{"id":17914,"date":"2020-09-01T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adzooma.com\/blog\/?p=17914"},"modified":"2020-09-01T08:30:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T07:30:00","slug":"microsoft-advertising-vs-google-ads-whats-different-about-the-shutterstock-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/blog\/microsoft-advertising-vs-google-ads-whats-different-about-the-shutterstock-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Ads vs. Google Ads: What\u2019s Different About The Shutterstock Partnership?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recently, Microsoft Advertising announced its partnership with Shutterstock<\/a>. It was big news, giving their advertisers access to over 330 million free images to use for campaigns on the Microsoft Audience Network<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was big news. But what you didn\u2019t hear is that this feature already exists in Google Ads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Google Ads users have had access to Shutterstock images since 2016.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, amongst the noise about Microsoft\u2019s partnership, Google has stayed silent. So, how do the two platforms compare?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microsoft Advertising & Shutterstock<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Shutterstock API on Microsoft Advertising gives its users access to millions of copyright-free images to use on the Microsoft Audience Network<\/a>. This is their native advertising solution that offers placements on thousands of partner websites, including Microsoft-owned programs such as Skype, Outlook and LinkedIn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s accessed inside the ad creator for these campaigns, by clicking the \u2018Add images\u2019 button. When selecting stock images, you\u2019ll be able to search for themes or specific images among Shutterstock\u2019s offering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve found the one you want, it will be applied to your creatives<\/a>. Sadly, you can\u2019t edit the images at this time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By giving you the tools to select these images inside Microsoft, the API will save advertisers a lot of time having to manually create these assets themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shutterstock CEO Stan Pavlovsky<\/a> states: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgainst the backdrop of a rapidly changing environment, businesses of all sizes are strapped for time and budget and looking for ways to remain top-of-mind with their audience. Microsoft\u2019s suite of advertising offerings empowers businesses to increase ad relevance and deliver targeted visual messages that achieve their marketing goals.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the Shutterstock API is only available to UK and US Microsoft users. <\/strong>However, it is expected to roll out to other countries later this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Ads & Shutterstock <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2016, Google announced that it had selected Shutterstock to be the provider of stock images for their platform.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar to Microsoft, these images are available to use for display campaigns, as well as for Responsive Display Ads.<\/a> This means that you can select up to 15 stock images for your campaign and Google will automatically test the images to see which one performs best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like Microsoft, you can\u2019t edit the pictures, but you can reposition them to fit your campaigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Functionality wise, the two platforms are very similar. However, Google\u2019s Shutterstock images are buried in the platform. Even the fact that they\u2019re free to use doesn\u2019t appear until you select the image and get notified that the watermark won\u2019t appear in your ad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why Is Shutterstock A Big Deal For Microsoft Advertising?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Shutterstock partnership has been a big deal for Microsoft Advertising, despite it being developed 4 years after Google implemented it.  A reason for this is not what the partnership is now, but what it will grow to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Microsoft is the only advertising platform<\/a> to offer images extensions in search campaigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Shutterstock API is added to these campaigns as well, their visual offering advances massively. Despite Google having the feature in their pocket for years, they\u2019ve not advanced on it. With Google, it\u2019s stuck and nothing to shout about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Microsoft, the Shutterstock API is a massive statement. It\u2019s not only demonstrating the power of visual ads but saying that if you want images, Microsoft Advertising is your winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s see what the future holds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more news and updates subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google Ads have been partnered with Shutterstock for 4 years before Microsoft Advertising made their announcement. So, what\u2019s different between the two partnerships? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":17915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[71,84],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17914"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adzooma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}