Microsoft rebrands Bing Ads as Microsoft Advertising
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Microsoft's campaign to rebrand many of its products using the Microsoft name is continuing. The latest to get the treatment: Bing Ads, which has been rechristened as "Microsoft Advertising."
Microsoft announced the change in an April 29 blog post. As Search Engine Land noted, Bing Ads previous was known as "Microsoft Ad Center." And last year, Microsoft launched the related "Microsoft Audience Network."
Microsoft execs told Search Engine Land that the change in branding is meant "to signal offerings that extend beyond search inventory and search data."
The rebrand is "a simple shift because our clients and partners already know us as Microsoft, and many are already tapping into our new advertising products that go above and beyond search, such as the Microsoft Audience Network," says Microsoft in its blog post.
Bing will remain the consumer search brand for Microsoft, the blog post notes, claiming that Bing will "only become more important as intent data drives more personalization and product innovation." Microsoft touted "100 months of consecutive Bing share growth" and half a million advertisers, as well as the company becoming the exclusive search advertising provider across Verizon Media properties as selling points for its advertising portfolio.
Bing finally became profitable in 2015 after years of Microsoft datacenter investment and various partnerships via which Microsoft tried to gain a toehold in the web search market. Microsoft's decision to build Bing search into a number of its own products and services like WIndows also helped it gain some marketshare.
In an accompanying branding video about the name change, Microsoft officials emphasized the importance of having a trusted advertising partner. Microsoft increasingly has been pushing the messaging around Microsoft being more attuned to privacy than Google and Amazon.