🎓 Mastering YouTube Demand Gen Campaigns: The 2025 Playbook for Performance Marketers

As an intro, here’s a Quick Decision Guide:

If your VAC campaigns are recent, well-performing, and you're happy sticking video-first → Auto-Migrate.

If you want to fully embrace Demand Gen's multi-asset, multi-placement potential → Manual Duplication is the smarter move.

Now let’s get into more details!

How to Retain Learnings While Introducing New Formats

When adding new creative formats (like vertical videos or static images) to Demand Gen, it's critical to protect your existing learnings while expanding your reach.

Here’s how:

• Update, Don’t Overhaul:
   Add new formats to existing top-performing asset groups instead of creating all-new campaigns. This keeps performance signals intact.
  

• Incremental Changes:
   Introduce 1–2 new formats at a time. Avoid flooding asset groups with too many changes at once, which could reset learning phases.
  

• Prioritize High-Volume Asset Groups:
   Start with the asset groups already getting the most impressions — they’ll adapt faster and stabilize quicker.
  

• Monitor Carefully:
   Watch asset performance after updates. If CPAs spike, consider segmenting formats into a fresh asset group for better control.

Beyond conversions: Engagement, uplift, cross-channel impact

In Demand Gen, conversions are the most important part of the story, but to truly evaluate success, focus on a mix of engagement, uplift, and cross-channel impact.

• Engagement Rate:
  Track how users interact with your ads — clicks, video views, shares, etc. Engagement indicates how well your creative resonates with the audience.
  

• Lift in Conversions (Uplift):
  Monitor changes in conversions after running Demand Gen campaigns. Look for uplift in both direct (on-site) and indirect (brand recall, consideration) conversions.
  

• Cross-Channel Impact:
  Measure how Demand Gen influences other channels (e.g., search, direct traffic). High-performing Demand Gen ads often drive indirect results that lead to better performance across Google Ads and beyond.
  

• Cost per Engaged User:
  Focus on how much you're spending per user interaction. Low costs here can indicate strong ad relevance.

Using Asset-Level Insights to Optimize Iteratively

Optimize your Demand Gen campaigns one asset at a time to maximize performance over time. Here's how:

• Review Asset Performance Regularly:
  Analyze which assets (images, videos, headlines) are driving the most engagement and conversions. Pause underperforming assets and double down on the winners.
  

• Test, Adjust, Repeat:
  Continuously A/B test different creative variations. Even small tweaks can lead to better performance as Google’s machine learning refines delivery.
  

• Leverage Audience Insights:
  See which assets perform best with specific audience segments. Use this data to inform future creative direction.
  

• Iterate Based on Data:
  Don’t overthink it — let data drive your decisions. Make incremental changes and track performance against the previous version.

✅ To Sum Up

Demand Gen isn’t just a feature update—it’s a new foundation for YouTube performance.

Winning here means adapting your creative, optimizing iteratively, and measuring beyond just conversions. By following the right playbook, you can turn Demand Gen into a major growth engine for your brand.

For brands ready to maximize ROI across every format, Inceptly can help you lead the transition with confidence!

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