Google has announced a significant update to its advertising platform, with Video Action Campaigns (VAC) set to migrate to Demand Gen campaigns in 2025. This change aims to enhance advertisers' ability to reach audiences across multiple formats and platforms.
Key Points of the Update:
Demand Gen campaigns will serve both image and video assets across YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and soon, Google Video Partners inventory.
New features include Lookalike segments, creative A/B experiments, and AI-powered tools like text prompt image generation.
Early results show:
- Advertisers using only video ads in Demand Gen campaigns saw similar conversions and cost per action as their VAC campaigns.
- Those using both video and image assets experienced 20% more conversions at the same cost per action compared to video-only campaigns.
Timeline and Recommendations:
- Q2 2025: Video Action Campaigns will be upgraded to Demand Gen campaigns.
- Early 2025: A migration tool will be introduced to manually upgrade campaigns.
- March 2025: Creation of new Video Action Campaigns will be disabled.
- Q2 2025: Automatic upgrades of remaining Video Action Campaigns to Demand Gen.
This update reflects Google's push towards multi-format advertising strategies, aiming to provide advertisers with more versatile and effective campaign options.
Benefits of Demand Gen Campaigns
- Expanded Reach: Engage with up to 3 billion monthly users across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail.
- Multi-Format Creative Storytelling: Run both video and image ads in one campaign, with granular insights for creative optimization.
- Relevant Audiences: Use Lookalike segments to reach audiences similar to existing customers.
- Omnichannel Bidding: Available in beta soon.
- Third-Party Verification: Now available with YouTube brand safety partners and Google video partners inventory.
Advertisers using both video and image assets in Demand Gen saw 20% more conversions at the same cost per action compared to those using only video assets. Advertisers running only video ads with Demand Gen saw similar conversions to their Video Action Campaigns at a similar cost per action.
Upgrade Process
- Today: Start running Demand Gen campaigns as an alternative to Video Action Campaigns. Use the copy-and-paste tool to duplicate settings.
- Early 2025: Use the migration tool to manually upgrade campaigns, carrying over historical settings and learnings.
- March 2025: Stop creating new Video Action Campaigns.
- Q2 2025: Automatic upgrade of remaining Video Action Campaigns to Demand Gen.
This transition aims to help advertisers capture emerging demand and drive growth by combining the strengths of Video Action Campaigns and Demand Gen.