Video comes to Google responsive display ads

New responsive display ads combinations report now available.

Now you can add YouTube video assets to Google responsive display ad (RDA) campaigns. Google also announced two reporting updates for responsive display ads Thursday.

Why you should care. It was only a matter of time before video — via YouTube, naturally — became an option for RDA campaigns. Like responsive search ads (RSAs), these ads are largely automated, with advertisers adding multiple images — and now up to five YouTube videos — headlines, descriptions and brand logos that get served in different combinations and ad sizes dynamically.

Last fall, Google announced responsive display ads would become the default display format. This week’s announcements mark the first substantial updates for RDAs since the initial rollout.

Combinations report. Potentially serving dozens of dynamic combinations can make it hard to evaluate what’s working. The new combinations report (shown above) is designed to give advertisers more insights into which groupings of assets and copy are performing best. You’ll find the report under a new Combinations tab in the Google Ads interface.

Ad strength score. A variation on the ad strength score already available for RSAs is now available for RDAs. Google will show you progress reports on the number and quality of images, headlines and descriptions you’ve added, with “next steps” tips for improvement.

This can be helpful directionally, but don’t fret if your ad strength score is “average.” If you’re happy with your line-up of assets, just start testing.

Ad strength scores and recommendations show above the ad preview in the Google Ads interface.

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About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.