AI Search
CALL US AT:
Get in Touch With Us
Home » News » Microsoft Advertising Brings Ad Preview Hub to Performance Max Campaigns
Microsoft reported that they will be starting with the preview of Performance Max campaigns through the Advertising Ad Preview Hub. The feature had already been available for another Microsoft Advertising product, Performance Max, with the aim of helping advertisers gauge the appearance of their ads before they go live.
It also helps advertisers understand how Microsoft Advertising constructs specific assets, as a campaign utilizing automated assembly of multiple ad components does not always allow seeing the combination before launch. That is a critical factor for an ad product where the majority of ads are generated automatically, potentially presenting unanticipated combinations of headlines, images, and other media.
It also utilizes a unique set of automated technologies, as the system constructs ads by combining existing assets and places them across a variety of placements on Microsoft’s platform, rather than the advertiser creating them manually or placing them individually. As a result, the ways in which the automated system can combine the ads are numerous, offering an unbelievable variation that can confuse human double-checkers. Before the tool was invented, advertisers that wanted to see how the combination of their ad would turn out would have to rely on screenshots or calculations. This method proved inefficient, especially for agencies that needed the client’s approval before proceeding with the ads.
Moreover, the more assets that an advertiser utilizes in their Performance Max campaign, the higher the difficulty of estimating how these assets will combine before launch. Microsoft Advertising typically employs several images, headlines, descriptions, and other content in its Performance Max campaigns, and the advertising technology determines which combinations of ads perform better. As such, a higher volume of assets usually implies greater variety of combinations, and consequently greater difficulty in estimating how these combinations will impact the advertising campaign.
Ad Preview Hub is now available as a built-in tool for Performance Max advertisers. It can be accessed by opening an asset group and selecting Preview Ads. From here, the advertiser gets to preview the ads to see how they’ll look and even get a link to share with external stakeholders. That means you don’t have to give them access to your Microsoft Advertising account, which would require you and your clients to do extra admin work.
This functionality was especially useful for agencies that manage multiple clients and therefore have to go through dozens of advertising campaigns. Granting direct account access to every client who needs to preview an advertising campaign would be time-consuming for both parties, whereas a preview link merely requires sending the link to an external email address. Microsoft notes that access to a preview link is only available to the person generating it and those who they send the link to, which limits potential security concerns. In particular, the ability to limit the visibility of a sensitive or unreleased advertising campaign is critical to agencies, which are tasked with reviewing multiple advertising campaigns. The link preview option is also available for other Microsoft Advertising products, including Audience Ads, which have had the tool available for some time.
The fundamental importance of the preview tools stems from the inherent complexity of the Performance Max product, which assembles creative automatically across many possible combinations. Previously, a client or an advertising agency that wanted to review Performance Max advertising campaign had to ask the company for either screenshots or using some third-party previewing tools, which show only an estimated preview.
The direct link preview option available in Microsoft Advertising eliminates the extra step, thus accelerating the approval of new advertising campaigns. In addition, the preview option gives the ability to check specific combinations of ads, which Performance Max advertising platform utilizes to detect the most performing option for the target audience. For the advertiser, it means that they can see which combination of images, headlines, and other elements is inappropriate and make the necessary adjustments before launching the campaign. In general, the preview is helpful because it provides advertisers with practical and tactical advantages, thus giving them more opportunities to double-check and ensuring that the chosen multi-format ad campaign meets the requirements.
Link preview option helps agencies to address a particular issue, as they serve as intermediaries between advertisers and clients, who often need to review the advertising campaigns on a regular basis. Instead of providing access to an entire Microsoft Advertising account or relying on external preview tools that require additional administrative steps, agencies can merely forward a preview link to an advertising campaign, complete with notes if necessary.
This preview tool can also help maintain quality assurance standards across a campaign. If a particular combination of ad components looks likely to underperform, catching it during the preview stage lets an advertiser remove or adjust it before the campaign starts spending budget. Detecting such issues prior to launch is critical, since it involves far less administrative effort than addressing the problem after the campaign has already launched.
Performance Max joins the ranks of similar advertising products developed by various advertising technology providers, which are designed to optimize the advertising campaign by relying on automated technologies to determine the most effective combination of media, messaging, and placements. While these technologies offer greater flexibility, advertisers typically retain a degree of control over the advertising campaign, which enables them to customize the campaign according to their specific needs.
Link preview option provides more transparency into the advertising campaign, which is particularly valuable for larger advertisers and agencies that manage multiple advertising campaigns at any given time. It also eliminates the administrative overhead related to these bigger advertising campaigns, as these third-party administrators can preview the ads directly rather than having to log into a Microsoft Advertising account or use another tool to do so.
The described preview options can solve the problems related to the use of automated advertising products which are now gaining popularity in the advertising technology field. As AI-enabled tools are increasingly used to optimize ad performance, they make it challenging to retain full control over the advertising campaign, thus, complicating the process of its quality assurance. One of the recent solutions provided by Microsoft Advertising, Ad Preview Hub for Performance Max is intended to address this challenge. Moreover, as the use of automated campaigns grows in the industry, the described options will become even more relevant and popular among advertisers.
Q1: What is Ad Preview Hub?
Ad Preview Hub is a tool in Microsoft Advertising that enables advertisers to review previews of their advertisements across various devices and locations. This capability, previously exclusive to Audience Ads, has now been extended to Performance Max campaigns.
Q2: How can advertisers access Ad Preview Hub for Performance Max?
Advisers can use this feature via opening an asset group in their Performance Max campaign and then using the Preview Ads feature. This will enable to see eligible ad formats on different devices and placements.
Q3: Is there any possibility for clients or stakeholders to view previews without Microsoft Advertising account?
Yes, there is such an option available. Advertisers can share a link for previewing creative with stakeholders and clients.
Q4: Who can view such a preview link?
According to Microsoft, only the one who created a preview link and those who shared it can see it.
Q5: Were there any opportunities to use Ad Preview Hub in other types of campaigns before this update?
Yes, this feature was available for Audience Ads campaigns before the expansion of Ad Preview Hub to Performance Max campaigns.
Q6: Why is it important to preview creative for Performance Max campaigns?
The thing is that Performance Max campaigns are assembling creative assets across multiple placements automatically. And it becomes difficult to predict how the ads will look like before the campaign starts. Ad Preview Hub will help to solve the problem.
Q7: How can this help to detect problems with the ad creative before the start of a campaign?
The preview makes it easier to detect assets that don’t perform well in combination with others before the campaign starts. Advertisers can then adjust the creative and avoid wasting budget on weak combinations.
Q8: Does this reduce the need for third-party approval tools?
Yes, since previews are now available in the Microsoft Advertising account, advertisers no longer have to use third-party tools to help them visualize how the ad will appear.
Q9: What devices and placements can be previewed?
Advertisers will be able to preview eligible ad formats across different devices and placements directly from the asset group view.
Q10: What can we learn from this update?
This update suggests that Microsoft is seeking to encourage transparency for its AI-assisted, self-automating campaign types. As advertising becomes highly reliant on automated composition of creatives, a need to review and approve these prior to launch is likely to become standard practice in the industry.
Newsletter Signup
Google has released version 2.13 of Google Ads Editor, and it is a significant update.
Microsoft reported that they will be starting with the preview of Performance Max campaigns through
Google is introducing a new security requirement for developers and platforms using the Google Ads
OpenAI has introduced a number of updates to ChatGPT Ads that relate to bidding, budget,
Even with the summer in full swing, over the course of July, industry professionals observed
Hackers have been targeting WordPress websites with known vulnerabilities, and researchers have warned that tens
Take the next step towards transforming your digital marketing and achieving unparalleled growth. Whether you’re looking to refine your strategy, boost conversions, or build a dominant online brand, ALM Corp has the expertise to make it happen.
Drop us an email
info@almcorp.com
Toronto
80 Atlantic Ave, 4th Floor
Toronto, ON, M6K 1X9
New York
413 W 14th St Ground Floor and Suite #200, New York, NY 10014
London
Mappin House, 4 Winsley St,
London W1W 8HF, United Kingdom
Join Our YouTube Community
Services
White Label Services
Resources
About Us
Join Our YouTube Community
© Copyright 2026 | ALM Corp | All Rights Reserved.
