expects you to meet (advertiser goals).
  • Working with Programmable Splits: Programmable splits let you automate ad targeting using rulesets to ensure your ads are delivered and your budget is allocated to very specific segments.
  • Working with Segments: Segment pixels use information about a user, such as webpages they visit, actions they take, or qualities such as gender, location, and wealth, to assign that user to a group called a segment for future targeting.
  • Working with Conversion Pixels: Conversion pixels are used to track user actions in response to advertisers' creatives, such as registering at a site or making a purchase. When a conversion pixel fires, Microsoft Advertising determines if the conversion (the registration, the purchase, etc.) can be "attributed", or tied to the user clicking on or viewing one of the advertiser's creatives previously.
  • Working with Impression and Click Trackers: Impression and click trackers are used to track impressions and clicks associated with creatives that are hosted by off-platform (non-Microsoft Advertising) ad servers. This is done by attaching the tracker as a "piggyback pixel" on the externally hosted creative. This lets you report on impressions and clicks on these creatives as if they were hosted by Microsoft Advertising.
  • APAC Supply Information - Platform Inventory by Seller
  • Welcome to Mobile: Advertising on mobile devices is mostly similar to traditional display advertising (and where it differs, we'll explain those differences). This section is designed to provide you with a solid understanding of how advertising works on mobile devices.
  • Introduction to Viewability: Understand how Microsoft Advertising measures ad views, and optimize the chances of your audience viewing your creatives.
  • Buying Video Inventory: This guide provides advanced video reference information as well as information about buying in-stream, out-stream, and Connected TV inventory.
  • Buying Audio Inventory: This guide provides information about buying audio inventory.
  • Buying Native Inventory: Websites that sell native inventory accept ad content but enforce their own display properties to integrate. This guide describes how to buy native inventory on properties that allow it.
  • Data Marketplace Overview: Microsoft Advertising supports automatic clearing of third-party segment data you can purchase and use to target audience segments.
  • Create a User: You can create advertiser users for advertisers that want to run reports for themselves. An advertiser user does not see data about any other advertisers and does not have editing capabilities.