Every guide to PPC networks assumes the networks will take your money. For a large and growing set of advertisers - cannabis, hemp, supplements, injectables, firearms, alcohol in some states - that assumption is the whole problem.
So this is the standard comparison, plus the column nobody publishes: whether each network will actually accept a regulated advertiser, and on what terms. I've run paid media in categories where half these platforms say no, and the difference between "restricted" and "banned" is usually a budget.
One note on terms. I'm calling these PPC networks out of habit, but nearly all of them now sell on impressions, video views and conversions as well as clicks. And every one has pushed automation deeper into the buy, which means your inputs - creative, feed quality, conversion signal - matter more than your bid strategy.
1. Google Ads
Reach. The largest network by a wide margin: Search, YouTube, Discover, Maps, Gmail and the Display Network's roughly two million sites and apps.
Audience. Effectively everyone. Demographic layers for age, gender, parental status and household income narrow it usefully.
Formats. Search, Responsive, Display, Shopping, Video, App, Call-only, and Performance Max across all of it.
AI. Deepest of any network. Smart Bidding, Performance Max, and AI Max for Search now decide most targeting and placement for you - which is powerful and also means less control than experienced buyers are used to.
Best fit. Anyone who needs high-intent demand capture. If a customer is searching for what you sell, this is still the first place to be.
Regulated brands. No THC, full stop, regardless of state law. LegitScript-certified topical, non-ingestible hemp CBD is permitted in a small number of states. Ancillary and B2B services are fine. Enforcement is account-level, so a single flagged asset can take more with it.
2. Microsoft Advertising
Reach. Bing, Yahoo, AOL and syndicated partners, plus Edge, Windows and Outlook surfaces. Smaller than Google, but far from small.
Audience. Skews desktop, professional and higher-income. Microsoft reports a large share under 45 and a roughly balanced gender split.
Formats. Responsive Search, Dynamic Search, Shopping, Audience and Multimedia ads, App Install.
AI. Automated bidding and audience expansion, with Copilot assisting build and optimization.
Best fit. B2B, considered purchases and services. CPCs are usually cheaper than Google for the same intent, and you can import Google campaigns directly, so the test costs almost nothing.
Regulated brands. Similar posture to Google - no THC, certified topical CBD in limited markets. In practice slightly less aggressive on enforcement, which some operators find more workable. LinkedIn profile targeting makes it strong for selling into the industry.
3. Meta Ads
Reach. Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp - billions of monthly users, and still the default for consumer scale.
Audience. Broad, with Facebook's core skewing older than Instagram's. Interest and behavioural signal is deep but increasingly abstracted behind automation.
Formats. Image, video, carousel, collection, Stories, Reels.
AI. Advantage+ now handles audience expansion, placement, budget and creative delivery. Manual targeting is mostly a legacy control.
Best fit. Ecommerce and DTC demand creation, especially anything that works in short-form video.
Regulated brands. The hardest of the big platforms. No THC. Limited non-ingestible hemp and CBD with written permission. Enforcement cascades from the ad account through Business Manager to the Page and pixel, so the real risk isn't a rejected ad - it's losing the organic audience attached to the same container. I wrote up how to structure around that in marketing a dispensary without getting banned on Meta.
4. LinkedIn Ads
Reach. Over a billion professionals, with unusually strong penetration among senior decision-makers.
Audience. Professional and B2B. Targeting by title, company, industry, seniority and skill is the reason to be here.
Formats. Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, Lead Gen Forms, Text and Dynamic ads.
AI. Automated bidding, audience expansion and predictive relevance scoring.
Best fit. B2B lead gen and account-based marketing. Expensive per click, defensible when the deal size justifies it.
Regulated brands. Consumer cannabis products are not allowed. But if you sell to the industry - software, compliance, packaging, distribution, services - LinkedIn is the single best network available to you, and most of your competitors have written it off by mistake.
5. TikTok Ads
Reach. Well over a billion monthly users, and still the strongest discovery engine for anything visual.
Audience. Skews Gen Z and younger Millennials, though the age curve keeps flattening.
Formats. In-Feed, TopView, Spark Ads, Branded Mission.
AI. The recommendation algorithm is the product. Smart Performance Campaigns hand almost everything to the model.
Best fit. Awareness and demand creation for brands that can produce native, creator-style video at volume.
Regulated brands. The strictest network on this list. No cannabis, no CBD, no hemp, no exceptions - and enforcement extends to organic content, so the account you built can go too. Treat TikTok as an organic-only channel and never attach a paid account you can't afford to lose.
6. Amazon Advertising
Reach. The largest pool of active purchase intent anywhere. Shoppers arrive already deciding.
Audience. Broad, with Gen Z the fastest-growing spend cohort.
Formats. Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Brand Stores, Display, Video, Audio, plus DSP inventory off-site.
AI. Bidding and relevance modelling tuned to purchase probability rather than engagement.
Best fit. Ecommerce and retail brands with listings already live. Closest thing to buying revenue directly.
Regulated brands. Closed. Cannabis and CBD can't be sold on Amazon, so there is nothing to advertise. Ancillary products - storage, accessories, glassware - can list and advertise, with category review.
7. X Ads
Reach. Several hundred million monthly users, concentrated around news, live events and real-time conversation.
Audience. Skews younger and male, heavily engaged during cultural moments.
Formats. Promoted Ads, Vertical Video, Takeovers, Amplify, Dynamic Product and Collection ads.
AI. Automated bidding and conversation-based targeting aligned to trending topics.
Best fit. Launches, live events and anything time-bound where being in the conversation matters more than precision.
Regulated brands. The most permissive mainstream network for cannabis. X allows licensed THC advertisers in the US: you must hold the appropriate licence, complete X's advertiser attestation, get pre-authorised, target only jurisdictions where you're licensed, and restrict to 21+. That's real friction, and the audience is smaller than Meta's - but it is a legitimate paid channel where you have almost none.
8. Pinterest Ads
Reach. Around 600 million monthly users, arriving with planning intent rather than passive scroll.
Audience. Majority female, strong 18-44 concentration, Gen Z now a large and growing share.
Formats. Standard image and video, Idea ads, Collections, Carousel, Showcase, Premiere Spotlight.
AI. Visual search and recommendation matching, automated bidding and shopping relevance.
Best fit. Lifestyle, home, beauty, food and retail - anything bought during a planning window.
Regulated brands. Cannabis and CBD are prohibited. Worth noting anyway if you're in wellness or beauty adjacent to the category, where Pinterest is genuinely underused and intent is unusually high.
9. Reddit Ads
Reach. Over 100 million daily visitors across more than 100,000 interest communities.
Audience. Skews 18-34, technical, research-minded and deeply sceptical of advertising that doesn't earn its place.
Formats. Image, video, carousel, Conversation ads, Product ads, AMAs.
AI. Automated targeting places ads against relevant conversations and topics.
Best fit. Products that benefit from explanation, comparison or social proof. Also the highest-leverage network for AI search right now, since Reddit is the most-cited domain in AI answers - I covered that in Reddit is the most-cited site in AI search.
Regulated brands. Narrower than most people assume. Reddit approves topical, non-ingestible hemp-derived CBD in the US - not THC. So the paid door is barely open, while the organic opportunity is enormous. For cannabis, Reddit is an earned channel that happens to sell ads, not the reverse.
10. Apple Search Ads
Reach. Hundreds of millions of weekly App Store visitors, all of them looking for something to install.
Audience. iOS users across all ages, with above-average purchasing power. Apple prohibits targeting under-18s.
Formats. Today tab, Search tab, Search results and Product page placements.
AI. Search Match aligns ads to queries using app metadata and intent signals.
Best fit. App developers buying installs and subscriptions. Intent is unusually clean.
Regulated brands. Governed by App Store review before you ever reach the ad platform. Cannabis marketplace and delivery apps face significant restrictions; compliance, loyalty and content apps generally pass. If your app is approved, the ads are available.
The short version for regulated advertisers
If you sell THC, the honest picture is this:
- X is the only mainstream network that will knowingly take you, and only with a licence, attestation and geo limits.
- Google, Microsoft and Meta will take certified topical CBD in limited markets, and nothing more.
- TikTok, Pinterest and Amazon are closed.
- Reddit takes topical CBD only - but is your most valuable organic surface.
- LinkedIn is wide open if you sell to the industry rather than to consumers.
- Apple depends entirely on whether App Store review approves the app.
Which is why the strategy that works in restricted categories isn't a better media plan. It's building the channels nobody can switch off - owned lists, local search, retail menus, earned media and AI citations. Paid is a supplement. For the full picture on that, see cannabis marketing in 2026 and the state-by-state advertising rules.
Choosing between them
For everyone else, the choice is simpler than the list makes it look. Match the network to where your buyer shows intent, not to where your competitors advertise. Search captures demand that already exists. Social and video create it. Retail media converts it. Most brands need two of the three, and almost nobody needs all ten.
Then give the automation good inputs. Every network on this list now optimises itself, which means your creative, your feed and your conversion signal are the campaign. The bid strategy is not where the leverage is any more.
If you want help deciding where the budget should go - or building the owned channels that make paid optional - here's how we can work together.