Paid Media News & Opinion #143

Google adds YouTube breakdown reporting for Demand Gen

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> What’s happening

Google has rolled out a reporting update for Demand Gen campaigns, giving advertisers the ability to see separate performance metrics for YouTube In-Stream, In-Feed, and Shorts placements.

Previously, all YouTube traffic within Demand Gen campaigns was grouped together, making it difficult to understand which format was driving performance. Now, this segmentation provides channel-level visibility without requiring any additional setup.

The breakdown is available directly within campaign reporting, no new configurations needed.

> Why we care

This reporting change might seem minor, but it unlocks strategic advantages for Demand Gen advertisers who use the YouTube inventory.

Each YouTube format has different user behaviours and expectations. For example, Shorts require snappy, mobile-first creative, while In-Stream ads can carry longer storytelling. Having separate performance data enables advertisers to match creatives to the format that converts best.

By comparing spend and returns across In-Stream, In-Feed, and Shorts, marketers can shift budget toward the most efficient placements, rather than guessing where results are coming from. If campaigns underperform, advertisers can quickly identify whether the issue lies in Shorts, In-Stream, or In-Feed.

YouTube Shorts usage has surged as Google pushes mobile-first video consumption. With clear data, advertisers can now decide how much to invest in Shorts relative to traditional formats.

Google expands reporting for AI Max with keyword and landing page insights

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> What’s happening

Google has introduced new reporting features for Search AI Max campaigns, giving advertisers a deeper look at how Google’s AI is expanding traffic beyond their original campaign setup.

Previously, advertisers could only see which search terms were triggered and which landing pages were clicked. Now, two new keyword level metrics provide clearer visibility into AI-driven expansion:

• AI Max expanded matches: Traffic generated from AI-created broad-match variations of the keywords you’ve added.

• AI Max expanded landing pages: Traffic driven by search queries matched to your landing pages or creative assets, even if those queries weren’t covered by your keywords.

> Why we care

This reporting update addresses some of the lack of transparency drawbacks that come with AI driven campaigns. With these new insights, advertisers gain a clearer understanding of how AI interprets and expands their targeting.

Advertisers can now see when traffic is generated from Google’s “helpful expansions” rather than their original keyword set. This allows for better auditing of whether AI is finding relevant opportunities or wasting spend.

Expanded matches and landing page-driven traffic don’t always align with business goals. Having dedicated metrics makes it easier to judge the quality of these clicks and decide whether they’re delivering conversions or just inflating impressions.

If expanded matches are performing poorly, advertisers may want to refine negative keywords, adjust campaign structure, or lean more heavily into proven high-value terms. On the other hand, if expanded landing pages drive strong conversions, it signals new scaling opportunities.

One of the most consistent criticisms of AI Max is its “black box” nature. These reporting improvements move toward striking a balance between automation for scale and data transparency for control.

Google Ads testing new budget pacing tools for promotions

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> What’s happening

Google Ads is testing a new “Sales & Promotions” feature that lets advertisers set a fixed campaign total budget over a defined period and temporarily accelerate spend during short-term promotions. Advertisers will define specific campaign dates, and also specify “promotion dates” where the budget should be prioritised.

It’s designed to work across Performance Max, Search and Shopping campaigns and gives advertisers more control over budget pacing and conversion trade-offs during flash sales or seasonal pushes.

> Why we care

This is an interesting addition that will potentially remove the need for my frequent manual budget changes over a specific sales period. Google already has the capability to spend above your daily budget, but often for a heavy sales period advertisers are happy to go even harder.

There are some question marks over whether it is a better approach than the control of making those changes more manually. Google caveats that it will prioritise “volume over efficiency” during these windows, which is open to interpretation. We would hope that “volume” means “number of sales” with perhaps a slight compromise on ROAS targets, but it’s not clear whether that is the case, or if it simply means they will spend a lot of budget regardless.

As ever, the advice would be to test it but do so with caution. Don’t try it for the first time over Black Friday, try it on a smaller sales period that’s not quite as pivotal and evaluate the performance and the results.

What else we've been talking about:

• Google expands AI Max globally

• Google rolls out suggested plans in performance planner

• Google Ads links web + app campaigns with new features and reporting

• Facebook ad costs increase 21% in 2025, still cheaper than Google

• TikTok data shows the opportunity for its search ads