Google Ads has started rolling out channel control for Demand Gen campaigns, in the hopes of giving advertisers more control over where their ads appear across Google’s properties.
This update, first announced in January, allows for more targeted placement of ads, but with a significant limitation: individual channel segmentation (e.g., YouTube, Discover, Gmail) is not yet available. As a result, performance data is still aggregated under “Google-owned channels,” making it difficult for advertisers to make data-driven decisions.
We spoke to our PPC account manager, Lucy Dawes, about her opinion on the updates:
Expert Opinion
Lucy Dawes, PPC Account Manager at Embryo
"I would argue that Demand Generation campaigns are increasingly becoming a key component of a well-rounded digital marketing strategy to work alongside traditional Search activity to capture demand across the entire customer journey. The campaign allows wider reach across multiple audiences that may not be on traditional search or social platforms and taps into mid-funnel engagement, connecting with users before they even have specific search terms and leveraging engaging video or image content. The new updates are definitely a step in the right direction in giving further control in Demand Generation use, and I anticipate Google will roll out more over the next year - especially around innovation in YouTube formats (like Shorts) and integrating new search behaviours beyond text queries."
