Demand Gen is replacing YouTube & partners video action line items*. With Demand Gen, advertisers are able to seek inspiration, conduct research and make online purchase decisions on the most browsed surfaces across YouTube and Google.
Key dates:
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April 2025: The option to create new video action campaigns will be removed from Display & Video 360.
Learn more in the Display & Video 360 announcement about this update.
How are Demand Gen and YouTube video action line items different?
Line items upgrading to Demand Gen will retain many of the settings that you’re familiar with in YouTube video action line items, but benefit from added features. There is also an added benefit to performance that can come from a Demand Gen line item’s ability to optimize performance across these added dimensions.
Demand Gen inventory is expanded from YouTube to also include Discover, Gmail and the Google Display Network.
| Where Ads Show? | *Discover | Gmail | YouTube | YouTube Shorts | Google Display Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demand Gen | |||||
| YouTube video action line items |
*Discover Feed is a feature unique to mobile devices. Users can read a feed of articles surfaced to them based on their interests. On Android, users access it by scrolling left from their home screen. On iPhones, it is on the iOS Google app.
Demand Gen ad formats are expanded to include Image. Learn More about Demand Gen asset specs and best practices.
| Ad Formats | In-stream video | In-feed video | Shorts video | In-feed image | Shorts image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demand Gen line items | |||||
| YouTube video action line items |
Features that you gain by upgrading to Demand Gen
Campaign settings
- Lookalike segments: Lookalike segments are groups of people that share characteristics with others on an existing 'seed' list. You’ll provide the seed list using your first-party data, including a customer match list or a list of people who’ve interacted with your website and app, or YouTube channel. We’ll then use this information to find other potential customers with similar characteristics.
- Maximize clicks bid strategy: Maximize clicks bidding strategy is a great option for someone who wants to run Demand Gen but doesn’t have conversion goals set up in their account.
- Language and location settings are available at the ad-group level: Advertisers can set their location/language settings at the ad-group level, allowing for easier budget fluidity between your targeted locations if that’s of value to you. If not, you can still create separate line items for different locations to more strictly enforce how budgets are allocated across locations. Note that Radius targeting is currently not available in Demand Gen line items, unlike YouTube video action line items. This feature will launch in the coming months.
Reporting
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Ad format reporting: Gather additional transparency to understand insights broken out at the ad format level – segmentation is broken out by In-Feed (inclusive of Discover Feed, Gmail, YouTube Home Feed, YouTube watch next, and YouTube Search), skippable in-stream, and Shorts.
Feature comparison
Green text indicates a feature you gain in Demand Gen, red text indicates a feature not available in Demand Gen.
|
Demand Gen line items |
YouTube video action line items | |
|---|---|---|
| Where in the sales funnel? | Mid-lower funnel | |
| Inventory |
* Support for image inventory on the Google Display Network coming April 2025. |
|
| Devices | Mobile, Desktop, Tablet, Connected TVs | |
| Format |
* Including with product feeds |
Video ads* * Including with product feeds |
| Audience |
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| Bidding |
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| Measurement |
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| UI (Workflow, Reporting) |
* Apply to all inventory, including YouTube in-feed video ads |
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| Extensions |
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How to upgrade to Demand Gen
The path that you take to upgrade depends on your account goals and circumstances, but you can proactively transition by shifting YouTube video action line item budgets to Demand Gen line items, or creating new Demand Gen line items that mirror the strategy and organization of how your YouTube video action line items are set up.
There are two ways that you can approach the transition from YouTube video action line items to Demand Gen:
- Transition your budgets manually: Once you are ready to start moving budgets over to Demand Gen, you can decrease the budgets on your YouTube video action line items while proportionally increasing your budgets on your Demand Gen line items.
- Use SDF: Use SDF to download the settings of your existing YouTube video action line items, and upload it as a brand new Demand Gen line item, carrying over existing settings. When you do this, certain additional settings will be required or need to be adapted, reach out to your account manager for a detailed guide on how to complete this.
If your YouTube video action line items are ending
If your YouTube video action line items are evergreen or always-on
If you’d like to transition your YouTube video action line items mid-flight or if you have always-on line items, you may want to transition your budget with a more phased approach.
- Move budgets:
- Most advertisers, especially those with shallow conversions*: Ramp Demand Gen budget to 100% of YouTube video action line item budget
- Advertisers who have had ramp issues in the past, or who have deep conversions*:
- Ramp Demand Gen budget to 10% of video action line items: Let run 1–2 weeks
- Ramp Demand Gen budget to 50% of video action line items: Let run 1–2 weeks
- Ramp Demand Gen budget to 100% of video action line items
*’Shallow conversions’ refers to actions on your site that are relatively ‘easy’ for users to be counted as a conversion (like a visit to a page on your site that takes few clicks to navigate to) vs ‘Deep conversions’ refers to things like purchases or form submissions which typically require a higher level of user interaction.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Will there be any alerts about this migration?
You will receive account notifications in Display & Video 360 of upcoming key dates as they approach. You will also see notifications in your YouTube video action line items informing you of this change.
What are best practices when upgrading to Demand Gen?
|
Setup |
If you follow the same goals as in your YouTube video action line item, make sure that you use the same conversion goals and settings. Follow a consolidated line item structure and combine audience themes into the same ad groups. |
|---|---|
|
Audience |
Replicate your audience approach from comparable video action line items and try testing Lookalike audiences. Running the same audience as your existing line items will not affect performance. |
|
Budget |
Conversion-based bidding: Set a daily budget greater than 20x your expected CPA. Value-based bidding: Set a daily budget greater than 20x (expected average conversion value/tROAS). |
|
Bidding |
Try similar bid levels to your video action line items, and set your conversion attribution window to If you need to optimise the line item, limit bid changes to only +/- 15% and wait a week between changes. |
|
Creative |
Use existing video assets, ensuring a mix of horizontal and vertical videos. We highly recommend adding image assets as well. Review our creative best practices. |
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Duration |
We recommend a minimum of 4–6 weeks duration for running your Demand Gen test. Extend the duration to avoid unexpected performance issues. |
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Evaluation benchmark |
Evaluate your Demand Gen performance against line item specific KPIs aligned to your marketing goals and your bidding strategy. |
Ramp up
The machine learning model used for Demand Gen needs time to learn about your customers. To create a positive experience and account for the learning period, let the line item ramp at least two weeks or 50 conversions before making any changes to your construction. This is the same expectation and best practice that would be applicable if you have transitioned a video action line item to a new video action line item.
Ramp up timeline:
- Launch Demand Gen
- Learning period: ~2 weeks
- Campaign period with optimization: Min. 4–6 weeks recommended
- Conversion lag time: ‘X’ days
- Scale and upgrade
Helpful tips
- Ensure that there is clear alignment on the line item goals to measure success, ramp time and budget.
- Have a consolidated line item structure for effective learning – consolidate ad groups by combining similar audience themes whenever possible, and consider merging ad groups with fewer than ~30 conversions in 30 days.
- Limit bid changes to +/- 15% to avoid performance volatility.
Suggested for alternatives to features that aren’t available in Demand Gen
|
Feature |
Suggested alternative |
|
Line item level frequency capping |
Given Demand Gen line items are trying to drive conversions and clicks, frequency caps can sometimes be counterproductive to performance. Ad over-exposure within the inventory sources that Demand Gen line items serve on is accounted for automatically. If you require using frequency caps, you can create your Demand Gen line items within an insertion order and campaign that has a frequency cap. Note that these frequency caps will apply to all ads in the Demand Gen line item, which is different to the behaviour for YouTube video action line items. |
Will Demand Gen line items compete with my existing YouTube video action line items?
Can I view historical data from my YouTube video action line item after it is upgraded to Demand Gen?
Yes, historical YouTube video action line item data will continue to be available in your account.
Should I add more assets to my new Demand Gen line item once my YouTube video action line items are transitioned to Demand Gen?
Will my ads need to be re-approved upon creating new line items?
Are sensitive verticals eligible for Demand Gen?
Am I billed the same way I am for YouTube video action campaigns?
YouTube video action line items and Demand Gen line items both optimise for conversions or conversion-based goals (like tCPA, conversion value, or ROAS, depending on the bid strategy), but their billing is based on different metrics.
YouTube video action line item billing is based on CPM.
Demand Gen uses mixed billing including CPM and CPC billing and varies based on the Google surface and ad format:
- YouTube video: CPM
- YouTube image: CPM
- Gmail: Teaser click (The first click to expand the ad. You aren’t charged for the secondary click to the website)
- Discover image: CPC
- Discover video: Engaged view (When someone watches your video for five seconds or more and clicks to play the video or clicks a link, that’s considered an engaged view.)
Where can I learn more about Demand Gen
Review About Demand Gen and About YouTube video action line items for more information.