Google Demand Gen Campaigns: The Complete 2026 Guide

Search ads capture demand that already exists: someone types "overseas study fair" and your ad answers. But what about the much larger group who would be interested — and just haven't searched yet? That's the job of Google Demand Gen campaigns: visual, feed-native ads across YouTube, Discover and Gmail that put your offer in front of people while they browse, not only when they search. This guide covers what Demand Gen is in 2026, how it differs from Performance Max and the Google Display Network, and how we run it for Hong Kong and Malaysia businesses.

What is a Demand Gen campaign?

Quick answer: Demand Gen is Google's visual, audience-driven campaign type that serves image and video ads across Google's own feeds — YouTube (including Shorts), the Discover feed and Gmail. It replaced Discovery campaigns in 2023–24, and in 2025 Video Action Campaigns were folded into it as well, making it Google's main "social-style" ad format.

If Meta ads live in the Facebook and Instagram feeds, Demand Gen is Google's answer: ads that appear inside feeds people scroll for interest, not intent. Google cites around 3 billion monthly users across these surfaces. Two lineage points worth knowing, because older articles still use the old names:

• Discovery campaigns → Demand Gen (rollout completed early 2024) — same surfaces, more formats and controls.
• Video Action Campaigns → Demand Gen (2025) — if you previously ran VAC for conversion-focused YouTube ads, Demand Gen is now the home for that traffic.

Where Demand Gen ads appear

• YouTube — in-feed (home and watch-next), in-stream, and Shorts, which matters in Hong Kong where short-form viewing keeps growing.
• Discover feed — the content feed on the Google app and Android home screen.
• Gmail — the Promotions and Social tabs. Since standalone Gmail (GSP) campaigns were retired in 2021, this is the main way to buy the inbox — more in our Gmail ads guide.

Google added channel controls in 2025, so you can now limit delivery to specific surfaces (for example YouTube only) instead of always buying the full bundle.

Demand Gen vs Performance Max vs GDN

These three get mixed up constantly. The short version:

Rule of thumb: if you want control over who sees a visual story, Demand Gen. If you want maximum conversion volume for ecommerce and accept less visibility, PMax. If you want the cheapest possible reach or simple remarketing banners, GDN.

When Demand Gen fits (and when it doesn't)

Demand Gen earns its budget when:

• Your product is visual — fashion, beauty, F&B, property, fitness. A feed ad can show what a search ad can only describe.
• Customers take time to decide — education, medical services, high-ticket B2C. You need to be present during research, not just at the final search.
• You have real first-party lists — Demand Gen is where Google's lookalike segments live (the successor to Similar Audiences, retired in 2023). Seed them with customer lists or site visitors and expand to new people who resemble them.
• Search is capped — when you already own your high-intent keywords and CPCs are climbing, the next customer has to come from somewhere search volume can't provide. Search captures demand; Demand Gen creates it.

Be careful when:

• You have no conversion signal. Smart Bidding needs conversions to learn from. Set up conversion tracking properly first.
• You expect Search-level lead quality on day one. Feed traffic is earlier-funnel. Judge it accordingly (see measurement below), and keep Search as the backbone of a lead generation account.
• Your creative is one recycled banner. Demand Gen is a creative-led format; weak assets produce weak results no matter the settings.

Audience strategy

Audiences are Demand Gen's real control surface:

1. Remarketing first. Site visitors, video viewers, customer lists — warm audiences prove the funnel works before you spend on cold reach.
2. Lookalike segments for prospecting. Seed with your best list (Google requires at least 100 members; a few thousand works better) and choose narrow, balanced or broad reach. This is the closest thing Google has to Meta's lookalikes.
3. Custom segments and in-market audiences to describe intent when your lists are small.
4. Optimized targeting can expand beyond your audience once conversions flow — test it, but watch where the extra volume comes from.

Creative requirements

Plan for the three canvases from day one: square (1:1), landscape (1.91:1 image / 16:9 video) and vertical (4:5 image / 9:16 video for Shorts). Uploading only a 16:9 TV cut means invisible or awkward Shorts placements. Formats available: single images, carousels and video, and retailers can attach a Merchant Center product feed. In our accounts, creative quality and freshness decide Demand Gen outcomes more than any bid setting — treat it like a social channel: several angles live, refresh before fatigue, vertical first.

Bidding options

• Maximize clicks — for traffic while conversion volume is still thin.
• Maximize conversions / target CPA — the standard once your tracking is solid.
• Maximize conversion value / target ROAS — for ecommerce passing purchase values.

Start with remarketing on Maximize conversions, let it gather data, then scale into lookalikes with a tCPA you'd genuinely pay.

Measuring Demand Gen honestly

Judging Demand Gen on last-click alone will kill it prematurely. People see a feed ad, don't click, and search your brand two days later — that value lands on the brand campaign unless you look wider:

• Watch engaged-view conversions for video, alongside click-through conversions.
• Compare brand search volume and direct traffic before and after flighting.
• In GA4, check channel grouping and path reports rather than a single attribution line.

The honest framing: Demand Gen is paid discovery. It should be cheaper per qualified enquiry than generic Search once assisted value is counted — that's the bar we hold it to.

First-party data from our own book (150+ managed accounts running Demand Gen over the last 90 days): the results were sharply split. A single visual-product ecommerce account drove the large majority of all Demand Gen conversions at a two-digit CPA, while several service / lead-gen accounts burned through most of their Demand Gen budget for only a handful of conversions. The divide matches everything above: Demand Gen rewards visual products and demand creation, and punishes accounts that run it like Search. Before you launch, ask: is your product visual enough to stop the scroll, and is your audience worth nurturing before they search?

Real results: overseas education (HK)

For an overseas education client advertising from Hong Kong into Malaysia and Taiwan, video and Demand Gen campaigns built around university information events outperformed generic overseas-study keywords by 92%, with cost per lead around 13× cheaper via the event-led campaigns. The lesson isn't "Demand Gen beats Search" — it's that Demand Gen wins when the message gives people a concrete reason to act (an event, an offer, a deadline) instead of chasing the same expensive generic keywords as everyone else. More examples on our case studies page.

Common mistakes we see

1. Judging it like Search — last-click only, then switching it off in week two.
2. One landscape banner, no vertical assets, invisible on Shorts.
3. Prospecting cold audiences before remarketing proves the funnel.
4. Launching without conversion tracking, so Smart Bidding optimises to noise.
5. Setting tCPA at Search levels immediately, strangling delivery.
6. Never refreshing creative, then blaming the format for fatigue.

Ready to create demand, not just capture it?

Kick Ads is a Google Partner agency managing Google Ads — Search, PMax, YouTube and Demand Gen — for businesses in Hong Kong and Malaysia since 2017. If your Search campaigns have hit their ceiling, a Paid Media Health Check will show where feed-based demand creation fits your account — honest findings, no pitch.

FAQ

What is a Google Demand Gen campaign? A campaign type that serves image and video ads across Google's own feeds — YouTube (including Shorts), the Discover feed and Gmail. It replaced Discovery campaigns in 2023–24 and absorbed Video Action Campaigns in 2025.

What is the difference between Demand Gen and Performance Max? Demand Gen serves only Google's visual feed surfaces and gives you audience and channel control, making it built for creating demand. Performance Max serves across all Google inventory including Search and Shopping, decides placements itself, and is strongest at harvesting conversions for ecommerce.

Where do Demand Gen ads appear? YouTube in-feed, in-stream and Shorts, the Discover feed on mobile, and the Gmail Promotions and Social tabs. Since 2025 channel controls let you limit delivery to specific surfaces.

Do lookalike audiences still exist in Google Ads? Yes — as lookalike segments inside Demand Gen campaigns. You seed them with a first-party list of at least 100 users and choose narrow, balanced or broad reach. The old Similar Audiences feature was retired in 2023.

Is Demand Gen good for lead generation? It can be, if you keep Search as the backbone and use Demand Gen to create demand with a concrete hook. For one Hong Kong education client, event-led Demand Gen and video campaigns produced leads around 13 times cheaper than generic search keywords.