On February 1st, Microsoft announced a few new features that became available with the January 2012 AdCenter Release. Below is a rundown of what’s new:
New Mobile Targeting Options – Advertisers who place mobile campaigns through AdCenter now have the option of targeting specific mobile operating systems, as well as separating out tablet users from mobile phone users. Mobile phone operating systems that can be specifically targeted are: Blackberry, Android, Windows, and iOS (Apple’s operating system.) Tablet operating systems that can be targeted are: iOS, Android, and RIM. This new functionality allows advertisers to zero in on categories of phones, or potentially target separate campaigns based on phone or tablet operating system to help determine if users of certain phone types act or convert differently than others. The device targeting settings can be employed via the AdCenter Online interface, or through the API. The functionality does not, however, exist in the AdCenter Desktop tool.
Ad Copy Description Character Allowance Increased – The description ad copy character limitation was increased by one, from 70 characters previously to 71 allowable now. This move will make it easier for advertisers to copy their Google campaigns over into AdCenter without having to adjust ad copy.
New Budget Widget – A new budget widget is now present on the home page dashboard, and doesn’t require any additional plug ins. The widget shows percentage of budget depletion at a daily and monthly level, and allows users to edit budget settings.
In other AdCenter news, the Microsoft-Yahoo Search Alliance is expanding to European Markets. Microsoft AdCenter ads have been added to the rotation on Yahoo pages in the UK, France, and Ireland in mid-January. Currently only about 10% of Yahoo’s ads in these markets are being powered by Microsoft. Soon advertisers in select European countries will have the ability to manage MSN and Yahoo ads from a centralized AdCenter interface, as has been the case in the US for over a year.
