Google Ads’ Demand Gen campaigns – once thought of as mid-funnel discovery tools – are evolving into full-funnel, conversion-focused campaigns, with YouTube at the core.
Why we care. Marketers are under pressure to prove ROI across channels. Demand Gen now blends social-style ad formats with Google’s AI-driven targeting, giving advertisers new ways to drive sales, leads, and app installs from audiences they can’t reach elsewhere.
What’s new:
- Target CPC bidding: Advertisers can now align Demand Gen with social campaigns for apples-to-apples budget comparisons.
- Channel controls. Run ads only on YouTube, or expand to Display, Discover, Gmail, and even Maps.
- Creative tools. Features like trimming and flipping help repurpose social assets for Shorts and other placements, lowering barriers to entry.
- Feeds + app support. Product feeds in Merchant Center show a 33% conversion lift; Web-to-App Connect now extends to iOS for smoother in-app conversions.
By the numbers. According to Google advertisers using Demand Gen have seen on average:
- 26% YoY increase in conversions per dollar
- 33% uplift when attaching product feeds
Between the lines. Google says Demand Gen’s shift from contextual matching to predicting user intent and purchase propensity has made it a contender for bottom-funnel performance. In short: YouTube is no longer just discovery – it’s decision-making.
What’s next. Expect more AI-driven creative tools, expanded shoppable formats, and deeper integrations across channels.
The takeaway. Don’t wait for “perfect” YouTube creative. Lift, adapt, and test now — Demand Gen is no longer a mid-funnel experiment, it’s a performance channel.
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Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more. In 2008, Anu’s career started with delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side. Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event – PPC Live and host of weekly podcast PPC Live The Podcast.
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US, UK, Munich, Berlin), Friends of Search (Amsterdam, NL), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna, IT) and more.
