Go Universal! Now your ad campaigns can reach users across Microsoft premium surfaces like MSN, Outlook and Skype

Here’s your New Year’s gift from Windows Store team. The “Promote Your App” ad campaigns that delivered ad creatives in other apps in the Windows eco-system just got a major update.

We are happy to announce the launch of universal campaigns that will deliver your ads across Microsoft premium surfaces such as MSN.com, Outlook.com, and Skype, as well as games like the Microsoft solitaire collection.

Why should I use universal campaigns?

The first and the most important reason is wider reach. Microsoft premium surfaces such as MSN, Outlook, Skype and Solitaire collection are used by millions of users daily, and now your ad campaigns have a chance to showcase your awesome app when they interact on these surfaces.

Second, your ad campaigns will now get a very wide variety of touch points. Studies have shown that media-mix models can fetch your company multi-fold revenues. In the context of app promotions, it is the app installs and app engagements that can grow multi-fold.

MSN is primarily used in the context of news and entertainment, while Skype is used for personal communication and Outlook is used for email. Many Windows customers spend a fair amount of time playing popular games like Microsoft Solitaire. Your ad can now capture the attention of users in all these different situations, as well as improve recall and conversion rates.

Finally, the allocation of budget among the Microsoft surfaces is driven by powerful machine-learning algorithms. These algorithms start with finding the right set of users who should be exposed to your ad campaign, and then measure the effectiveness of each surface to adjust the target user profiles and budget allocations. Rest assured, these algorithms are working to give you the best possible ROI.

How do I get started?

All campaigns that use auto-targeting will be universal campaigns by default. To use auto-targeting, make sure Automatic is selected for the Audience section of your campaign settings in the Dev Center dashboard.

If you wish to create a manually targeted campaign, make sure you choose Universal for the Surface setting in the Audience section of your campaign.

Give it a try! If you’ve got suggestions for how we can make these features even more useful, please let us know at Windows Developer Feedback.

Source: Go Universal! Now your ad campaigns can reach users across Microsoft premium surfaces like MSN, Outlook and Skype