If you still run Google Display campaigns, the way you buy that inventory is changing. Google is folding the Display Network into Demand Gen, and the Google Display Network migration to Demand Gen is voluntary for now, with the full move expected to finish in 2027. Late September also brought a fresh batch of Demand Gen features, so the campaign type is getting more attention from Google than Display ever did.
This guide explains what has been confirmed, what has not, and what to do in the next few months. It is written for marketers and business owners who manage budgets, not only for people who live inside Google Ads. We have kept the facts to what Google and the trade press have published, and we flag anything that is still unclear.
What Google has actually announced
Google said in May 2026 that advertisers can manage their Display Network presence through Demand Gen campaigns. Trade coverage of that announcement describes standalone Display campaigns being retired, while the inventory itself stays. Display-only delivery is still possible inside Demand Gen using channel controls, so you are changing the campaign shell, not losing the sites and apps you have been buying.
The timeline reported so far looks like this:
- June 2026: a phased rollout of an in-account migration tool began for eligible advertisers. Google has not published a plain definition of “eligible” in the coverage we reviewed.
- A later, undated step: new Display campaigns can only be created inside Demand Gen.
- Through 2027: remaining eligible campaigns are migrated automatically, with the process expected to finish in 2027. Google has said it will send account notifications as key dates approach.
In short: nothing forces you today, but the direction is fixed and the deadline is roughly a year away. Using the quiet period to test is far cheaper than being moved automatically.
What is new in Demand Gen from late September
Google’s September Demand Gen Drop, published on 24 September 2026, covered several additions. Three matter most for anyone planning a migration. None of them has a published rollout date or regional availability in the sources we read, so treat them as things to watch rather than things to plan a budget around.
- Business Agent for YouTube Ads: a conversational AI that lets viewers ask questions about a product or brand while watching a video ad, using your product feed, without leaving the video. Interested advertisers can sign up through a form Google linked. One trade newsletter reported earlier in September that Google had invited eligible US retailers to embed it, but we could not confirm wider eligibility.
- One-tap landing page visits: image ads in YouTube Shorts and Gmail can send people to your landing page with a single tap. For Shorts, Google says you need to upload 9:16 full-bleed image ads.
- Affiliate Location Extensions in Google Maps: retail networks and dealerships can show Promoted pins in Maps to catch local demand as people browse, search or navigate. Eligibility details were not listed.
Google also quoted an internal figure: advertisers who add Gmail to Demand Gen see, on average, a 40% increase in conversions for image creatives at the same ROI, based on global Gmail ad data from February 2026. Treat that as Google’s own number. It describes an average across many accounts and does not promise the same result for yours. The full announcement is on the Google Ads and Commerce blog.
Why does this matter for Display advertisers? Because the places these features live (Shorts, Gmail, Maps) are exactly the surfaces Demand Gen adds on top of the Display Network. Moving over is partly about keeping what you have and partly about deciding whether to use these new surfaces at all.
What changes when Display becomes Demand Gen
The inventory is familiar, but the controls are not identical. Based on the published migration guidance and trade analysis, these are the differences worth knowing before you click anything.
- More surfaces: Demand Gen reaches YouTube, Discover, Gmail and Maps alongside the Display Network. Maps inventory was described as beta in the coverage we read. Channel controls let you keep a campaign on Display Network only.
- Different bidding options: Manual CPC, Viewable Impressions and Pay for Conversions are not available in Demand Gen. Available strategies include Max conversions, Max conversion value, target CPA, target ROAS, Max clicks and a new target CPC. Pay for Conversions campaigns are reported to switch to paying for clicks while still optimising toward the target CPA.
- New audience tools: Lookalike segments take the place of Similar Audiences. Remarketing lists, custom segments, first-party data, optimised targeting and interest, demographic and contextual targeting remain available.
- New creative types: carousels, more video formats and generative image tools. HTML5 was listed as coming soon for Display Network placements, and GIF support was not listed.
- Budgets: flighted campaign total budgets are new to Demand Gen.
- Reporting: format breakdowns for In-Feed, Skippable In-Stream and Shorts, plus channel-level reporting.
The trade-off to be aware of: standard Display gave you a lot of placement visibility and the ability to separate campaigns tightly. Analysts warn that after migration, audience expansion, placement visibility, inventory allocation, reporting detail, budget pacing and bidding behaviour may change. That is the main reason to test before you are forced.
Step one: audit your current Display campaigns
Do not migrate what you have not reviewed. A move is a good excuse to clear out years of accumulated settings. Export or screenshot everything first, because the old campaigns will not look the same afterwards.
- List every Display campaign: goal, spend over the last 90 days, conversions, cost per conversion and whether it is prospecting or remarketing.
- Record your exclusions: placement, app and content exclusions, brand-safety settings and device targeting. Check which of these have an equivalent in Demand Gen before you rely on them.
- Document your audiences: remarketing lists, custom segments, in-market and affinity layers, and any Similar Audiences you use.
- Check conversion tracking: which conversion actions each campaign optimises towards, and whether they are the ones that matter to the business.
- Note live experiments and lift studies: published guidance advises against migrating a campaign while a lift study is running, because the new campaign will not be linked to it.
- Flag low performers: if a campaign has been wasting money for months, retire it rather than carrying it across.
Look closely at the numbers you find. Many accounts discover that a large share of Display spend is remarketing that would have converted anyway. That is useful to know before you pick a measurement approach. Our guide to marketing mix modelling with Google Meridian covers how to judge the real contribution of channels like this.
Creative requirements and what to prepare
Display often ran on a handful of banners and a logo. Demand Gen reaches feeds, inboxes, short video and maps, so thin asset sets limit where your ads can appear. Google’s guidance, as reported, is to expand asset counts, especially business logos and video, to cover more inventory slots.
- Images in several ratios: prepare landscape, square and portrait. If you want Shorts one-tap visits, you need 9:16 full-bleed image ads.
- A clean logo and business name: these carry over from Display campaigns, and if a logo is missing the migration tool may insert a placeholder you will need to replace.
- Short video: a vertical 9:16 cut, plus a horizontal and square version, gives the system more to work with. Our AI video ads guide covers production without a big budget.
- Carousel cards: useful for ecommerce and for service businesses with several offers. Make each card stand alone.
- Clear calls to action: an image that earns a single tap needs a landing page that matches it. If the ad promises a price, the page should show it above the fold.
- Brand consistency: people meet your ad in Gmail, in a Shorts feed and in Discover within the same week. Keep the look recognisable.
One practical point: migrated ads are treated as new and have to pass review before they serve. If you migrate close to a campaign start date, allow time for that. Generative image tools can help produce variations, but check every output for accuracy, brand fit and claims you cannot back up.
Audiences, bidding and measurement
This is where most migrations either work or quietly disappoint, so spend time here.
Audiences
Rebuild your core audiences first: your best remarketing lists and customer match lists. Then test Lookalike segments as a replacement for any Similar Audiences you used. Turn on optimised targeting only when you have clear conversion data, and compare it against a campaign without it. Keep audience themes tidy. Published guidance suggests consolidating ad groups with similar themes and considering a merge where a group has fewer than around 30 conversions in 30 days.
Bidding
Because Manual CPC and Pay for Conversions are gone, decide early which automated strategy suits each campaign. Reported Google guidance is to start at bid levels close to your existing Display campaigns, use a conversion window longer than 28 days where your sales cycle allows, and change bids by no more than 15% at a time with about a week between changes. That is cautious, and for good reason: automated systems need stable signals. If you run on the other Google automation products, the logic is similar to what we describe in our Google AI Max for Search guide.
Measurement
- Judge on business outcomes: cost per acquisition, return on ad spend and conversion volume, not impressions or clicks.
- Use channel and format reports: check where spend goes across YouTube, Gmail, Discover, Maps and the Display Network, and split by In-Feed, In-Stream and Shorts.
- Expect noise: the first days after a move can swing. The tool is reported to carry over 42 days of performance history, which Google says shortens learning to about one to two days, but treat that as a best case.
- Plan for attribution gaps: Demand Gen often influences purchases without being the last click. Good tagging and first-party data matter more as signals get thinner. Our article on what Google’s third-party cookie reversal means explains why.
Be careful with Google’s headline numbers. It reports an average 9.5% ROI increase for advertisers who add the Display Network to Demand Gen, and a food delivery brand called GoFood reported a 24% fall in cost per acquisition and 19% more conversions. These are Google’s own figures from its own data. Your result depends on tracking, creative, budget and goals.
Migration plan, checklist and common mistakes
You have two routes. You can use the in-account tool, or you can build new Demand Gen campaigns by hand and shift budget across gradually. The tool is quicker; the manual route gives you more control and a cleaner comparison. For anything important, we would lean towards a gradual shift.
Pre-migration checklist
- Audit complete: campaigns, exclusions, audiences and conversion actions documented.
- Baseline recorded: 90-day cost per conversion, conversion volume and spend by campaign.
- Assets ready: images in three ratios, logo, video, headlines and descriptions.
- Landing pages checked: mobile speed, message match and working tracking.
- Budget rules set: a test cap, a review date and a rollback condition.
- Batches limited: reported guidance advises against moving more than 100 campaigns at once, and most accounts should move far fewer.
Some mechanics to know in advance. Migrated campaigns are reported to be renamed with a “#2” suffix, while the originals are marked Removed but kept for reporting. Spend already recorded on migration day is not carried across, so expect odd delivery for about a day. When you migrate, one source suggests keeping only the Display Network selected in channel controls at first, then adding YouTube and Gmail once the campaign has settled.
Common mistakes
- Migrating everything at once: a single bad setting then hits your whole Display budget.
- Carrying old clutter across: outdated audiences and exclusions follow you into the new campaign.
- Turning on every channel on day one: you then cannot tell which surface helps or hurts.
- Changing bids too often: the system never gets a stable period to learn.
- Reusing weak banners: small, cluttered artwork does not suit feeds, inboxes or Shorts.
- Ignoring brand safety: if you relied on placement exclusions, check what the new campaign allows and test before scaling.
- Treating new features as certain: Business Agent and Affiliate Location Extensions have no confirmed general availability yet. Do not build a plan on them.
A practical action plan
Here is a sensible order of work. Adjust the timings to your budget and sales cycle, and remember that the only firm deadline reported is the 2027 target.
- This week: export your Display data, list campaigns and record your baseline. Check your Google Ads account for migration notices.
- Weeks 2 to 3: audit audiences, exclusions and conversion actions. Retire campaigns that have never paid their way.
- Weeks 3 to 5: produce the missing creative: 9:16 images, vertical video, a clean logo and carousel cards. Check that landing pages match the ads.
- Weeks 5 to 6: launch one Demand Gen test campaign, set to the Display Network only, with a modest share of Display budget. Use a bid close to current Display levels.
- Weeks 7 to 10: hold bids steady, review results by channel and format, then add YouTube and Gmail in a second test. If you sell through local outlets, ask Google about Affiliate Location Extensions; if you sell products with a feed, consider the Business Agent sign-up.
- Weeks 10 to 12: compare cost per acquisition and conversion value against your baseline. Move more budget only where the data supports it.
- Before 2027: migrate remaining campaigns in small batches, on your terms, rather than waiting for the automatic move.
It also helps to connect this work to the rest of your media plan. Google is not alone in pushing automated, creative-led buying: see how it compares in our look at ChatGPT ads vs Google ads and the Meta Advantage+ and Andromeda guide. If you want the reporting and testing side to run with less manual effort, our piece on self-optimising marketing systems is a good next read. For wider industry context on the Display change, PPC Land has a detailed breakdown.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Display Network being shut down?
No. Google has said the inventory is not going away. What is changing is how you buy it: standalone Display campaigns are being retired and the Display Network is managed inside Demand Gen. You can still run Display-only delivery in Demand Gen using channel controls, so existing placements and audiences remain reachable.
Do I have to migrate my Display campaigns now?
Not today. The move is voluntary for now, and Google has said remaining eligible campaigns will be migrated automatically, with the process expected to finish in 2027. Migrating early, in small batches, lets you test and fix problems on your own schedule instead of reacting to an automatic move.
Will my Display campaign performance change after migration?
It may. Analysts note that audience expansion, placement visibility, budget pacing, bidding and reporting detail can behave differently in Demand Gen. Expect some fluctuation in the first days. Record a baseline before you move, change bids slowly, and compare results against the old campaign before shifting more budget.
What creative do I need for Demand Gen?
Prepare images in landscape, square and portrait ratios, a clear logo and business name, and short video in vertical and horizontal formats. For one-tap landing page visits in YouTube Shorts, Google says you need 9:16 full-bleed image ads. Carousels are also available. Wider asset sets let the system serve across more placements.
Are Business Agent and Affiliate Location Extensions available to everyone?
Not as far as we can confirm. Google described both in its September Demand Gen Drop, but the sources we read gave no general release date, regions or full eligibility rules. Business Agent has a sign-up form for interested advertisers. Treat both as optional extras to watch, not as part of your core plan.
Can small businesses benefit from Demand Gen?
Possibly, if they have decent creative, accurate conversion tracking and a landing page that matches the ad. Demand Gen reaches several Google surfaces, but it relies on good signals. Start with a small test budget on the Display Network only, then widen channels once you can see what drives enquiries or sales.
Our paid media team can audit your Display campaigns and plan a low-risk move into Demand Gen.
Riya Bhardwaj
Leading content and growth initiatives with a focus on search visibility, audience engagement, and measurable business outcomes. Specialised in SEO, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), AI search optimisation, and performance-driven content marketing. Passionate about transforming market insights into scalable content strategies that strengthen brand authority and drive sustainable digital growth.