Google Demand Gen Updates: More Control, New Creative Tools & Better Reporting

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Google Ads is rolling out some big changes to Demand Generation campaigns in 2025, giving advertisers more control over placements, expanded inventory, improved creative tools, and new reporting insights. If you're running Demand Gen or still getting used to the transition from Video Action Campaigns (VACs), these updates are worth paying attention to.

Here’s what’s changing and what it means for advertisers.

Expanded Channel Control: More Say Over Where Your Ads Appear

One of the biggest concerns with automated campaign types has been the lack of placement control, but that’s changing. From March 2025, you’ll be able to choose exactly where your Demand Gen ads show.

🔹 Pick Specific Channels – You can now decide whether your ads appear on YouTube, Discover, Gmail, or YouTube Shorts. This builds on last year’s creative preferences update, which allowed advertisers to anchor video assets to specific formats.

🔹 Google Display Network (GDN) Integration – Demand Gen campaigns are expanding to Google Display inventory, allowing advertisers to reach over 90% of the global internet population across millions of websites and apps.

🔹 New Opt-in/Opt-out Control – If you're already opted into Google Video Partners (GVP) and using image assets, your ads will now serve on the Google Display Network too. When the new channel controls launch, you’ll be able to manage this under a single “Google Display Network” setting.

💡 Why This Matters: More placement control means you can refine targeting based on where your audience is most engaged rather than relying on Google’s AI to decide for you.

New Reporting Column for Performance Comparisons

Google Ads is introducing a new “Conversions (Campaign Type)” reporting column, now in beta. This update aims to align Google’s measurement approach more closely with social advertising platforms, making it easier to compare performance across channels.

💡 Why This Matters: If you’re running both Google Ads and paid social campaigns, this new metric should help with cross-channel analysis and give clearer insights into which platforms are driving the best results.

Creative Updates: More Options to Enhance Your Ads

Eye-catching creatives are essential for Demand Gen success, and Google is rolling out some useful new tools to improve ad creation.

🎥 Vertical Image Ads for YouTube Shorts – From late February, you can run full-screen 9:16 vertical image ads in YouTube Shorts, helping brands better engage with mobile users.

✂️ Automated Video Shortening – In the coming weeks, Google’s video enhancements tool will allow advertisers to automatically create shorter versions of video ads.

This feature launched last year with the option to auto-flip horizontal videos into vertical and square formats, but now it’s expanding to auto-trim longer videos into bite-sized versions for different placements.

🛠 Refined Ad Creation Workflow – The updated ad preview tool makes it easier to see how your creatives will look across placements before they go live, streamlining the approval and optimisation process.

💡 Why This Matters: If you’ve ever struggled to tailor video creatives for multiple platforms, these updates should make the process much easier and more scalable.

New Features for Retailers Using Product Feeds

For eCommerce brands, Google is introducing two new Demand Gen betas to help boost product visibility and bridge the gap between online and in-store shopping.

🛍 Quick Access to Product Details – In a new ad experience, users will be able to view product details directly within the ad, rather than needing to click through to your website.

📍 Local Inventory Ads – Google will display real-time in-store product availability in your ads when applicable, helping drive footfall to physical locations.

💡 Why This Matters: These updates could help shorten the customer journey and increase purchase intent by providing key product details upfront.

Video Action Campaigns Are Going Away

As part of the Demand Gen expansion, Video Action Campaigns (VACs) are being phased out.

📅 April 2025 – You will no longer be able to create new Video Action Campaigns.

📅 July 2025 – Existing VACs will be automatically upgraded to Demand Gen.

🛠 Migration Tool Launching in March – A tool will be available to help advertisers manually upgrade their campaigns while retaining historical performance data.

💡 Why This Matters: If you’re still relying on VACs, it’s time to start testing Demand Gen now, rather than waiting until the forced migration.

Final Thoughts: Should You Be Excited or Cautious?

Google’s latest Demand Gen updates clearly show that they’re committed to making this campaign type more flexible, but it still leans heavily on automation.

If you love automation and visual-first advertising, these updates will be a big win. However, if you prefer manual control, the changes help, but Demand Gen is still AI-driven.

What Should Advertisers Do Now?

✔️ Start testing placements separately – YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail may perform very differently for your brand.

✔️ Experiment with new creative tools – Vertical image ads and automated video shortening could help streamline your ad creation process.

✔️ Plan for the Video Action Campaign transition – Don’t wait until the last minute to migrate your campaigns.

Overall, Demand Gen is becoming more versatile, but as always, testing is key to making sure it works for your specific objectives.

💭 Excited about these updates? Sceptical? Let’s chat! I’d love to hear how you’re planning to use these new features.

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4M Digital is a paid media consultancy specialising in Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Paid Social campaigns. With over 15 years of expertise, we help businesses unlock the full potential of their digital advertising strategies through tailored management, audits, and training.