Google expands Demand Gen capabilities ahead of Video Action Campaigns shutdown

On January 30, 2025, Google announced updates to its Demand Gen advertising platform, including new placement control features, creative tool enhancements, and retailer opportunities. This comes as the company plans to phase out Video Action Campaigns.

These changes are part of Google’s strategy to encourage marketers to create more engaging visual content and better assess its performance compared to social media.

Update Details

New Channel Control Features (from March):

• Marketers will have precise options to select ad placements on YouTube, Discover, and Gmail.
• Targeting on YouTube Shorts will be available.
• Google Display inventory will be included, reaching over 90% of global internet users.

Creative Tool Enhancements:

• Vertical 9:16 images for Shorts (available by the end of February).
• A new tool for bulk creation of shorter video versions.
• An improved ad creation process with the ability to share previews.

Retailer Opportunities:

• Expanded integration of product feeds.
• Display of local product availability.
• Omnichannel bid management for optimizing both online and offline sales.

Statistics:

• 61% of Gen Z users feel a closer connection to content creators on YouTube compared to other platforms.
• Demand Gen delivers 58% higher return on investment compared to Video Action Campaigns, according to Nielsen.
• Marks & Spencer Experience: The global clothing and home goods retailer exceeded its projected advertising return by 186% while reducing CPA by 66%.
• YouTube delivers 2.3x higher long-term ad spend returns compared to paid social media ads, according to Google.

Why Is This Important?

The updated control features and creative tools allow marketers to efficiently create and optimize content across different platforms without the need for a complete campaign relaunch. This significantly reduces time and resource costs, enabling marketers to focus on strategic planning.

Nielsen data confirms the high profitability of Demand Gen compared to social media, making it an attractive choice for businesses of various sizes. Additionally, the integration of local product availability displays provides retailers with an effective tool to combine online and offline sales. This allows marketers to better tailor advertising campaigns to local market needs and increase customer engagement both in physical stores and online.

What’s Next?

From April, marketers will no longer be able to create new Video Action Campaigns. Google is encouraging a manual transition to Demand Gen by July, when automatic updates will occur. To avoid potential disruptions in advertising campaigns, marketers should familiarize themselves with all the features of Demand Gen and prepare thoroughly for the transition. A manual transition allows better control of the process and ensures continuity of campaigns already delivering results.

Conclusion

Google is consolidating its video advertising tools under Demand Gen and adding new features to help marketers compete more effectively with social platforms. The new capabilities of Demand Gen can achieve significantly higher profitability and adapt advertising campaigns to the specifics of different channels. Additionally, the expanded retailer opportunities allow for combining online and offline sales, which is a key factor in today’s market environment.

If you’d like to transition to Demand Gen efficiently or receive professional support in creating and configuring your campaigns, our UAMASTER team can help ensure you get the most out of this advanced advertising solution.

This article available in Ukrainian.