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Video campaign

A video campaign is a Google Ads campaign type that shows video ads on YouTube and on the sites and apps of Google video partners.

How it works

A video campaign is one of three routes to YouTube: Demand Gen serves there too, and YouTube is one of the Performance Max channels. Our guide to YouTube ads for an online store compares which route fits a store.

Google is moving Video action campaigns, the version of video campaigns built for conversions, into Demand Gen. In September 2024 it said advertisers could not create new ones from March 2025, and that it would upgrade the rest automatically from Q2 2025. For an online store, video built for orders now runs through Demand Gen rather than a video campaign.

Where you see it

In Google Ads, as a campaign of the Video type.

How GetProfit reads it

In the Structure section, the portal lists video campaigns with their spend, together with Display and Demand Gen, but does not assess them on purchases. Their spend counts in the account’s totals, but not in the part judged on sales.

Not to be confused with

  • Demand Gen — a separate campaign type on YouTube, Discover, Gmail, Display and Maps, with video and image ads. Google upgrades Video action campaigns into it.
  • Awareness campaigns — the wider group that includes video, Display and Demand Gen campaigns.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “We run no video campaign, so our ads never show on YouTube.” Right: Performance Max and Demand Gen also serve there.
  • Wrong: “Our video campaign’s ROAS is lower than Performance Max’s, so it works worse.” Right: video built for orders now runs through Demand Gen, so GetProfit reads video campaigns apart from the campaigns judged on sales.

Benchmarks

In GetProfit data (146 online stores, June 2025 – June 2026), 10 stores ran video campaigns, and in those stores they took a median of 0.9% of the ad budget. This describes use, not a target.

Sources