Paid Media News & Opinion #139

Advertise on Netflix via Microsoft Ads from only $25/day

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> What’s happening

Microsoft Ads has launched a new campaign type called ‘Premium Streaming’ which allows advertisers to tap into popular streaming services – such as Netflix, Paramount, Roku, Rakuten and more – across CTV and OTT (mobile, desktop, tablet) placements.

Eligible video ads, meeting all technical specifications, will be awarded either 1, 2 or 3 stars for quality, with only 3-star videos whitelisted for the most premium placements.

Duration of video ads must be either 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 60s, 75s or 90s for the most premium ‘3-star’ placements. Targeting for demographics, devices, ad schedule, genre, and audience segments (as well as exclusions) can be applied. A full technical spec and details on video quality are available here.

Minimum daily budget for this campaign type is $25, with a min default CPV bid of $0.01 and max of $0.20. These values are the same in GBP (£).

> Why we care

This is a huge opportunity for advertisers, even smaller brands, to get in front of highly-engaged audiences on highly-trusted platforms, with the likes of ‘Netflix’ very tempting for some. Combining this with the targeting options available and ease of campaign setup, we think this is a great option for those brands looking to boost awareness and consideration, albeit at a premium price point.

However, be aware that the top-end bid of $0.20 CPV is the equivalent of a >$200 CPM, even with view rates likely to be near 99%. Consider media costs and value of these ad placements vs other channels to weigh up if this is a good opportunity for you.

There is a Netflix-only campaign subtype which is not available to all users yet, but Microsoft says “it’s coming soon!”. Without this option, there are no controls nor performance reporting for inventory, so your ads won’t necessarily end up on the placements that you want.

Meta ads’ new “value rules” enable bid adjustments

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> What’s happening

Meta has expanded access to its new “Value Rules” feature in Ads Manager, enabling advertisers to adjust bids for specific audience segments based on chosen criteria. You can set a percentage to bid up or down using factors like age, gender, location, OS, and placement.

If you create multiple adjustments, only one will apply - they won’t stack. The first applicable rule takes priority, so arrange them in order of importance, from highest to lowest priority.

> Why we care

This feature gives advertisers the ability to act on good historical data, making adjustments that are likely to improve performance. Whilst there are algorithms in place that should be making these decisions, it’s not always as simple as that. Feeding the platform with what is essentially business intelligence on what does and doesn’t perform should improve Meta’s ability to optimise effectively.

We are slightly surprised to see Meta release this feature, given their preference for AI and automation. It does suggest a concession that opening up more control to advertisers and agencies can yield stronger results, perhaps realising that AI and fully automated campaigns are better suited to businesses that are new to advertising and don’t have the budgets or expertise to make these advanced decisions effectively.

AI Max experiments live for search campaigns

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> What’s happening

Google Ads is introducing AI Max experiments, designed to make it faster and easier to test AI-powered features without the hassle of duplicating campaigns.

Previously, advertisers had to create a separate “test” campaign to run experiments, which meant additional setup time, more complexity, and a longer path to statistically valid results. With this update, Google now allows experiments to run directly within the original campaign, splitting the existing budget 50/50 between control and test groups.

Key features of the new AI Max experiments:

• Streamlined setup: Located in the new ‘Choose a variable to test’ section.

• Automatic activation of key AI features:

  • Search Term Matching

  • Asset Optimization

• Customizable settings: Adjust AI Max configuration at the campaign or ad group level.

• Auto-apply by default: Google will apply winning experiment settings automatically unless you turn this off.

The update is already live in many advertiser accounts.

> Why we care

This release aims to make it easier for advertisers exploring Google’s AI-driven campaign enhancements. By keeping experiments within the same campaign and budget, Google can:

• Deliver faster results without the delays of traffic ramp-up for a duplicate campaign.

• Provide cleaner data, since both control and test groups draw from the same budget and targeting conditions.

• Improve search term coverage via AI-driven matching.

• Test better creative performance with AI-powered asset optimization.

• Enable smoother test-to-adoption pipeline for new automation tools.

However, we caution that the optimal way to run AI Max tests is not necessarily through this new built-in experiment type. In particular for businesses with a longer buying cycle, instead the recommendation is to build your AI Max campaign outside of this feature, as a separate campaign and run it in conjunction with your seed campaign to maintain full control over structure, budget allocation, and audience.

What else we've been talking about:

• Sitelinks now factor into Google Performance Max ad strength

• Google Ads lets you test images, videos in Demand Gen campaigns

• Google rolls out AI-powered asset optimization for Demand Gen ads

• PMax in Microsoft Ads now offers share of voice, budget tips & more

• Yelp launches Co-branded Ads to help national brands go local

• TikTok publishes new report on how to improve marketing attribution

• Google to restrict political ads in the EU under new policy