---
title: "Demand Gen Google Ads - YouTube, Discover, Gmail | EdgeAngel"
description: "Demand Gen experts: formats, lookalike segments, channels and measurement. We generate demand upstream of Search, and we measure what it returns."
url: https://edgeangel.co/en/performance-acquisition/demand-gen
lang: en
---

> Site index for agents, read it before exploring further : https://edgeangel.co/llms.txt
> Canonical HTML page, which also carries the diagrams and visuals : https://edgeangel.co/en/performance-acquisition/demand-gen

[Other tools](https://edgeangel.co/en/performance-acquisition/sea#approche-c4)

# Demand Gen experts

## Create demand on YouTube, Discover and Gmail.

We build your campaigns, we steer the audiences and the creative, and we measure them with the right tools.

[Book a discovery call](https://edgeangel.co/en/performance-acquisition/demand-gen#contact)

-   Learn more about: [our SEA and Demand Gen agency](https://edgeangel.co/en/performance-acquisition/sea)

Partner Premier

[Scroll to the content](https://edgeangel.co/en/performance-acquisition/demand-gen#expertise)

EdgeAngel Demand Gen expertise

## Choosing the channels, feeding the audiences, measuring differently

01

### Channels, formats and structure

Demand Gen assembles ads inside ad groups, and budget follows the performance of each one.

-   **Seven surfaces**: YouTube in-stream, in-feed and Shorts, Discover, Gmail, the Display Network, and Maps in beta
-   **Channel choice at ad group level**: all Google channels, only the surfaces Google owns and operates, or a precise selection
-   **The formats**: multi-asset, carousel of two to ten cards, responsive video, and the product ad when a catalogue is attached
-   **Several ad groups**: Google recommends it for this format, since budget is allocated according to each group's performance
-   **Product ads**: the catalogue attached from [Merchant Center](https://edgeangel.co/en/performance-acquisition/merchant-center), with listing groups for full reporting

02

### Audiences and signals

This is the only Google format where lookalike segments still exist, and they need a clean base.

-   **Lookalike segments**: exclusive to Demand Gen, built on your own lists. Google has been moving them to suggestion mode since March 2026, at which point the reach slider stops acting as a targeting constraint
-   **What they require**: a clean and live seed list, and two to three days of lead time before the segment becomes usable
-   **First-party lists**: Customer Match fed from [your warehouse](https://edgeangel.co/en/data-foundations/modern-data-stack), with value segments as the seed
-   **Custom segments**: keywords, URLs and apps as signal inputs, without ever becoming keyword targeting
-   **Combined audiences**: interests, life events, detailed demographics, and the exclusions that go with them

03

### Creative and production

The format is visual above all. Ratio coverage decides what can be served.

-   **Four image ratios**: square, landscape, 4:5 portrait and 9:16 vertical, up to twenty marketing images per ad
-   **Vertical and horizontal video**: a video under ten seconds is not eligible for YouTube in-stream
-   **Production and cuts**: one shoot, several formats, with [our studio](https://edgeangel.co/en/performance-acquisition/studio-marketing)
-   **Google-generated assets**: several automations are on by default, including video generation and image variants. We choose which ones to keep
-   **Generated content disclosure**: an asset produced by a model must be declared, and European regulation has required it since August 2026

04

### Measurement and experimentation

Demand Gen acts upstream of the click. Standard metrics see it poorly, and Google acknowledges it.

-   **Engaged-view conversions**: ten seconds viewed in-stream, five in-feed and on Shorts, with a short default window
-   **View-through conversions**: on YouTube only, and the matching optimisation is off by default
-   **The platform-comparable column**: built to compare against Meta or TikTok, and which Google itself forbids using to compare with its own formats
-   **Experiments**: two campaigns differing by a single variable, with a conversion threshold to respect per arm
-   **What actually settles it**: an incrementality test rather than an attribution reading, and that is [our measurement offering](https://edgeangel.co/en/marketing-activation/advanced-media-measurement)

The tool

## Demand Gen, our reading

Demand Gen is the Google Ads campaign type that serves images and video across **YouTube, Shorts included, Discover, Gmail, the Display Network and Maps**. It replaced Discovery, announced on 14 June 2023 and rolled out worldwide from 10 October 2023, then absorbed Video Action campaigns between April 2025 and April 2026. **Display campaigns have been joining it since June 2026**, with completion expected in 2027, and Google notes that this migration cannot be reverted.

Two dated constraints to know: since **1 April 2026**, the API enforces a minimum daily budget of 5 US dollars, or the local equivalent, on every Demand Gen campaign. And shared budgets are not supported.

Updated September 2026

### The format that reaches demand before it is expressed

A Search campaign captures an intent that has already formed. Demand Gen works upstream: it puts an image or a video in front of someone who was not looking for you yet, on the surfaces where they spend time. It is also the **only Google format where lookalike segments still exist**, built on your own lists. With a dated caveat: Google has been moving them to **suggestion mode** since March 2026, at which point the reach slider stops restricting targeting. What matters becomes the quality of the seed list, not the setting.

### What cannot be controlled, and the reason Google gives

The list is long and it is owned. **No configurable frequency cap**: Google answers « no » to the question and explains why, « frequency capping is a concept that works well in a brand campaign context, however, Demand Gen is a performance optimized campaign where frequency caps can sometimes be counterproductive ». No keyword targeting, no campaign-level negative keywords, no topic or placement exclusions anywhere but at account level, no brand exclusions, and no campaign-level content suitability setting since April 2026. **What is set here is set for the whole account.**

### Measurement is the real subject, and Google hands you the admission

Demand Gen acts before the click, so last-click metrics understate it by construction. Google provides a platform-comparable column, built to benchmark against Meta or TikTok, and pairs it with a remarkable instruction: **do not use it to compare Demand Gen with other Google products**, Display, Search or Performance Max. A vendor publishing a column while forbidding its internal comparative use is saying something important about how comparable its own formats are. Lift studies exist, but they go through a Google representative and assume budget floors. When the question is what the format genuinely creates, a geo test or a contribution model answers better.

[Advanced Media Measurement, our advertising effectiveness offering](https://edgeangel.co/en/marketing-activation/advanced-media-measurement)

Sources : [About Demand Gen campaigns, Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13695777) · [Migrating Google Display Ads campaigns to Demand Gen](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/17051545)

## Frequently asked questions about Demand Gen

### What is the difference between Demand Gen and Performance Max?

Scope and intent. Performance Max covers every surface, Search included, and chases conversion wherever it sits. Demand Gen does not cover Search: it places images and video in front of people who are not looking for you yet, across YouTube, Discover and Gmail. One captures, the other creates the demand the first will capture.

### Can you cap how often a person sees the ads?

No, and Google explains it rather than dodging: frequency capping suits a brand campaign, whereas Demand Gen is optimised for performance, where such caps can be counterproductive. What remains to gauge advertising pressure is unique reach at campaign level and impression volume.

### Will my Display campaigns disappear?

They migrate to Demand Gen. Google opened a migration tool in June 2026 and expects completion in 2027, with an automatic migration of remaining campaigns on an unannounced date. Two things to know: the migration cannot be reverted, and the performance history carried over covers forty-two days, which shortens the learning phase.

### How do you measure a format that acts before the click?

Not with last-click columns. Engaged-view and view-through conversions give a first reading, with short windows. The platform-comparable column helps you benchmark against Meta or TikTok, and Google forbids using it to compare with its own formats. To settle the question, we run an incrementality test.

### What is the minimum budget for a Demand Gen campaign?

Since 1 April 2026 the API enforces a minimum of 5 US dollars a day, or the local equivalent, and shared budgets are not supported. The useful threshold is far higher: Google recommends a daily budget well above the target cost per acquisition, and waiting for several dozen conversions before judging.

Contact

## You leave your details, we get back to you within 24 hours.

A first call to understand your context, and tell you what is feasible and under which conditions.

1.  Contact details
2.  Defining your need
3.  Then we schedule a call

Your details are used to reply to you on this topic. [Data protection policy](https://edgeangel.co/en/a-propos/politique-de-protection-des-donnes)

Or call us directly: [+33 1 84 16 42 20](tel:+33184164220)

Paul Schmitt

Consulting Director

"Our goal is to make your data actionable to generate concrete value, quickly."

[The team](https://edgeangel.co/en/a-propos/agence)

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