How to Increase YouTube Subscribers with Google Ads

YouTube subscribers are the backbone of a recurring audience that will engage with your future content, such as product releases or holiday-exclusive products or services. A growing subscriber base also fosters a stronger sense of community, helping you better understand how viewers interact with your content.

According to Google, viewers who engage with video ads are 23 times more likely to take follow-up actions like subscribing to a channel or exploring more videos. Therefore, if you’re looking to promote your YouTube channel further, it’s essential to go beyond organic tactics and learn how to optimize for subscriptions using Google Ads. With the right ad strategy, you can increase your YouTube subscriber count and accelerate your channel’s growth in a measurable, scalable way.

Preparing for a Subscriber-Focused Google Ads Campaign

Unlike standard campaigns that focus on driving traffic or action, a subscriber-focused Google Ads strategy is designed to grow your YouTube subscriber count and build long-term audience engagement. To increase YouTube subscribers effectively, you need to fine-tune your campaign setup for conversions that lead to subscriptions.

Define Your Goal

• To get more subscribers on YouTube using Google Ads, set your campaign’s conversion goal to “channel engagement” or “subscriptions.” This tells Google Ads to optimize delivery toward users most likely to click “Subscribe.”

• With Demand Gen, you can now track YouTube subscriptions as a conversion action, giving you more control to measure and optimize campaigns specifically for subscriber growth.

Choose the Right Audience Targeting

• Use in-market and custom intent audiences to target people actively searching for content in your niche. For example, if you want to gain YouTube subscribers interested in personal finance, you can target users looking up “investment apps” or “financial planning tips.”

• Using YouTube retargeting is an effective way to find non-subscribers who have already engaged with or viewed your video but haven’t clicked the subscribe button yet. This audience targeting strategy can increase effectiveness because these people are already familiar with your content and just need a nudge to subscribe.

• Build lookalike audiences using your email list or CRM data. While you can’t pull a direct list of YouTube channel subscribers, if you have at least 100 email subscribers or customers, you can upload that data into Google Ads to find similar people who are likely to become subscribers of your YouTube channel.

Select the Best Video Ad Formats

• Pairing compelling creative with the right audience is key. Skippable in-stream ads and in-feed video ads are especially effective at capturing attention and encouraging subscriptions. These formats allow you to show up in front of users already interested in related content, increasing your chances of attracting YouTube subscribers.

• Demand Gen campaigns support multi-format creative—video, image, and carousels—to keep engagement high and avoid ad fatigue. Since your goal is to get YouTube subscribers, Demand Gen’s focus on conversion actions makes it an ideal format to drive real, measurable growth.

With these preparations in mind, you should be fully equipped to set up and launch your campaign aimed at increasing your YouTube subscribers. Utilizing Google Ads indeed presents you with numerous opportunities and strategies to achieve your advertising goals.

Download the YouTube Livestream Case Study

Ahead of a major livestream event, a leading content brand teamed up with Strike Social to drive high-intent viewership and long-term subscriber growth.

Using a Demand Gen Campaign powered by YouTube Shorts, precision targeting, and real-time creative updates, the campaign generated 70K+ livestream views and added 315K+ new YouTube subscribers.

See how we did it

Setting Up Your Campaign to Get YouTube Subscribers

Once your creatives are ready and your campaign strategy is locked in, it’s time to launch. Below is a step-by-step walkthrough on how to set up a campaign specifically designed to increase YouTube subscribers using Google Ads and YouTube Ads.

1. Link Your YouTube Channel to Google Ads

• In your Google Ads dashboard, go to: Tools > Data manager > Connected products.

• Under Featured products, select YouTube and click Link channel*.

* Note: You must have admin-level access on the Google Ads account to link a YouTube channel.

• Paste the URL of the YouTube channel you want to grow. Click Enter, then select the correct channel from the results.

• Enter the email address of the channel owner. They will receive a notification to approve the link.

• Once the owner approves, the YouTube channel will appear under the Connected Products > YouTube section in your Google Ads account.

2. Set Up Your YouTube Subscriber Campaign

• Go to New campaign > Choose Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance.

• Select Demand Gen as the campaign type.

• Under Conversion goals, click Add goal, then choose Engagements. Click Continue to proceed.

• Confirm that YouTube engagements have been selected as your campaign’s goal. Then, continue setting your daily budget and bidding strategy.

• At the ad group level:
  • Define your audience targeting (in-market, custom intent, retargeting, or lookalikes).
  • Choose your placements—you can opt to appear across Google channels or select only YouTube placements like in-stream, in-feed, and Shorts.

• At the ad creative level:
  • Set your final URL to your YouTube channel homepage to drive more traffic and get YouTube subscribers directly.
  • When uploading your YouTube video creative, you can manually select placements if you prefer optimizing for specific ad formats (e.g., in-feed vs. in-stream) or let Google serve across all for broader reach.
  • Add strong headlines and descriptions, and set your CTA to “Subscribe.”

3. Confirm the Conversion Action

• To ensure that your campaign will be properly tracking subscriptions, go to Goals > Conversions > Summary.

• You should see the YouTube subscription conversion under Engagement(s).

• Confirm the goal is active and properly configured. Review this with your Google Ads expert or dedicated media buyer.

Once everything is set up correctly, your campaign should be ready to acquire YouTube subscribers with a data-driven approach powered by Google Ads.

Best Practices to Increase YouTube Subscribers Using Google and YouTube Ads

We always say that launching the campaign is just the beginning—real results happen during optimization. This is where close monitoring and agile decision-making are essential. Subscriber-focused campaigns need continuous fine-tuning to ensure they’re not just reaching the right audiences, but also converting viewers into long-term followers.

To help you maximize results throughout the campaign flight, we’ve compiled proven best practices that consistently drive YouTube subscriber growth:

• Retarget non-subscribers who have watched but not subscribed. Once your YouTube channel is linked to Google Ads, you can retarget users who watched your videos but haven’t subscribed.
  
  Create retargeting audiences based on viewer behavior and layer in similar audiences to expand your reach and convert passive viewers into active subscribers.

• Use strong “Subscribe” CTAs in your ad creative. For YouTube in-stream placements, include clear verbal and visual CTAs that encourage subscriptions. Phrases like “Subscribe for more insights!” or on-screen animations pointing to the Subscribe button are especially effective when placed mid- or end-video, where engagement is highest.

• Prioritize high-retention content for mobile and TV. Our benchmark report shows that short-form video drives better retention, particularly on mobile, where YouTube ads capture up to 42% of impressions.
  
  But don’t stop there: TV screens have now overtaken mobile as the top device for YouTube content consumption in the U.S. Longer ads (30 seconds or more) are gaining traction on Connected TV, where messaging can be more immersive and CPVs are 12% lower than average. Use every second to capture attention and nudge viewers toward subscribing.

• Monitor and optimize campaign performance regularly. Schedule Google Ads performance reports to be emailed daily or weekly. Monitor your top-performing campaigns, ad groups, and creatives to find what’s driving subscriptions.
  
  Look for outliers, scale what works, and adjust what doesn’t. These real-time insights are crucial to consistently increasing your YouTube subscribers using Google Ads.

• Work with a performance-focused media partner. We get it—not everyone can monitor their campaigns 24/7. But subscriber-focused campaigns need constant attention to hit your goals.
  
  Strike Social’s ad tech enables round-the-clock optimizations to reduce costs and deliver guaranteed outcomes. Our combination of expert media buyers and AI-driven tools ensures your YouTube subscriber campaign is always improving, even when you’re not looking.

Whether you’re just starting your channel or scaling your audience, we’re here to help you grow your YouTube subscriber base with precision and cost-efficiency.

Let’s talk strategy. Contact us and let our Strike Social experts walk you through our YouTube ad solutions.

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Hop on to Higher Easter Day Sales with Demand Gen Ads

Easter 2025 is set to be one of the most anticipated holidays, ranking as the 4th-most popular holiday just behind Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Mother’s Day. With Easter falling on April 20th this year, consumers have extra time to plan their celebrations and shop for Easter promotions, providing advertisers with a unique opportunity to drive sales.

This extended shopping window opens the door for advertisers to implement targeted strategies and drive high-intent customers into the lower funnel. In this blog, we’ll explore how Demand Gen ads can maximize targeting, creative flexibility, and campaign performance. With proven strategies and creative options, you’ll be fully equipped to increase your conversions for your Easter Day sales campaigns.

Easter Advertising and Consumer Trends

Are Easter Day sale campaigns going to be a hit this season? Let’s explore the consumer behaviors and shopping trends to help guide your Demand Gen ads strategy:

What Do Consumers Buy For Easter?

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2024 survey, candy and food are the top two purchases for Easter, a trend expected to continue in 2025. Additionally, Easter decorations are seeing a 7% increase, reflecting the growing enthusiasm for holiday celebrations. Gifts, traditionally associated with the Christmas season, also rank in the top three purchases for Easter shoppers.

Easter egg hunts remain a beloved tradition, securing the top spot in celebration plans for the season. While Easter events had waned in popularity in recent years, they’re back on top this year, with holiday meals and family gatherings taking second and third place, respectively.

When Do Shoppers Start Hunting for Easter Deals?

Easter shoppers typically begin searching for deals and inspiration about a month before the holiday but make their final purchases closer to the event. According to Numerator, purchase planning often begins 1-2 months in advance, with the most active buying period happening 1-2 weeks before Easter.

Timing your Easter advertising is essential so your campaigns align with your target audience’s shopping habits, capturing them as they move through the purchase funnel.

How Do Shoppers Engage with Ads Leading Up to Easter?

While 61% of U.S. consumers will be celebrating Easter, 33% of shoppers will be flocking to online stores, offering a prime opportunity for advertisers. Demand Gen ads, which can be presented across different networks, are an effective way to reach these consumers. Your Easter ads should focus on related items that highlight traditions, Easter activities, or promotions to draw attention.

Even for the 55% of consumers who say they are not celebrating Easter, many will still be engaged with Easter Day sale ads, eager to take advantage of the deals. This makes advertising during Easter a lucrative opportunity for brands looking to launch seasonal sales campaigns.

Aligning your Easter campaign strategy with consumer trends and shopping behaviors can help you boost engagement, drive sales, and optimize conversions this season. So, how will you make your brand stand out and be Easterrific this year?

Easter Day Sale Ads That Convert

Easter is a season of joy, renewal, and vibrant celebration. For some, it’s rooted in faith and tradition. For others, it’s a cheerful time filled with pastel colors, sweet treats, and springtime energy.

As such, how can your Easter Day sale ads stand out and convert? The key lies in aligning creativity, format, and urgency to inspire clicks and purchases.

Inspirations for Easter Ad Campaigns

• Creative Elements That Drive Engagement: Easter-themed campaigns come to life with soft pastel color palettes—think pinks, greens, yellows, blues, and purples—that evoke warmth, happiness, and the spirit of spring. Each color carries meaning: pink for joy, green for life, and white for light—making them ideal for crafting scroll-stopping Easter promotions.
  
  Take M&M’s 2024 Easter campaign as an example. Their limited-time “Easter Sundae” flavor ad featured their mascot donning a bunny headband alongside classic Easter colors like purple, white, and soft blue. The result? A visually engaging campaign that felt seasonally relevant.
  
  Here’s a sample YouTube Shorts ad that uses pastel shades of pink, blue, and orange while demonstrating how to make homemade carrot-shaped cookies is a great way to capture the festive spirit and drive engagement for your Easter Day promotion.

• Winning Ad Formats: Short-form video ads, especially on YouTube, are proving to be powerful tools in Easter advertising. In fact, YouTube Shorts holds an average engagement rate of 5.91%—beating out TikTok (5.75%) and Instagram Reels (5.53%). Easter promotions featuring product demos, festive recipes, or DIY crafts are perfect fits for this ad format.

• Urgency-Driven Marketing: Easter Day sale ads with a clear deadline or exclusive offer perform exceptionally well.
  
  Communicating urgency—whether it’s a flash sale or limited-edition product—pushes audiences to act fast. Brands that proactively announce Easter promotions can see conversion boosts of up to 400%.
  
  For instance, a carousel ad promoting bunny-shaped chocolates marked with “Limited Time Only” can drive faster decision-making. Use countdown timers, bold CTAs, and early-bird announcements in your Easter social media campaigns to encourage immediate engagement.

Easter Marketing Using Demand Gen Ads

YouTube advertising gives you all the tools to build a full-funnel strategy—from creating awareness to driving traffic and action. For your Easter Day sales, you can layer your campaigns: start with Video Reach Campaigns to spark interest, use Video View Campaigns for deeper engagement, and activate Demand Gen Ads to turn viewers into customers.

Why Use Demand Gen Ads for Easter Day Sale Campaigns?

With Google’s AI, Demand Gen ads use dynamic content and advanced targeting to engage audiences and drive action. The design is to deliver visually engaging, multi-format ads across Google’s most immersive platforms, including YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail. 

The focus is to create demand rather than relying solely on search intent, making them ideal for Easter advertising when consumers may not yet be actively searching for specific products but are open to inspiration.

Still new to Demand Gen ads? Check out our complete guide to setup and strategy.

Why YouTube and Google’s AI-Powered Audience Expansion Make Them Ideal for Easter Promotions?

Google’s AI ensures that ads are shown to users most likely to engage with Easter-themed promotions, whether they’re browsing for gift ideas or planning family celebrations. Since YouTube is a highly engaged platform, first-party data and behavioral signals are analyzed to identify users most likely to click, watch, and convert.

Demand Gen ads have been proven to deliver 2.3x higher ROAS than other paid social campaigns, making them highly ideal and effective for Easter Day sale campaigns.

How Can Demand Gen Ads Help Brands Scale Campaigns Efficiently While Reducing Costs?

Not only do Demand Gen ads optimize campaign performance by automating ad placements, but it also actively optimizes bid strategies. As Demand Gen identifies the most optimal placements to generate views or clicks, you benefit from improved cost efficiency because your ads are shown to viewers who are more likely to stay engaged or make a purchase.

Here are additional examples of cost efficiency achieved with YouTube and Demand Gen ads:

• A campaign promoting a movie’s theatrical release, primarily using Demand Gen ads on YouTube, achieved up to a 7.6% CTR with a 43% improvement in CPC efficiency.
• Rituals, a health and beauty brand, saw impressive results from YouTube Shorts placements; their Easter Day sale ads drove 145% more sales by leaning on current consumer trends.
• A marketing company that previously relied on Discovery ads shifted to Demand Gen ads, using multi-format YouTube video and carousel ads, and experienced up to 6.8x more clicks compared to their former strategy.

Seeing these results, Easter 2025 is definitely an advertising season that brands should not miss.

Download the YouTube Demand Gen Case Study

By allocating 99% of the ad spend to mobile placements and using Demand Gen ads on YouTube, the campaign delivered highly personalized content to affluent professionals, targeting high-intent audiences.

As a result, the campaign achieved a 3.3% link click-through rate (CTR) and 50% spend efficiency, demonstrating how Demand Gen ads can reach high-intent audiences while driving cost savings.

Download case study

Creating Effective Demand Gen Ads for Easter Promotions

To capture the attention of Easter shoppers, Demand Gen ads offer a creative solution. By combining trends and insights from this blog, here’s how you can build an effective Easter Day sale campaign:

• Use Google’s AI-driven audience insights alongside your own first-party data (e.g., past purchase history) to segment audiences effectively. Focus on behaviours like browsing for Easter gifts or engaging with spring-themed content.
• Demand Gen ads support localized targeting, allowing you to direct your campaigns toward users in specific store locations. Promote offers such as “Available at your nearest store” to increase foot traffic and boost in-store purchases during your Easter Day sale.
• Vertical video formats (9:16) on YouTube Shorts create immersive experiences that capture attention quickly. With Demand Gen’s multi-format ads, you can also use carousel ads to showcase Easter bundles or limited offers.
  • Bonus: Use Google’s creative enhancements for video and image ads to generate multiple ad variations tailored for different platforms.
• With over 75% of U.S. retail site visits coming from mobile devices, optimizing for mobile placements is always a smart move. While audience location is a key factor, Strike Social data shows that both CTV and mobile lead in ad retention rates, with 63% for CTV and 47% for mobile.

Demand Gen ads offer enhanced solutions for scaling 2025 Easter Day sales campaigns by combining AI-driven targeting with visually immersive formats across YouTube and Google platforms. By tailoring your creative approach to seasonal trends, you can drive higher engagement and conversions.

What’s your strategy for Easter advertising? Reach out below, and we’ll guide you through a personalized walkthrough of our ad activation and management tools to set you on the path to a successful Easter 2025 campaign.

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Campaign Outcome

Strike Social’s strategy combined hyper-local geo-targeting, interest-based content alignment, and mobile-first delivery to maximize results. By focusing on the right placements and audiences, the campaign exceeded its performance goals while maintaining tight control over cost.

Enhancing Demand Gen Efficiency with Adaptive Targeting

• Audience-Custom Audience Layering: Targeting combined household income overlays with curated financial content audiences to reach viewers most likely to engage with personalized financial services.

• Hyper-Focused Interest Targeting Strategy: To supplement income-based targeting, content, and interest categories were selected based on business, entrepreneurship, and finance—reaching audiences associated with professional growth and wealth-building behaviors.

• Mobile-Only Optimization: With 99% of spend on mobile, the campaign excluded Connected TV to align with scroll behavior and increase action-driven engagement.

Learn more about Strike Social

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The post YouTube Case Study: Demand Gen Engages Affluent Audiences in Key Local Markets appeared first on Strike Social.

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Campaign Outcome

Strike Social’s data-driven approach to YouTube Demand Gen delivered cost-efficient performance and strong user engagement. The campaign successfully turned YouTube movie trailer interest into ticket sales with advanced targeting and mobile optimization.

Efficient Traffic Campaign Performance with Demand Gen Optimization

• Audience-Based Media Planning: Targeting inclusion and exclusion lists helped the campaign reach moviegoers most likely to engage and convert.

• Leverage on High-Impact Creatives: A mix of 15- and 30-second video formats, native video asset for YouTube Shorts placement.

• Real-Time Optimization: Daily performance monitoring enabled budget reallocations toward top-performing placements, improving CPC and CTR outcomes.

Learn more about Strike Social

See other YouTube ad case studies.

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How to Set Up Demand Gen Campaigns for YouTube & Google Ads

For advertisers looking to simplify cross-platform advertising on YouTube and Google networks, Demand Gen campaigns are becoming the go-to solution. It’s a full transition from YouTube TrueView for Action to Video Action Campaigns (VAC) — and now, Demand Gen campaigns.

By combining the reach of Google’s ecosystem with the creative impact of YouTube video ads and image ads, Demand Gen campaigns provide a powerful way to drive action and conversions by targeting users in key moments of intent.

What Are Demand Gen Campaigns?

Powered by Google AI, Demand Gen campaigns allow advertisers to engage users across multiple touchpoints within YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail.

With the introduction of multi-format ads that can be created within a single Demand Gen campaign, advertisers can now reach and engage the 63% of customers who use Google feeds to discover or research new brands and products.

Benefits of using Google’s Demand Gen campaigns

Apart from reaching a vast audience network that you can previously reach using separate YouTube and Google ad campaigns, here are other key benefits that make Demand Gen an attractive choice for advertisers:

1. Customizable Ad Experiences: 

• Demand Gen supports multiple ad formats, including single image, video, and carousel image ads, allowing you to engage audiences with diverse creative options.
• Google Demand Gen campaigns use audience-first creatives so that the most riveting ad creatives that capture audiences are served the most to customers likely to click and convert.

2. Improved Performance Metrics:

• The early adoption of Google Demand Gen ads has brought impressive results, which has led Google to be confident in making this a more prominent campaign type:
  • 7.64% CTR with 43% better CPC efficiency on ads served in YouTube placements (Strike Social Campaign Lab data, U.S. Demand Gen campaign for entertainment brand)
  • 58% higher ROAS than Video Action Campaigns (Nielsen MMM meta-analysis on Demand Gen vs. 2024 Google AI-powered YouTube ads)
  • 3x higher CTR and 61% lower CPA (Demand Gen beta test by Search Engine Land)

3. Enhanced AI Capabilities:

• Demand Gen makes use of Google’s AI for its bidding strategy, helping advertisers secure more clicks and conversions with automated optimizations.
• AI-powered image editing allows advertisers to enhance creatives by automatically selecting and refining images from the Google Merchant Center for better ad performance.

Demand Gen Campaign Specs and Requirements

Ready to set up your Demand Gen campaigns? Here’s a detailed guide on the available ad formats and their specifications to help you create high-performing ads with this campaign type.

Available Ad Formats

Image Ads

Image ads are ideal for quick, visually appealing ads that contain all your information in a single image. If you’re looking to capture audiences who want your product or service information in one look, image ads are the way to go.

Ad specs for Demand Gen image ads

• Resolution and Aspect Ratio:
  • 1.91:1 (Landscape) – Recommended: 1200 × 628
  • 1:1 (Square) – Recommended: 1200 × 1200
  • 4:5 (Portrait) – Recommended: 960 × 1200
  • 9:16 (Vertical) – Recommended: 1080 × 1920 (Only available on YouTube Shorts)
• File Size: Max 5MB
• Headline: Up to 5 headlines (Max 40 characters each)
• Description: Up to 5 descriptions (Max 90 characters each)
• Business Name: Max 25 characters
• URL: Required; supports different URLs for mobile placements
• Logo: Up to 5 (1:1 ratio; Recommended: 1200 × 1200)
  • Logos are displayed as circular images; 5.36% of each corner may be cropped
• CTA: Automated or manual selection (choose from the following):
  • (Automated) Apply now Book now Contact us Download Learn more Visit site Shop now Sign up Get quote Subscribe See more

** Note: If uploading a GIF file for an image ad, the ad displayed will be a static version only.

Carousel Ads

Showcase multiple images in a single ad, giving your audience a more engaging experience with your Demand Gen placements. This format encourages viewers to explore and interact with your offers by swiping through the carousel.

Ad specs for Demand Gen carousel ads

• Carousel cards: Up to 10
• Resolution and Aspect Ratio:
  • 1.91:1 (Landscape) – Recommended: 1200 × 628
  • 1:1 (Square) – Recommended: 1200 × 1200 (Square images not supported in Discover placements)
  • 4:5 (Portrait) – Recommended: 960 × 1200 (Optional)
  • All carousel cards must be the same dimension. For example, if you’re choosing square resolutions for one carousel image card, then all must be square.
  • It’s recommended to have both landscape and square carousel images for better compatibility with different Demand Gen placements.
• File Size: Max 5MB
• Headline: Up to 5 headlines (Max 40 characters each)
• Description: Up to 5 descriptions (Max 90 characters each)
• Business Name: Max 25 characters
• URL: Required; different URLs can be set for each carousel card
• Logo: Up to 5 (1:1 ratio; Recommended: 1200 × 1200)
  • Logos are displayed as circular images; 5.36% of each corner may be cropped
• CTA: Automated or manual selection; can set different CTAs for each carousel card:
  • (Automated) Apply now Book now Contact us Download Learn more Visit site Shop now Sign up Get quote Subscribe See more

Video Ads

An effective way to engage users, especially on YouTube and YouTube Shorts. Reach over 250 million users in the U.S. with video ads placed across various Demand Gen placements, making it a format you can’t afford to overlook.

Ad specs for Video ads on Demand Gen campaigns

• Video Uploads: Up to 5 videos
• Length:
  • Minimum: 5 seconds
  • Maximum for YouTube Shorts ad placements: 60 seconds
  • No prescribed max length for landscape and square ads;
    Recommended: Up to 3 minutes or based on industry best practices.
• Resolution and Aspect Ratio:
  • 16:9 (Landscape) – Recommended: 1920 × 1080 (HD)
  • 1:1 (Square) – Recommended: 1080 × 1080 (HD)
  • 9:16 (Vertical) – Recommended: 1080 × 1920 (HD)
• File Size: Max 256GB
• Headline: Up to 5 (Max 40 characters each)
• Long Headline: Up to 5 (Max 90 characters each)
• Description: Up to 5 (Max 90 characters each)
• Business Name: Max 25 characters
• Logo: Up to 5 (1:1 ratio; Recommended: 1200 × 1200)
  • Logos are displayed as circular images; 5.36% of each corner may be cropped
• Sitelinks: Up to 4 (shown in skippable in-stream ads on mobile placements only)
• CTA Options:
  • (Automated) Apply now Book now Buy now Contact us Donate now Download Get quote Learn more Order now Play now See more Shop now Sign up Start now Subscribe Visit site Watch now

** Note: Your video must be uploaded to YouTube as either public or unlisted. You can also create a generative video ad directly in Campaign Manager.

** Demand Gen video ads on Gmail will only be served on mobile.

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Further Reading

YouTube Advertising Ad Specs and Set Up Guide

Setting up a successful YouTube ad starts with understanding the right specifications. Knowing the correct ad sizes, formats, and technical details ensures your video creative is displayed properly, helping you deliver a clear message to your audience.

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Targeting Capabilities and Limitations

Google Demand Gen campaigns offer advanced audience targeting options designed to maximize reach and relevance. Consider the following capabilities you can maximize when planning your campaigns.

1. Lookalike segment

Demand Gen campaigns allow you to create lookalike audiences based on first-party data, such as customer lists or newsletter sign-ups. This helps expand reach by targeting users who share similar traits with your existing customers.

For example, using lookalike audiences can help you target similar profiles of those who made past purchases from your website, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

Lookalike audiences are particularly effective for mid-funnel strategies, which Demand Gen focuses on. They help you find new, high-intent users by relying on your existing customer data. You can choose between Narrow (2%), Balanced (5%), or Broad (10%) to target people with similar profiles.

2. Custom segments

Custom segments help you target potential customers based on their search behavior, interests, and online activity. To improve targeting accuracy, you can create segments using specific search terms, competitor websites, or app activity.

For instance, if you want a headstart on your Mother’s Day promotions for your flower arrangement business, you can use a custom segment for search terms such as “ideas for Mother’s Day gifts,” “top 10 Mother’s Day gift ideas,” etc. to get audiences intently looking for Mother’s Day gifts and likely to make a purchase.

3. Optimized targeting

Google’s AI-driven optimized targeting expands reach beyond your specified audience signals to users likely to convert. While the priority remains on your defined audience, optimized targeting helps increase clicks and conversions by identifying new high-performing prospects.

If optimized targeting improves performance, you may notice a shift in your initial targeting selections. However, this is expected and indicates that the campaign is effectively driving the desired results.

Understanding how audience targeting works in Demand Gen campaigns allows you to align your strategy with your campaign goals better.

Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Demand Gen Campaigns in Google Ads

Now that you have the basics of Demand Gen campaign specs and audience targeting, it’s time to set up the campaign.

1. Choose a campaign objective that aligns with your business goals. Demand Gen supports the following objectives:

• Sales
• Leads
• Website traffic
• Awareness and consideration
• Create a campaign without guidance

2. Choose Demand Gen as the campaign type, then click Continue.

3. Set Up Campaign-Level Details:

Define the core settings for your campaign such as the campaign name, target cost-per-action (CPA), campaign budget, and campaign dates. You can also set up your location and language targeting if they will be the same for all your ad groups within this campaign.

In addition, you can select whether to distribute your ads to Google video partners (this feature is currently still in Beta testing).

4. Set Up Ad Group-Level Targeting:

Refine your targeting by setting up audience specifications at the ad group level within your Google Demand Gen campaign. Here, you can define audience segments, lookalikes, and custom audiences to ensure your ads reach the right people.

You can also decide whether to target only YouTube or expand your reach to Discover, Gmail, and the Google Display Network (currently in beta and available to a limited group of advertisers).

5. Create Your Ads:

Select from three main ad formats in Demand Gen campaigns: image, video, and carousel.

Upload your ad creatives, and Google’s AI will automatically test and optimize different combinations, prioritizing the highest-performing variations.

Set a clear ad name for easy identification within the campaign, then configure the ad URL, headlines, descriptions, and sitelinks (for video ads only).

6. In the Review campaign section, review your campaign settings and targeting, and confirm that ad creatives are correctly configured. Once you’re ready, click Publish campaign.

The campaign will typically have a 2-week to 6-week learning period during which Google can collect data and optimize bids effectively. From here, monitoring your Demand Gen campaign is essential and requires a constant eye to ensure it is running on pace.

Must-Knows for Your Demand Gen Campaigns

Launching a Demand Gen campaign is only the beginning — the real work starts after going live. Complexities may arise, so understanding what to expect and how to maintain control over your campaigns is essential.

Here’s what you need to know to run effective Demand Gen ads on YouTube and Google:

Brand Safety and Suitability

Demand Gen ads serve across YouTube, Gmail, and Discover feeds, which can expose your brand to unsuitable content. Protect your brand with these strategies:

• Use Exclusions: Exclude low-quality websites, apps, and sensitive content categories (e.g., violence, mature themes). Adjust these settings under Tools > Content Suitability in Google Ad Manager.
• Add Negative Keywords: Unlike keyword targeting, adding negative keywords prevents your ads from appearing in specific searches. For example, if you want to avoid your brand showing up alongside political content, especially during election season, using negative keywords ensures your brand stays clear of any political association.

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Further Reading

The Importance of Ad Suitability on YouTube

Ensuring your ads reach the right audience is important—but so is pairing them with the right content. Understanding ad suitability helps you protect your brand’s image, strengthen messaging, and avoid misalignment with inappropriate or off-brand content.

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Goal Clarity

Is Demand Gen suitable for all stages of your paid social ad campaign — from awareness to traffic and conversions? While Demand Gen supports multiple campaign objectives, you must clearly define your target outcome to ensure it aligns with your campaign goals.

• Mid-to-Lower Funnel Focus: Demand Gen campaigns are designed to drive clicks and actions, such as website visits, leads, and sales.
  
  While Demand Generation can be chosen from the awareness objective, a great choice for the top of the funnel (ToFu) is Video Reach Campaigns. By utilizing different YouTube ad formats such as in-stream (bumper, skippable), in-feed, and Shorts ads, you can better increase brand awareness through video engagement within related content.

What Sets Demand Gen Apart

Demand Gen campaigns combine creative flexibility and automated targeting in ways other Google Ads formats cannot:

• Flexibility over Audience Targeting: Unlike PMax, which automates most targeting, Demand Gen gives you more granular control over audience segmentation.
• Hybrid Ad Formats: With support for images, videos, and carousel ad formats, you have more flexibility in testing creative variations and adjusting placements based on performance.

Know the Best YouTube Ads Agency to Partner With

While Demand Gen automates many processes, working with a specialized YouTube Ads agency can take your performance to the next level. Here’s what to look for when choosing the right agency to manage your Demand Gen campaigns:

• YouTube Ads Expertise: Since Demand Gen is rooted in YouTube Video Action Campaigns, your agency should have deep experience in managing YouTube campaigns. A strong portfolio of YouTube case studies will give you insight into their track record and effectiveness.
• Google-Recognized: Being a Google Partner signals an agency’s expertise in running and optimizing YouTube and Google campaigns. Further, a Google Premier Partner status reflects consistent excellence and proven performance in managing high-spend campaigns.

Strike Social has proudly held Google Premier Partner status for six years — a testament to our expertise and success in running high-performing campaigns. With the trust of many top-tier clients, we continue to deliver results and maintain this prestigious recognition.

Join Strike Social’s growing network of successful clients.

Get a personalized walkthrough of our ad activation and management tools from our expert team.

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It’s More Than Just YouTube Advertising Now

The shift from Video Action Campaigns to Demand Gen signals Google’s push toward a more integrated and expansive advertising ecosystem. Demand Gen’s expansion beyond YouTube to Google’s broader network gives you more opportunities to increase ad performance across multiple channels and placements.

However, even with increased automation, you can still maintain control through strategic campaign monitoring and pacing. As your campaigns evolve, you can position your brand ahead of innovation by learning how Demand Gen fully works and how you can improve your performance.

The post Demand Gen Campaigns: A Complete Guide to Specs and Campaign Setup appeared first on Strike Social.