Paid Media News & Opinion #145

Google ‘Drops’ some big Demand Gen updates

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> What’s happening

Google Ads have lauched their first edition of ‘Demand Gen Drops’, a cluster of updates for their AI-powered campaign type.

1) Conversion Lift – now available for campaigns at lower spend levels and conversion volumes. You can now run conversion lift studies on multiple campaigns at the same time, to group incrementality results.

2) Platform comparable conversion columns – showing the conversions for a campaign as if they were last-touch only, similar to other ad platforms

3) Omni-channel bidding – combining online and offline sales

4) Local offers – showcasing in-store offers to physical shoppers in the area

5) Promotion assets – for highlighting sales and discounts: usually available in Search and PMax, now on Demand Gen

> Why we care

These updates are particularly useful and exciting if you’re an ecommerce brand with physical stores. However, there’s something for everyone here!

Larger advertisers on the cusp of being eligible for conversion lift studies – which help proof whether a campaign had an impact on conversions or performance by comparing two unique audiences – will now be able to tap into this resource. It’s brilliant for proving ROI and value of those upper-funnel campaigns. Typically, you need around £10K over 10 days to be elgible, but this is now lower thanks to better modelling developed by Google.

Promotion assets will be one of the best updates as it can be tailored for particular audiences, e.g. geo, prospecting/retention of customers, language, across a campaign.

Overall, Google are clearly investing more resources and expanding opportunities within Demand Gen. It’s a solid campaign type that we recommend trying if you haven’t already, especially for ecommerce, travel & tourism and local businesses and brands.

Microsoft introduces several product updates ahead of peak season

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> What’s happening

Microsoft Ads is rolling out a series of updates designed to give advertisers more control, transparency, and efficiency in campaign management.

Supplemental feeds are now available for Microsoft Merchant Center. Advertisers can now make targeted updates to product listings, such as titles, descriptions, custom labels, size, colour, or promotion IDs, without the need to re-upload the full catalogue. This feature streamlines feed management while ensuring data accuracy.

There has been a few enhancements to Performance Max (PMax), firstly, budget suggestions & performance estimates are now available for new, non-feed-based campaigns. There is now asset group-level reporting by device, audience, and time to enable deeper optimization. In the near future, share of voice metrics and landing page reporting will be rolling out. New customer acquisition goals remain in open beta, letting advertisers bid higher or exclusively for new customers.

Property Group bids can now be updated in bulk, cutting down manual effort. Edits are supported at the account, campaign, or ad group level, with error detection and flexible bid options.

The Universal Event Tracking (UET) Dashboard now surfaces real-time consent compliance insights, including tag health, event-level validation, and categorization of signals as Healthy, Moderate, or Missing.

As of September 4, 2025, Microsoft’s Monetize, Invest, and Curate platforms no longer serve “Made for Advertising” (MFA) content. By enhancing enforcement against low-quality inventory, Microsoft aims to protect advertisers, support publishers, and drive higher-quality engagement across its marketplace.

> Why we care

These updates are designed to help advertisers maximize performance while maintaining brand safety and efficiency during the most competitive time of the year.

More efficient product feed management with Supplemental Feeds means retailers can now adjust only what’s needed in their Merchant Center listings, ensuring accuracy without time-consuming catalogue uploads. This means fresher data, more relevant ads, and reduced risk of outdated product information during high-traffic holiday shopping.

Greater transparency and smarter forecasting in PMax with budget estimates and asset group reporting, finally giving advertisers more visibility into how PMax allocates spend and performs across audiences, devices, and placements. This means better budget control, more strategic optimization, and the ability to spot scaling opportunities faster.

In a privacy-first advertising era, being able to verify consent signals at the dashboard level helps ensure compliance and reduces data quality issues. This strengthens consumer trust while protecting advertisers from misfires.

Cleaner, higher-quality ad environments with MFA-free inventory. By removing “Made for Advertising” content from its supply, Microsoft is taking a stand on brand safety and ad effectiveness. This helps advertisers reach real audiences in meaningful environments while rewarding publishers producing valuable content.

New LinkedIn Company Intelligence API links ads to pipeline and revenue

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> What’s happening

LinkedIn has introduced a Company Intelligence API that lets advertisers link ad engagement to specific accounts moving through the sales pipeline. The tool provides first-party account-level data from LinkedIn so B2B marketers can see which companies interact with their campaigns, and subsequently measure results against opportunities and revenue.

In early testing, users reported a 287% increase in engaged companies; 75% more MQL’s; 96% increase in SQL’s; and a 43% lower CPA.

> Why we care

Attribution is a challenge in marketing in general, but none more so than in B2B. Often the buying cycle is a lot longer, often exceeding standard conversion windows, and a lot of the activity happens offline and away from the original ads.

This new feature will increase the scope of attribution, and allow marketers to demonstrate the ROI and true impact of ads on B2B sales, which is crucial to justifying the channel and making smarter decisions around where to invest budget.

What else we've been talking about:

• Reddit Is Becoming a Key Consideration for Marketers

• Google tests Brand Profiles in Merchant Center Next

• YouTube to reinstate banned channels: What it means for advertisers

• Google launches seasonal bid adjustments for app campaigns

• Google Ads doubles negative keyword list limit: Glitch or quiet policy change?

• The clock is ticking: 2026 planning starts with peak season measurement

• Demand Gen for Retailers: Campaign Best Practices and Checklists