As you know, Microsoft had a major Microsoft 365 outage yesterday and into today, affecting many businesses and users. But it didn't seem to directly affect Microsoft Advertising or ads in Bing Search.
The issue started around noon yesterday, November 12, 2026 where Microsoft confirmed the issue on X saying, "We're investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas. More details can be found in the Microsoft 365 admin center under EX1550543." The issue is getting better now, but it is still not 100% resolved, even after 24 hours.
That being said, Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Ads Liaison, said on LinkedIn, "While Microsoft Advertising was not impacted directly, there may have been weakness in Outlook incoming ad requests from users who could not load Outlook for routine usage, and this may impact some advertiser spend."
She then said, "We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."
She posted a link to the Microsoft status page that currently says:
Microsoft Advertising Impact from Microsoft 365 Service Disruption
Last update: 1:34 PM, November 13, 2026 (Eastern Standard Time)
- Affected: Ad Delivery
- Description: On November 12, a multi-region service infrastructure issue resulted in disruptions affecting several Microsoft 365 services, primarily Exchange Online. Health of the Microsoft Advertising platforms and delivery was not impacted by this issue. However, there may have been weakness in Outlook incoming ad requests from users who could not load Outlook for routine usage, and this may impact some advertiser spend. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
- 1:34 PM, 11/13: Microsoft Advertising will rely on the broader Microsoft 365 service recovery status for closure. For the latest updates and confirmation of full restoration, please refer to: https://status.cloud.microsoft/Office.
- Start Time: 7:15 AM, November 12, 2026 (Eastern Standard Time)
Here is a screenshot:
Here is what Navah Hopkins posted:
I've had a few of you reach out to me about how the outage yesterday might have impacted ads serving. While Microsoft Advertising was not impacted directly, there may have been weakness in Outlook incoming ad requests from users who could not load Outlook for routine usage, and this may impact some advertiser spend. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.We have the most up to date status here: status.ads.microsoft.com/?post=5624
Truly sorry about the inconvenience and let us know how we can help!
Microsoft also posted this apology:
We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners. We know the trust they place in our services and take that responsibility extremely seriously. We are seeing broad recovery and stability across our services.This was a technical issue not related to cyber or AI / agents. The incident was introduced by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced following a recent network change. We have addressed the underlying issue and continue to restore service to remaining customers and regions.
Given the scale of demand, we restored services gradually, validating stability at each stage. While this took longer, it helped ensure a stable restoration.
We will provide a full post-incident report once our review is complete.
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
