These policies apply to pilot programs enabled to test Microsoft Advertising products or features. Advertisers participating in pilot programs must follow the existing Microsoft Advertising policies, as well as the specific policies listed below.
Pilot programs are Microsoft Confidential. Any information that you may acquire, become aware of or otherwise learn as a part of your participation in these pilot programs may not be publicly divulged or communicated to external third parties.
Antivirus Native Pilot
In addition to the below requirements, advertisers must also comply with all applicable Microsoft Advertising policies.
- Self-serve advertisers are not eligible for this pilot, account must be managed.
- Advertisers must receive pre-approval for all ads and landing pages prior to being enabled.
- Ads must link directly to a consumer product page.
- Advertiser must be first-party brand owner.
- Affiliate advertising is not allowed.
Hotel Ads
Hotel Ads allow you to drive users to a partner's site and ultimately to the booking page.
Your use of Hotel Ads must be compliant with Microsoft Advertising policies.
Additionally, the following requirements apply:
- The referral experience must be user-friendly.
- It is recommended that the booking page is the landing page.
- If the landing page is not the booking page, the booking page cannot be more than one click away.
- The landing page must be branded as the HPA partner and must clearly display the name of the hotel.
- All mandatory rates, taxes, and fees must be disclosed and displayed on the booking page. If the landing page is not the booking page, the base rate, mandatory fees, and taxes must still be displayed.
- Taxes and fees may include, but are not limited to: Occupancy Tax, County Tax, City Tax, Tourism Tax, Value Added Tax, Resort Fees, Registration Fees, Service Fees, and any other fees that are collected directly by the hotel.
- Prices displayed in the ad must match the pricing on the landing page and booking page.
- Base room rate, taxes, and other fees should be itemized for clarity.
- The offer on the booking page must correlate to the link the user clicked on, including the same room type, dates of stay, number of occupants, base rate, currency, and language.
- If multiple room or rates are available on the landing page, the rate correlating to the link the user clicked must be pre-selected.
Sports Betting – United States
- In addition to the below requirements, advertisers must also comply with applicable gambling policies.
- Self-serve advertisers are not eligible for this pilot, account must be managed.
- Advertisers must provide proof of license/eligibility for each state that they will be targeting and are responsible for ensuring proper targeting is applied to campaigns.
- At this time, the pilot is open in the following states only:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Massachusetts
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Wyoming
- Sites must not accept or procure bets from residents of states where online gambling is disallowed, such as Washington or Texas.
Online Casino – United States
- In addition to the below requirements, advertisers must also comply with applicable gambling policies.
- Self-serve advertisers are not eligible for this pilot, account must be managed.
- Advertisers must provide proof of license/eligibility for each state that they will be targeting and are responsible for ensuring proper targeting is applied to campaigns.
- A unique XID must be utilized for each state.
- At this time, the pilot is open in the following states only:
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Sites must not accept or procure bets from residents of states where online gambling is disallowed, such as Washington or Texas.
Cryptocurrency exchange – Microsoft Audience Network US pilot
Cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency related products including, but not limited to initial coin offerings, and cryptocurrency wallets are prohibited. Cryptocurrency exchanges that meet specific criteria may be allowed with pre-approval in the United States on the Microsoft Audience Network.
- Advertisers must comply with all regulations and licensing requirements for the specific locations where their ads will be serving.
- If there are regulations or licensing requirements that an advertiser does not meet for a location such as a specific state, the advertiser must exclude that state from their targeting.
- Advertiser must be first party/brand owner.
- Affiliate advertisers are not allowed.
- Advertising will be allowed for exchanges.
- Initial coin offerings, wallets, coin tumbling, and similar products/services are not allowed.
- Wallet services that are part of an exchange offering may be allowed with pre-approval.
- Cryptocurrency investment or training programs/plans are not allowed.
- Margin trading, promotional giveaways, and sweepstakes are not allowed.
- Decentralized exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi companies) are not allowed.
- Domains must have been established for a minimum of 18 months.
- Advertisers must clearly disclose the risks of investing in virtual currencies in either the ad or the landing page, and must not represent such investments as safe or risk free.
- A unique Manager Account (CID) is required for approved cryptocurrency exchanges.
- If disallowed content or mixed content is loaded to the account, permission to serve cryptocurrency related ads may be removed.
- If reputation or policy concerns are raised, permission to serve cryptocurrency related ads may be removed.
To apply for pilot participation, complete this application form.