Back in January, we had a conversation with David Pann, GM of Microsoft’s Search Network, who told us that we could expect Bing’s version of product listing ads sometime this year. This came shortly after a big anti-Google campaign from the company slamming Google Shopping based on its product listing ads.
Pan told us Microsoft’s will not result in a “pay to play” system for Bing Shopping like Google’s. Otherwise, the ads are similar to Google’s. When we talked, the ads were still in alpha, and Pann just said he expected them to roll out during this calendar year. In April, Bing announced they’d be coming in the third quarter. Now, Pann tells Search Engine Land:
“We are on track to release Product Ads in Q3 of this year. We have invited a targeted set of U.S. advertisers to participate in a ‘closed beta’ through the holiday season so that we allow time to ensure our primary goal of creating a great customer experience while also listening to/implementing any advertiser feedback. We will announce general availability timing in the coming months.”
On Wednesday, Adobe announced that its Media Optimizer is the first to market with support for the ads.
With the product, advertisers can manage Bing Product Ads and Promotions Lines, manage Bing Product Targets, report/measure Product Ad and Product Target performance against ROI metrics, view search queries that led to conversions through Bing Product Ads, algorithmically optimize bids between individual Product Targets and All Product Target, and create/update campaigns from product feeds and templates.
“Bing Product Ads represent another key opportunity for retailers in the search engine marketing (SEM) landscape,” says Adobe’s Jonathan Beeston. ” With Adobe Media Optimizer being first to market, as it also was with Google Product Listing Ads (PLAs), Google Enhanced Campaigns and Twitter Ads API, we’re enabling advertisers to maximize their ROI by taking advantage of new ad formats and channels.”
You can read more about Bing’s product ads here.