Microsoft Monetize - Buying Microsoft Windows 3rd party AppNetwork inventory
Tip
For general mobile documentation, see Welcome to Mobile.
Inventory overview
Reach millions of user on desktop, tablet, and phone through Windows AppNetwork and Windows Phone AppNetwork 3rd Party. Advertising on Windows 3rd Party has never been a better investment, as improved user-sync and new media offerings best position your brand to connect with a highly engaged audience. Windows AppNetwork and Windows Phone AppNetwork allow brands to access millions of engaged users through hundreds of thousands of 3rd party apps.
Availability and volume
Microsoft Windows 3rd Party AppNetwork inventory is fully integrated with the Microsoft Advertising Exchange (Member 280) and is classified as “Desktop” and “Web” supply type for both Desktop/Tablet,Web and Phone.
Note
Supply type is a targeting attribute designated by the seller that may not reflect actual device type.
- Available globally - top markets are United States, Brazil, United Kingdom, France, Vietnam
- 13 billion monthly impressions worldwide
Tip
Inventory Research with specific break-downs of Windows App inventory by size & country can be accessed via the Network tab then filtering for Supply Type = "App" within seller Microsoft Advertising Exchange (280).
Formats and specifications
Creative specs
| Creative Size | Windows AppNetwork | Windows Phone AppNetwork |
|---|---|---|
| 160x600 | X | |
| 250x250 | X | |
| 300x250 | X | X |
| 300x50 | X | X |
| 300x600 | X | |
| 320x50 | X | X |
| 480x80 | X | |
| 640x100 | ||
| 728x90 | X |
Technical Attributes:
- MRAID 1.0 and 2.0
- Hosted Images
- HTML
- HTML - iframe
- Javascript (in web view)
- Image (Third-Party Ad Served)
- No Flash Allowed on Windows Phone
- Video
Tip
We have mapped the top 1000 app names for targeting on both the Windows AppNetwork and Windows Phone AppNetwork. If you want to target an app name outside of the top 1000, reach out to your account manager. There is reporting capability for App targeting.
Ad Quality:
- Microsoft CAP
- Animation Length up to 30 sec
Legacy Ads SDK creative specs
Legacy SDK (versions prior to Windows 10) currently represents 55% of total impressions on the Windows 3rd Party AppNetwork (Windows 7 has 35% of total traffic, Windows 8.1 10% etc.). This percentage is steadily decreasing as Windows 10 adoption continues.
Any legacy SDK before Windows 8.1 lacks support for mobile standard third-party ad serving, impression tracking pixels, javascript and MRAID.
As an Microsoft Advertising Buyer, you may still access legacy SDK inventory by uploading an image creative to Microsoft Advertising and specifying a landing page. For more information on uploading a hosted image as a creative, see Add Banner Creatives.
Targeting instructions
To target Windows AppNetwork and/or Windows Phone AppNetwork inventory by PubID via Standard Line Item - Campaign:
- In the Device and Supply Type section, select all device types to target.
- Select Default to target Web, Mobile Web, and App Placements.
- In the Inventory section, click Edit.
- On the 3rd Party Inventory > Publishers & Categories subtab, target pubID 348882 for Windows AppNetwork and/or pubID 336212 for Windows Phone App Network.
- Click Add.
To target Windows AppNetwork and/or Windows Phone AppNetwork via Augmented Line Item - Programmatic Splits:
- Leave the default device type selected and Inventory Type should be set to Apps & Web.
- On the Programmatic Split – Select Publisher and add 348882 & 336212 for desktop and phone apps respectively for inclusion.
- Click Add.
To target Windows AppNetwork and/or Windows Phone AppNetwork by deal:
- Navigate to Package MarketPlace from the Partners ribbon.
- Select seller as Microsoft Advertising Exchange (280).
- Search for Microsoft Run of Windows PC Apps and Run of Windows Phone Apps.
- Click Get Deals and this will generate a Deal ID to target.
Targeting criteria information
| Windows AppNetwork (Desktop/Tablet) | Windows Phone AppNetwork (Phone) | |
|---|---|---|
| Targeting Criteria | Pub ID 348882 | Pub ID 336212 |
| Seller Member | 280 | |
| Language | Available | |
| Supply Type | Web | |
| OS Family | Microsoft Windows | |
| Device Type* | All | |
| Device Make Model | N/A | Available |
| Carrier | Available | |
| Lat/Long | Limited Availability | |
| App Targeting** | Limited Availability |
It is recommended to NOT use Device Type for targeting. Retain the "All" default setting to maximize device targeting.
Tip
To report on delivery for each publisher, you can select "publisher" as a dimension in an analytics report.The best way to distinguish between Windows 10 Desktop Inventory and Windows Phone inventory is to use creative size targeting or OS (extended) targeting.
Best practice for reach
To maximize reach across Windows App inventory, we recommend targeting both Supply Type "Mobile App" and “Web” inventory within Microsoft Advertising Exchange without additional parameters such as "Device Type." This is because there are certain instances where Microsoft Advertising does not receive this information from the device SDK and applications are presented as Sites referencing the Windows Store URL.
Packages and deals
Packages are a great way to leverage Microsoft user data with your campaigns. Currently, Windows AppNetwork and Windows Phone AppNetwork offer a few packages broken out by content category such as entertainment, games, and news. See Buying Microsoft Deals for more.
Extra information
User identification (Microsoft Ad ID)
All Microsoft Windows App inventory includes a mobile-specific device identifier called the Windows Ad ID. This identifier is similar to other mobile app identifiers like IDFA or Google Play in that it is persistent across apps on the same device, compliant to the user's OS-level privacy settings.
For Windows 10 inventory, Microsoft also provides the Microsoft Advertising ID (UUID64) corresponding to the user's default browser where available. This process is called user-syncing, and enables advertisers to track users across devices. User-sync is available on 82% of Windows 10 impressions, and better enables category targeting, frequency cap, conversion tracking and more.
App-Install attribution (Window Store ID)
For buyers running campaigns with a CPA goal of an App installation, the third-party app installation vendors Tune, Adjust, and Kochava support Windows Apps attribution tracking through Microsoft Advertising. See Set Up Third-Party Mobile App Install Tracking for more information on hosted Microsoft Advertising creatives and how to use third-party app installation vendors for conversion tracking within Microsoft Advertising.If you are using a third-party ad server, you will be tracking conversions in that third-party ad server, which will require its own integration with Tune, Adjust, or Kochava for conversion attribution. We will continue onboarding additional attribution vendors. If you rely upon a specific attribution vendor that is not supported today, please contact your Microsoft Advertising Account Representative.
More questions?
If you have any further questions about buying Windows App Inventory, please contact your Microsoft Advertising account representative.