Have You Tried Demand Gen? Running YouTube, Gmail and Discover on One Budget
Demand Gen replaced Google's old Discovery Ads and runs across eight placements on one budget. What does it do for small businesses, and where to start?
What Is Demand Gen and How Does It Differ from Discovery?
Remember Google's 'Discovery Ads'? Those image-based ads that showed up in Gmail and the Google Discover feed? In late 2023, Google redesigned that format under the name Demand Gen, and the scope has grown dramatically. With a single campaign budget, you can now appear across eight different placements — from YouTube Shorts to Gmail, from Google's display network to map pins. The Discovery era is over; if you try to create a new campaign today, that option simply isn't there anymore.
- YouTube Shorts — full-screen vertical format (9:16), fully active since April 2026
- YouTube In-stream — ads shown before and during videos
- YouTube In-feed — appearing in search results and recommended videos
- YouTube Home Feed — the first thing users see when they open the app
- Gmail Social and Promotions tabs
- Google Discover — mobile news and interest-based content
- Google Display Network — over 3 million sites and apps
- Google Maps pin ads — added to Demand Gen in 2026
Managing such a wide network from a single campaign sounds appealing at first. But it's worth taking a step back and asking: which businesses is Demand Gen actually built for — and which ones should stay away?
What Changed in 2025–2026?
Demand Gen hasn't stood still over the past year and a half. Through Google's monthly 'Demand Gen Drops' update series, the campaign type has undergone serious transformation. The most significant changes: Video Action Campaigns (VAC) are gone. New VAC creation closed in March 2025, and by April 2026 all existing campaigns were automatically migrated to Demand Gen — in paused state. If you weren't aware, your ads may not be running right now. Google Display Network joined Demand Gen in April 2025, with accounts making the switch seeing an average 9.5% ROI increase. And in March 2026, Google's Veo AI made it possible to generate video variations automatically from existing photos — no extra production cost needed.
Realistic Budget Expectations for Small Businesses
Google technically allows you to launch a campaign with as little as $5 per day (around 165 TL). But at that level, the algorithm can't gather enough signal to work effectively — so meaningful results are unlikely. Realistically speaking, a daily budget of at least 1,000–1,500 TL is a more sensible starting point in the Turkish market to complete the learning period. The first two weeks are critical: don't touch the campaign — no bid changes, no audience edits, no pausing ads. The algorithm needs this time to collect data; if you intervene early, you reset the clock.
- Connect a Merchant Center product feed: Businesses linking a product feed to their Demand Gen campaign see an average 33% increase in conversions with no rise in CPA. Not doing this has a real cost.
- Mix your creative formats: Instead of using only video or only images, combine both. According to Google data, mixed-format campaigns drive 20% more conversions than single-format campaigns.
The Most Common Mistake and Channel Controls
One of the most common mistakes among advertisers is mixing remarketing lists (people who've already visited your site) with fresh prospecting audiences in the same campaign. These two groups operate on very different signals; optimizing for one often undermines the other. Use separate ad groups — or better yet, separate campaigns. If you're starting with a limited budget, the 'channel controls' feature introduced in 2025 will be useful: you can now choose exactly which placements your campaign appears on. Starting with a narrower set — like YouTube Shorts and Gmail — lets you test your budget more deliberately. Expanding channels once the data matures is straightforward.