Campaign Types
Demand Gen Campaigns
Demand Gen is a Google Ads campaign type that serves image and video ads across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail using audience targeting and conversion-based bidding to create demand rather than capture it.
In practice
Demand Gen replaced Discovery campaigns and absorbed much of what video action campaigns did. It is Google's answer to Meta-style social advertising: visually led, audience-targeted, and optimized for conversions or clicks rather than search intent. Lookalike segments, custom segments built from search terms and URLs, and remarketing lists are the targeting inputs.
It works best as a layer on top of a Search account that already converts. Demand Gen creates awareness and consideration; Search catches the branded and category queries that follow. Measured in isolation on click-through conversions it can look weak; measured on the lift in branded search and Search campaign conversions after launch, it often earns its budget.
Creative is the variable that matters. Static product shots underperform; short video with a hook in the first seconds and images that look native to the feed do the work.
Why it matters
It is the Google campaign type for reaching people who are not yet searching, and it needs to be judged on incremental lift.
See it in a real accountLiquor Royale: AI video ads in an account that reached $2.26M in 18 months
RELATED TERMS
Performance Max (PMax)
Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that serves across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps from a single campaign using automated bidding and asset-based creative.
Remarketing (Retargeting)
Remarketing is advertising to people who have already interacted with your business, such as site visitors, product viewers, cart abandoners, or past customers, using lists built from tracking and first-party data.
Lookalike Audiences
A lookalike audience is a Meta targeting segment of people who share characteristics with a source audience you provide, such as purchasers, high-value customers, or engaged website visitors.
Written by Ilya Bulychev, Founder, Live PPC Ads. Part of the PPC Glossary.
More in Campaign Types
Rather have someone handle this for you?
Every account we manage is optimized every business day through Ad Campaign Concierge™. Limited roster, by application.