Some surprising news to report (though the surprise piece might depend on who you are): In a blog post today, Microsoft announced it will sunset its DSP, Microsoft Invest, as it pivots toward a more AI-powered future. The company says it will cease support for media buying through Invest on February 28, 2026.
The move marks a major shift, obviously, for Microsoft’s adtech strategy, signaling a deeper commitment to a future defined by agentic and conversational interfaces. Here’s what the company said, verbatim:
“Our commitment to more private and personalized advertising experiences for a more agentic and conversational world is not achievable with the industry’s current DSP model which, therefore, no longer aligns with our investment in this future. As a result, we will no longer support media buying through our DSP, Microsoft Invest, starting on February 28, 2026. We are committed to supporting our clients during this transition, ensuring they have the guidance needed to minimize disruption and continue to achieve their business goals through advertising. Additionally, we will continue to support access to Microsoft and partner inventory through third-party DSPs who share our focus on privacy, quality, and transparency.”
Wow. Also, if you’re a DSP reading this, you’re probably thinking both “WTF?” and “Cool.”
Yesterday, it was reported that Microsoft is laying off about 6,000 people, equivalent to 3% of its total workforce, so you have to expect the Invest team will be impacted, unfortunately.
Why This Matters:
There will likely be competition on two fronts.
First, media-buying platforms will be looking to partner with Microsoft to support its owned-and-operated inventory through the “traditional DSP” model—which might not be as flashy as “agentic AI,” but still works pretty well today.
Second, Invest advertisers will likely shift their business to another DSP. Potential beneficiaries include The Trade Desk, Yahoo, Basis, Google, and others.
Experts React:
Kudos to Shiv Gupta of U of Digital, who appears to be among the first to share the news:
Also, good thoughts within this thread here:
Our Take:
More to come on this, though Xandr Curation seems like a continued opportunity on the sell-side, based on the initial chatter. (Shifting gears, the company’s O&O ads business is incredibly successful, per their recent earnings.)
Separately, it’ll be interesting to see what materializes versus what turns out to be vaporware when it comes to agentic AI in marketing and advertising.
