Google visual storytelling advances for YouTube, Discover, Gmail 

More options are available for visually immersive ad formats to drive consumer demand and conversions across its YouTube, Discover and Gmail properties, Google announced today at Google Marketing Live 2024.

Driving the news. Key updates include:

Expansion of Demand Gen video ad campaigns to reach up to 3 billion users monthly across YouTube, Discover and Gmail inboxes.

Launch of new YouTube Shorts ad formats like vertical videos, stickers and automatically generated animated image ads.

The big picture. With over 2 billion logged-in YouTube Shorts viewers per month, Google is heavily leaning into short-form video as a vehicle for grabbing consumer attention and demand.

The backdrop. Google introduced Demand Gen campaigns last year as a revamp of its video ads designed to drive “demand and conversions” across its largest engagement properties.

Privacy shifts. With privacy shifts limiting data for ad targeting and measurement, brand-focused visual ads could become an increasingly important counterweight for Google’s massive ads business.

Why we care. Advertisers will like the variety being provided for YouTube to better engage with the types of consumers that show up on there.