--- title: "Demand Gen vs Discovery Campaigns: What Changed in Google Ads" description: "Explains, for marketers and agencies, what Google's 2023 shift from Discovery ads to Demand Gen campaigns actually changed, how Demand Gen differs…" url: "https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads" image: "https://groas.com/og/groas.jpg" published: "2026-08-12T06:36:43.071Z" modified: "2026-09-30T23:53:15.034Z" --- [Google Ads Best Practices](https://groas.com/category/google-ads-best-practices) · August 12, 2026 · 2 min read # Demand Gen vs Discovery Campaigns: What Changed in Google Ads [Alexander PerelmanHead Of Product @ groas](https://groas.com/author/alexander-perelman) Updated September 30, 2026 **Direct answer:** Yes — Google announced at Google Marketing Live on May 23, 2023 that Discovery ads campaigns were being upgraded to Demand Gen campaigns, with Demand Gen reaching general availability worldwide in October 2023 and the remaining Discovery campaigns automatically migrated over during 2024. Demand Gen is not a simple rename: it kept Discovery’s Discover-feed, Gmail, and YouTube Home/Watch Next placements but added YouTube In-Stream, YouTube Shorts, vertical video formats, built-in A/B testing, lookalike audience expansion, and campaign-level frequency capping — none of which Discovery ads supported. Discovery ads can no longer be created as a new campaign type; Demand Gen is the only option for that inventory going forward. ## Did Demand Gen Campaigns Replace Discovery Campaigns in 2023? Yes. Google confirmed the upgrade path from Discovery ads to Demand Gen at Google Marketing Live on May 23, 2023. Demand Gen entered open beta shortly after and reached general availability for advertisers globally in October 2023. Existing Discovery campaigns kept running on the old format for a transition period, and Google completed the automatic upgrade of remaining Discovery campaigns to Demand Gen during 2024. After the upgrade, advertisers cannot build new Discovery ads campaigns — Demand Gen is the current campaign type for that inventory. ## Discovery Ads vs Demand Gen: What Actually Changed | | Discovery ads (pre-2023) | Demand Gen (current) | | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Placements | Discover feed, Gmail, YouTube Home & Watch Next feeds | Same, plus YouTube In-Stream and YouTube Shorts | | Ad formats | Single image, carousel | Single image, carousel, vertical video, Shorts-native video | | A/B testing | Not available | Built-in campaign experiments | | Audience expansion | Not available | Lookalike ( | ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Did Discovery ads campaigns get replaced by Demand Gen campaigns? Yes. Google announced at Google Marketing Live on May 23, 2023 that Discovery ads campaigns were being upgraded to Demand Gen campaigns. Demand Gen reached general availability worldwide in October 2023, and remaining Discovery campaigns were automatically migrated over during 2024. ### Can you still create new Discovery ads campaigns in Google Ads? No. Discovery ads can no longer be created as a new campaign type. Demand Gen is the only option for that inventory going forward. ### What placements does Demand Gen have that Discovery ads didn't? Demand Gen kept Discovery's Discover feed, Gmail, and YouTube Home and Watch Next placements, and added YouTube In-Stream and YouTube Shorts. Discovery ads did not support those two additional placements. ### What ad formats are available in Demand Gen campaigns? Demand Gen supports single image, carousel, vertical video, and Shorts-native video ads. Discovery ads were limited to single image and carousel formats. ### Does Demand Gen support A/B testing and frequency capping? Yes. Demand Gen includes built-in campaign experiments for A/B testing and campaign-level frequency capping, plus lookalike audience expansion. 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[See If You Qualify](https://groas.typeform.com/to/xC1bQNUT) ## Structured data ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://graph.groas.com/entity/groas","name":"groas","url":"https://groas.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://groas.com/icon-512.png","width":512,"height":512},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/company/groas/"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://groas.com/#website","name":"groas","url":"https://groas.com/","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https://graph.groas.com/entity/groas"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads#webpage","url":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads","name":"Demand Gen vs Discovery Campaigns: What Changed in Google Ads","description":"Explains, for marketers and agencies, what Google's 2023 shift from Discovery ads to Demand Gen campaigns actually changed, how Demand Gen differs…","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://groas.com/#website"},"about":{"@id":"https://graph.groas.com/entity/groas"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads#breadcrumb"},"dateModified":"2026-09-30T23:53:15.034Z","mainEntity":{"@id":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads#article"}},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://groas.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https://groas.com/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Google Ads Best Practices","item":"https://groas.com/category/google-ads-best-practices"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Demand Gen vs Discovery Campaigns: What Changed in Google Ads","item":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads"}]},{"@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads#article","url":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://groas.com/blog#blog"},"headline":"Demand Gen vs Discovery Campaigns: What Changed in Google Ads","description":"Explains, for marketers and agencies, what Google's 2023 shift from Discovery ads to Demand Gen campaigns actually changed, how Demand Gen differs from Performance Max, and how Demand Gen frequency capping works.","datePublished":"2026-08-12T06:36:43.071Z","dateModified":"2026-09-30T23:53:15.034Z","author":{"@id":"https://groas.com/author/alexander-perelman#person"},"publisher":{"@id":"https://graph.groas.com/entity/groas"},"articleSection":"Google Ads Best Practices","keywords":"Google Ads, Google Ads Best Practices","wordCount":262,"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://groas.com/author/alexander-perelman#person","name":"Alexander Perelman","jobTitle":"Head Of Product @ groas","description":"Ex Goldman Sachs and Ex Stanford Computer Science","image":"https://groas.com/media/blog/4f17cac3a81acc224cc1b2cfab8f94bbc295a3089d13e8421125771ef8d4064f.jpg","worksFor":{"@id":"https://graph.groas.com/entity/groas"},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-433793253/"]},{"@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://groas.com/post/demand-gen-vs-discovery-campaigns-google-ads#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Did Discovery ads campaigns get replaced by Demand Gen campaigns?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes. 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