Beyond the bid: Winning programmatic in 2025  

Leverage data solutions that perform at scale 

Hitting campaign goals can be tough. Programmatic budgets grew 15% in 2024 and are projected to grow again in 2025, meaning there are more advertisers than ever before competing to reach the same audience across the same environments. The result of this can be sub-par performance at above-par prices. It is crucial to ensure your data strategy is differentiated and performant. Microsoft’s In-Market Audiences, available programmatically on Invest DSP offers just that!

Microsoft has a one-billion user global universe collated from many properties: from browser and search engines to media sites, gaming platforms and more. It’s an audience that is 15% more likely to spend online versus the average web user, and is likely incremental to most buyers. Deploying differentiated and scaled data solutions like these are key to driving incremental performance in ever more crowded market. 

Use platforms that are well positioned to measure effectively  

The fragmentation of signals within the programmatic ecosystem presents significant challenges for achieving accurate measurement. While there isn’t a single solution, there are some guiding principles that stand any buyer in good stead when it comes to connecting the dots in this industry.  

• The more that buyers can connect disparate signals to each other, the easier it becomes to measure effectively. Using platforms with a broader 'signal ecosystem' is advantageous. Microsoft Invest DSP ingests and processes multiple identity signals - from MAIDs and cookies to publisher IDs and authenticated user data and more - creating a comprehensive view that improves user deduplication and conversion attribution. When a consumer interacts with your brand across devices, our robust signal network ensures you recognise them as a single user rather than multiple. 
• Working with partners whose proprietary data bolsters their identity resolution means an even better opportunity for unique matching and persistent user tracking. Microsoft’s Audience Intelligence is a scaled 1billion plus user universe that acts as a spine of data across our programmatic platforms, ingesting user signals from Outlook, MSN, Bing Search, Xbox and more – and connecting traditional identifiers to Microsoft’s user profiles. This proprietary data also means Microsoft’s DSP is able to offer incremental lift measurement across Bing Search by attributing specific search terms to user IDs exposed to programmatic campaigns. 
• Removing silos from the data ecosystem through working with open platforms that also integrate extensively with third-party measurement vendors. No one size fits all and no one platform can solve every measurement challenge. Remaining transparent, surfacing end-to-end impression level reporting, and integrating where necessary is key to getting closer to solving these challenges. 

In an increasingly fragmented digital landscape, the most effective programmatic partners provide advertisers with comprehensive signal intelligence, proprietary data integration and open platform flexibility needed to overcome measurement hurdles. By leveraging robust ecosystems that connect disparate signals, brands can transform isolated data points into cohesive customer journeys, enabling more accurate attribution and ultimately delivering measurable ROI that validates programmatic investments even in the face of industry-wide identity challenges. 

Ensuring maximum performance & cost efficiency 

Programmatic is ultimately judged on the performance it drives and teams are, rightly, under pressure to justify spend in the channel. Programmatic has in many ways become over-optimised, and buyers are increasingly re-assessing their strategies and opting to simplify, rather than add complexity. But how do you do this whilst also ensuring cost efficiency amid an environment of rising CPMs and added fees?  

Stripping programmatic campaigns back to the basics, and ensuring you have a performant supply chain is key. The only money going into any auction is the advertisers’, but to maximise your ad dollar, it's important you question how much of that budget is reaching the publisher. Testament to how important this is, the last few years has seen most of the industry’s main buyside vendors developing their own supply plays to address just this. Transparency has become a table-stakes conversation across the industry. The best way to ensure your supply chain is efficient is ensuring it is transparent, exposing any added fees, and making changes based on those findings. Using an end-to-end platform, such as Microsoft’s Invest DSP to Monetise SSP, puts buyers in the best position to do so. More media for the same investment means: more bang for your buck. 

But your ad is only as good as the environment it appears on! Another simple win is working with partners with ability to curate bespoke inventory packages in line with key business metrics. Microsoft Curate is the technology that packages premium open web and Microsoft Owned & Operated media and pushes it to any DSP, also offering the ability to layer on custom data onto any deal for more advanced strategies.  

Achieving optimal performance requires a dual focus on supply chain efficiency and inventory quality. By prioritising transparency, eliminating unnecessary intermediaries and strategically curating premium inventory, advertisers can significantly improve both cost efficiency and campaign effectiveness. This balanced approach enables marketing teams to confidently demonstrate the value of their programmatic investments while adapting to industry changes and rising costs - ultimately delivering measurable business outcomes that justify continued investment in the channel. 

Moving forward 

The programmatic landscape of 2025 isn't just evolving - it's dividing the market between leaders and laggards. Buyers failing to address data fragmentation, measurement challenges and rising costs face diminishing returns, wasted budgets and eroding market position.  

Without strategic intervention, your campaigns will deliver increasingly generic messaging to undifferentiated audiences at premium prices, undermining the core principles of user-centric advertising! Microsoft transforms these industry-wide pain points into competitive advantages that drive meaningful engagement across the customer journey. As digital budgets shift decisively toward programmatic channels, only strategies built on differentiated data, holistic measurement and optimised supply paths will deliver sustainable growth.  

Drive even more differentiation, become even more efficient and be part of the reason the programmatic industry gets even better!