Display advertising on Google is a visual ad (image, logo, headline, sometimes video) that shows on websites, apps and services like YouTube or Gmail, next to the content people are viewing. At Google, these ads run on the Display Network, a group of more than 2 million websites, videos and apps.
You use it to show up in front of people who are not searching for you yet, and to bring back people who already visited your site. It matters for advertisers who want to reach an audience beyond search. In 2026, the topic changes shape: Google is moving its Display campaigns to Demand Gen. Here you get what the network, the campaign and Demand Gen each mean, how a campaign works, what the migration changes, and a real example with numbers.
What Is Display Advertising Used For
Display works before the search and after the visit. It gives you three things:
- Reach people earlier: according to the Google help on Display ads, the Search Network reaches people when they are already searching for specific goods or services, and the Display Network can help you capture their attention earlier in the buying cycle, before they start searching for what you offer.
- Bring visitors back: your data segments let you re-engage people who have already visited your website or app. This is how remarketing works.
- Show your offer as an image: people read a Search ad, and they see a display ad, with your visual, your logo and your headline.
Display Network, Display Campaign, Demand Gen: Three Different Things
Three terms often get mixed up. They describe three levels:
- The Display Network is the inventory. According to its definition in the Google Ads help, it is a group of more than 2 million websites, videos and apps where your ads can appear, and it reaches over 90% of Internet users worldwide, according to Comscore.
- The Display campaign is the campaign type that buys this inventory, plus YouTube and Gmail, with responsive display ads.
- Demand Gen is another campaign type. According to its overview in the Google Ads help, it runs on YouTube, including Shorts, on Discover, Gmail, Maps and the Display Network, and can reach up to 3 billion monthly active users.
Think of a network of street billboards. The Display Network is the billboards. The Display campaign is your poster and the way you choose the billboards. Demand Gen is another way to buy the same billboards, with extra screens, like YouTube and Discover. The rule that follows: when someone talks about display, ask if they mean the network or the campaign.
How A Display Campaign Works
A Display campaign combines three settings, described in the Google help on Display ads:
- Creatives: by default, your display ads are responsive. You upload assets (images, headlines, logos, videos, descriptions), and Google AI combines them, then adjusts their size, look and format to each available ad space.
- Targeting: optimized targeting is the default method. It uses information such as the keywords on your landing page to reach new audiences likely to convert, and you can choose another form of targeting.
- Bidding: Target CPA, Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value, Target ROAS, Maximize clicks, Manual CPC or viewable impressions. With Target CPA, you can also pay for conversions instead of clicks.
Timing matters too. Google warns that changes on the Display Network, such as bids, budget or targeting, can take 12 to 24 hours to apply. A new campaign, or one with major changes, enters a learning phase that usually lasts 5 to 7 days, and Google advises waiting at least 7 to 14 days after a change before you evaluate performance.
Display Moves To Demand Gen: What Changes
Google is moving Display ads campaigns to Demand Gen, on the Display Network. Its page on the move sets the timeline:
- Since June 2026, a migration tool is rolling out in phases, and eligible advertisers can move their existing campaigns themselves.
- Later, new campaigns can only be created in Demand Gen, and the remaining eligible campaigns will be migrated automatically.
The tool keeps up to 42 days of performance history, which cuts the learning time to about 1 to 2 days. The migrated campaign takes the name "[Original campaign name] #2", and the original one moves to the "Removed" status, while staying in the account for reporting for up to five years. You can still buy display only: during the migration, Google recommends keeping only the Display Network in channel controls.
Several settings do not move to Demand Gen, with the alternative Google recommends:
- Manual CPC, replaced by Target CPC;
- viewable impressions, replaced by Maximize clicks;
- pay for conversions, replaced by Target CPA;
- bid adjustments, seasonality adjustments and portfolio bidding, with no alternative.
After the migration, if you need to optimize, Google advises limiting bid changes to plus or minus 15%, with one week between changes.
What A Demand Gen Campaign Shows On A Real Account
On a lead generation account I work with, a Demand Gen campaign spent 799.87 EUR between July 18 and October 15, 2026. Its split by network, read in the Google Ads API:
- YouTube: 791.07 EUR, or 98.9% of spend, for 90,043 impressions;
- Discover: 7.16 EUR, for 505 impressions;
- Display Network: 1.64 EUR, for 148 impressions, or 0.16% of impressions.
On this account, 99.8% of the Demand Gen spend went somewhere other than the Display Network. This split is the first number to read on a Demand Gen campaign: one line of a report, and you know what inventory you bought!
Over the same period, Search on the same account shows a CPM of 207.28 EUR and a CTR of 12.07%, against a CPM of 8.82 EUR and a CTR of 0.47% for Demand Gen. The two campaigns play two roles: one answers a search, the other shows up while people look at something else.
Display Or Search: Two Moments Before A Purchase
Search answers a demand that exists: the person types a search, and your ad appears. Display shows up while the person reads, watches a video or checks their email: it creates attention that was not there yet. The article Google Ads vs Facebook Ads describes the same difference between capturing demand and creating it, and the guide what is PPC covers the basics of search ads.
The numbers follow these roles. On the account above, the Search CTR is about 26 times the Demand Gen CTR, and this is expected: an ad that appears at the moment of a search gets more clicks than an ad placed next to a video.
Common Mistakes With Display
- Judging display by the Search CTR: 0.47% against 12.07% on the same account. You judge display by its role, reach, visits or conversions, over a long enough period.
- Changing the campaign during learning: according to the Google help, frequent or major changes can reset the learning phase and delay optimization.
- Choosing viewable CPM to sell: Google says manual vCPM is a poor fit when the campaign expects a purchase or a form. The guide what is CPM explains this bid strategy.
- Migrating without preparation: Google asks you to remove several elements before the migration, such as ad group bid modifiers, the lead form asset or campaign-level content exclusions, which can move to the account level.
The Limits Of Display
A display impression can appear without being seen. So Google measures viewability: a display ad counts as viewable when 50% of it stays on screen for one second or more, and the columns of the Viewability group give the viewable rate of your campaign.
Its effect also shows outside the campaign. The article ROAS vs MER describes this case: a top-of-funnel campaign can look unprofitable on its own, and still feed the conversions of search campaigns. To judge display, also look at what moves in the rest of the account.
The Three Most Searched Questions About Display Advertising
Where do display ads show? On the websites, videos and apps of the Google Display Network, more than 2 million according to its definition, and on YouTube and Gmail for a Display campaign. A Demand Gen campaign adds Discover and Maps. You can target contexts, audiences or locations, or let optimized targeting look for the audiences.
What does a display ad look like? A banner on a website, a native ad that matches the font and style of the site, or a video. According to the help on responsive display ads, the same ad might show as a banner ad on one site and a dynamic text ad on another.
Display or Demand Gen: which one should you launch? Both still exist in mid-October 2026, and Google says that new campaigns will later be created in Demand Gen only. A Demand Gen campaign limited to the Display Network in its channel controls buys the same inventory. Manual CPC and viewable impressions bidding are not available there.
Before you launch display, check where your ads already show: the network split of your Demand Gen campaigns tells you in one line. For an outside view of your account, see the Google Ads audit and the Google Ads service.
