Microsoft Advertising Gets Serious: Major Updates That Actually Matter

Microsoft Advertising has just rolled out its most significant updates in months, fundamentally changing how advertisers manage campaigns and budgets. These aren’t minor tweaks – they’re addressing the biggest pain points that have held back adoption of the platform. From completely restructured reporting capabilities to a major shift in how Performance Max competes with Standard Shopping campaigns, plus streamlined imports from Google and Meta that could save hours of manual work. Here’s what every digital marketer needs to know about these developments.

New Custom Report Builder and Enhanced Reporting

Campaign performance overview is now significantly clearer and more flexible. Microsoft unveiled a completely new reporting interface that simplifies access to frequently used reports and recommended templates.

The key innovation is the Custom Report Builder, which enables creating detailed custom overviews, such as:

• selecting from numerous metrics
• segmentation by device or audience
• advanced filtering
• scheduling automated reports

Change in Performance Max vs. Standard Shopping Prioritisation

Back in May, Microsoft adjusted how Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns are evaluated in auctions when targeting the same products within a single account.

Previously, PMax campaigns always took priority, but now standard auction logic applies – the campaign with the higher Ad Rank wins, similar to other campaign types.

For advertisers, this means simpler budget management and more flexible testing without having to navigate complex prioritisation rules. In practice, they can better distribute spend between individual campaigns and target more precisely according to their own objectives.

According to Microsoft’s internal US data (February to April 2025), PMax campaigns recorded a 39% higher conversion rate than Standard Shopping campaigns alone – confirming their potential for maximising performance.

Beyond the auction logic change, PMax campaigns have gained new management and optimisation capabilities:

• support for scripts and automated rules
• ability to copy asset groups
• new customer acquisition goals (in pilot phase)
• diagnostic insights that help quickly identify weak points in the conversion process.

These improvements make Performance Max a stronger tool for advertisers wanting to fully leverage AI and automation within Microsoft Advertising.

Imports from Google and Meta: Carousel Ads and Fix Recommendations

Advertisers using Google Import or Meta Import can now automatically convert the first image of carousel ads into native ads in Microsoft Advertising (within Audience Ads). This significantly simplifies campaign replication across platforms.

Intelligent import fix recommendations are coming soon, which will quickly alert users to errors and suggest solutions. This should minimise performance drops and improve campaign consistency.

Shopify: PMax Campaigns in Additional Countries

Shopify merchants can now launch PMax campaigns directly from their e-shop administration via the Microsoft Channel app, which is now available in additional countries, specifically France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Merchants can:

• connect their Microsoft Advertising account directly from Shopify
• automatically synchronise product feeds
• display products on Bing and MSN as Product Listings Ads
• analyse results in real-time through Microsoft Advertising