Google has introduced enhancements to Demand Gen, aimed at improving performance for retail campaigns across YouTube and its visual platforms. These updates are designed to help brands connect with consumers who prefer visual content, particularly Gen Z, who favor YouTube for quality engagement and connection with creators. A Nielsen analysis indicates that YouTube provides 2.3x higher long-term ROAS compared to paid social.
New Features and Controls
Demand Gen campaigns, launched in 2023, enable businesses to engage potential customers and drive online sales. New features include:
- Expanded Channel Controls: Advertisers can now customize where their ads appear across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail, including YouTube Shorts. This beta feature will be available globally starting in March.
- Google Display Inventory: This addition allows advertisers to reach over 90% of the global internet population across more than 3 million sites and apps.
Creative Enhancements
To enhance ad creatives, Demand Gen now offers:
- Various video and image formats, including 9:16 vertical image ads for YouTube Shorts.
- New video enhancements for creating shorter video versions at scale.
- An improved ad creation flow, allowing specific video enhancements and easier sharing of ad previews for feedback.
Retail-Specific Features
New features for retailers include:
- Product Feeds: Advertisers with a Google Merchant Center account can provide full product details directly from ads, enhancing product discovery.
- Local Offers: This feature displays real-time local product availability, encouraging online shoppers to visit physical stores.
Performance Reporting
New reporting columns in Google Ads will help advertisers compare Demand Gen campaign performance with paid social efforts, including view-through conversions to align with social advertising metrics.
Transition from Video Action Campaigns
Google is transitioning Video Action Campaigns to Demand Gen, with key milestones:
- Starting in April, new Video Action Campaigns can no longer be created, with an automatic upgrade to Demand Gen beginning in July.
- Advertisers are encouraged to upgrade manually to maintain control and apply historical settings.
- Demand Gen campaigns are expected to deliver 58% higher ROAS than Video Action Campaigns.
Marks and Spencer (M&S) successfully utilized Demand Gen, surpassing their forecasted ROAS by 186% and achieving a 66% lower CPA, outperforming their paid social campaigns.