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What are my options for audiences?

Learn about what audiences are available and on which network their ads are shown.

Audiences are groups of potential customers that you can target. Microsoft Advertising offers several different types of audiences you can use to get your ads in front of the right people.

Audience type What it is Where does it show ads? Is UET required? Whom does it reach? Whose customer data is used?
Custom audiences Lists of customers that are generated using your own customer data. Search network, Microsoft Audience Network No Existing customers Yours
Combined lists Multiple audience lists combined together using AND, OR, and NOT conditions. Search network, Microsoft Audience Network Depends on combination Depends on combination Depends on combination
Customer match lists Lists of email addresses your customers have shared with you to reengage with them. Search network, Microsoft Audience Network No Existing customers Yours
Dynamic remarketing lists Lists of customers who have interacted with specific product IDs in your Microsoft Merchant Center catalog feed. Search network (through Microsoft Shopping Campaigns), Microsoft Audience Network Yes Existing customers Yours
In-market audiences Curated lists of customers who have shown purchase intent signals within a particular category. Search network, Microsoft Audience Network

Note: The search network and the Microsoft Audience Network have different sets of in-market audiences. Take a look at this up-to-date list of all the available in-market audiences.

 No New customers Microsoft's
LinkedIn profile targeting Lists of potential customers grouped by the company, industry, or job function listed in their LinkedIn profiles. Search network, Microsoft Audience Network No New customers LinkedIn's
Remarketing lists Lists of people who have visited or interacted with your website before. Search network, Microsoft Audience Network Yes Existing customers Yours
Similar audiences Lists of customers whom Microsoft Advertising has determined show similar attributes to the people on your existing remarketing lists. Search network, Microsoft Audience Network Yes New customers Microsoft's
Note

For more information on UET, take a look at What is UET and how can it help me?


What are the limits on audiences?

Case Limits
Total number of audiences Manager account level: 5000 per audience type.
Account level: 1000 per audience type, with two caveats:
  • This includes audiences created within an account and audiences that were created in another account with Sharing set to Across all accounts. So, for example, if your account already has 1000 remarketing lists shared with it, you won't be able to create another remarketing list in this account.
  • There is no account-level limit on custom audiences, only the 5000 audiences limit at the manager account level.
Total number of associations 20,000,000 associations (including both targeting and exclusion associations) per account, with one exception:
  • Only 1000 in-market audience exclusions allowed per account.
Associations that can be created in bulk Refer to limits in bulk upload.
Associations that can be viewed, edited, or deleted by Microsoft Advertising Refer to limits in bulk upload.

What if a customer is in more than one audience? Am I charged for multiple bid adjustments?

No, you will only be charged once.

A customer could either be:

  • In multiple audiences within the same audience type (for example, remarketing list A and remarketing list B), or
  • In multiple audiences across different audience types (for example, remarketing list A and in-market audience C).

When this happens, only the audience with the highest bid adjustment is attributed. Bid adjustments are not combined, and you are only charged once. If the bid adjustments are the same for all applicable audiences, one audience is chosen for attribution by the system and you are charged once.

Can I use a "Target and bid" setting for one audience list and a "Bid only" setting for another audience list in the same ad group or campaign?

No, you can only select one targeting setting per ad group or campaign that will apply to all your audience lists in that ad group or campaign (either "Target and bid" or "Bid only"). It isn't possible to use different targeting settings in the same ad group or campaign for remarketing lists, in-market audiences, and custom audiences. Whichever setting you've selected most recently ("Target and bid" or "Bid only") overrides any previous settings.

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