Google is officially getting rid of the Display Network campaign type.
The update means that advertisers will eventually manage Google Display Network inventory through the Demand Gen campaign workflow instead of the traditional standalone Display campaign setup.
Although Google says display inventory itself isn’t going away, the migration represents another major consolidation move within Google Ads.
For advertisers who still rely heavily on traditional display campaigns, the transition could significantly change how campaigns are structured, managed and optimized over the next year.
What’s changing with display ads
According to GoogleAdvertisers will still be able to run display-only campaigns focused exclusively on Google Display Network inventory.
The difference is where these campaigns are created and managed.
Going forward, Google Display Network inventory will be integrated into Demand Gen campaigns alongside YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Google Maps inventory.
Google says advertisers switching to Demand Gen will have access to additional features not previously available in traditional versions. Display campaignsincluding:
- Carousel Ads
- Expanded video ad formats
- Similar segments
- AI Generative Image Tools
- Channel level reporting
- Google Maps inventory (in beta)
- New bidding options like target CPC and total campaign budgets
The update also continues Google’s recent efforts to combine more inventory sources and campaign controls into fewer campaign types.
Migration will take place gradually until 2027
In the announcement, Google says the transition will happen in stages.
Starting in June 2026, eligible advertisers will begin to see a migration tool in Google Ads that will allow existing display campaigns to migrate to Demand Gen.
Moving forward, advertisers will no longer be able to create new standalone Google Display ad campaigns.
Existing campaigns will remain editable until migrated.
Google also confirmed that remaining eligible campaigns will eventually be automatically migrated to Demand Gen if advertisers don’t manually move them first.
According to the schedule, the migration process will continue until 2027.
What this means for advertisers
This update will likely receive mixed reactions among advertisers who rely heavily on traditional display campaigns.
Demand Generation has gained many more controls, reporting features, and creative AI capabilities over the past year. Some advertisers may appreciate having these tools without managing separate campaign types.
Others may be more cautious about deployment.
Traditional display campaigns historically provided a different level of placement visibility, segmentation, and campaign separation than Google’s newer types of automated campaigns.
This means that advertisers should pay close attention to how campaign behavior changes after migration, particularly regarding:
- Broadening the audience
- Location Visibility
- Stock distribution
- Reporting granularity
- Budget pace
- Bidding behavior
Personally, this decision does not seem particularly surprising.
Google has spent the last two years steadily positioning Demand Gen as its primary campaign type for visual and discovery-based ad experiences on Google properties.
Much of the recent innovation around creative formats, audience expansion, reporting, and conversion-focused optimization first landed in Demand Gen.
In some cases, Google has already removed functionality from old campaign structures.
For example, the goals of conversion-focused action video campaigns were previously grouped into Demand Gen, making Demand Gen increasingly central to YouTube-focused performance advertising.
That’s part of why I wouldn’t be shocked if Google ends up integrating even more YouTube and video campaign features into Demand Gen over time.
Google has not announced anything in this direction.
But this shift to Display reinforces the idea that Google appears to be consolidating more workflows focused on visual inventory, automation, and conversion into fewer campaign types.
As always, advertisers should treat platform-wide averages carefully. Performance will likely vary widely based on creative quality, audience strategy, conversion tracking, and campaign objectives.
How should advertisers prepare?
Personally, I wouldn’t wait for Google to automatically migrate these campaigns.
Advertisers who drive significant traffic on the Google Display Network should start reviewing their configurations now, especially if they already have placement exclusions, app exclusions, managed placements, or very refined brand safety controls in place.
Placement exclusions alone will likely be a major topic for advertisers after this transition.
Many advertisers have spent years improving the quality of Google Display Network traffic by excluding low-quality apps, websites, parked domains, and other inventory that they don’t want associated with their campaigns.
This doesn’t suddenly become less important just because campaigns are now happening within Demand Gen.
Now is probably a good time to take inventory of things like:
- Location Exclusions
- Managed Locations
- Application exclusions
- Audience Overlay
- Device targeting
- Brand Safety Controls
- Traffic quality models
I would also spend time manually testing and rebuilding some of these configurations in Demand Gen before migration becomes mandatory.
It’s much easier to determine where controls, exclusions, or reporting are behaving differently now rather than after Google automatically migrated campaigns.
Looking to the future
Google has spent the last few years steadily reducing the number of standalone campaign types in Google Ads.
The move from Display to Demand Gen appears to be another step in this process.
Advertisers will likely spend the next year determining how much control and visibility still exists once these campaigns are fully transitioned to Demand Gen.
This will be especially important for teams that today rely heavily on placement exclusions, traffic quality checks, and more hands-on Display management.
What do you think about the end of display campaigns? Was this expected or unexpected? Let us know your thoughts on the subject.
