Enable Microsoft Advertising (New)

Overview

Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) is a search advertising platform that runs pay-per-click ads across the Bing and Yahoo search networks. Connect Microsoft Advertising to Branch to attribute clicks and installs from your search campaigns and forward install postbacks for your app.

For more information about integrating ad partners in general, visit our Ad Partner Integration Guide.

Note: this guide is for new Branch

Please note that this guide is about integrating Microsoft Advertising in the new Branch experience. For information on Microsoft Advertising in legacy Branch, visit our legacy guide.

Partner capabilities

Before you begin

To set up the Microsoft Advertising integration, you need:

• Branch's Performance product enabled for your Branch account. Contact your Branch account manager or visit https://branch.io/pricing.

• A Branch account with access to Configuration > Ad Partners and admin permissions to enable and configure integrations.

• The Branch SDK implemented in your app (iOS | Android) with event tracking configured.

• A Microsoft Advertising account with admin access.

Enable Microsoft Advertising

To begin, navigate to Configuration > Ad Partners > Bing Ads.

Branch enables Microsoft Advertising automatically. On the Status tab, the Ad Linking, Attribution, and Postbacks cards show Enabled, and the page confirms Partner is enabled. No additional credentials are required to begin attributing clicks and installs.

(Recommended) To configure the optional PAM for Publishers privacy setting, select Partner settings to open the Manage account dialog and enable the toggle. When enabled, PAM for Publishers removes advertiser-specific user identifiers from postbacks for users who haven't opted in via Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, prioritizing identifiers provided directly by Microsoft Advertising.

Configure attribution

By default, Microsoft Advertising uses your global app attribution settings. To set attribution windows specific to Microsoft Advertising, enable the Override global app settings toggle on the Attribution windows tab.

For more information, follow Configure attribution in the general Ad Partner Integration Guide.

Configure postbacks

Microsoft Advertising supports the INSTALL postback only. Enabling the integration automatically activates the INSTALL postback. The default postback URL template is:

http://bat.bing.com/action/aips?attvenid=1030&dappid=<@loop data=app.app_bundles val="bundle"><#if user_data.os == bundle.os><#if bundle.os=="ANDROID"><@break/><#elseif bundle.os == "IOS">${(bundle.ios.itunes_id?substring(2))!}</#if><@break/></#if></@loop>&sappid=${ (app.name)! }&tmstmp=${ (timestamp/1000)?long }&event=Install&plat=${ (user_data.os)! }&device=${ (user_data.model)! }&devicetype=${(user_data.device_type)!}&devicemodel=${ (user_data.model)! }&devicemanufacturer=${(user_data.brand)!}&bclid=${ (last_attributed_touch_data.~click_id)! }&ea=${ (name)! }

To review or manage postbacks, select the Postback config tab on the Bing Ads page. To customize postback behavior, follow Configure postbacks in the general Ad Partner Integration Guide.

Note: install postback only

Microsoft Advertising supports the INSTALL postback only. Other Branch events are not forwarded to Microsoft Advertising.

Create a Branch Ad Link

Create a Branch Ad Link to use in your Microsoft Advertising campaigns. Branch uses the link to attribute clicks and installs and deep link users into your app. Follow Create a Branch Ad Link in the general Ad Partner Integration Guide.

For Microsoft Advertising app install campaigns, replace the default app store URL with your Branch Ad Link. Run separate links for your iOS and Android campaigns, and set each campaign's desktop redirect to the platform-specific app store (for example, set an Android campaign link's desktop redirect to the Google Play listing).

Caution: URL precedence

Microsoft Advertising prioritizes keyword-level final URLs over ad-level URLs. If a keyword-level URL is set, Branch can't register the click and users won't be routed through the Branch link. Apply your Branch Ad Link at the highest level of URL precedence (keyword, ad, or campaign), or remove the final URL at the keyword level so the Branch link is used.

Verify your data

After your integration is connected and events are flowing, you can verify data is reaching Branch and Microsoft Advertising:

• In Branch Liveview: confirm that events from your app appear in real time. This is the fastest way to confirm SDK events are firing.

• In Branch Analysis dashboards: review attributed installs where Ad Partner Name = Bing Ads.

• In Microsoft Advertising: confirm that forwarded installs are appearing in your Microsoft Advertising conversion reporting.

Data mappings

Campaign data

Branch populates the following fields from Microsoft Advertising campaign data.