Demand Gen vs Display — Which to Choose for Reach
Jakub Pytlik
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May 7, 2026
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6 min read
What actually makes these two campaigns different
A quick clarification first, because the names are confusing. Display has been around since 2008 — it is the classic banner campaign that runs your ads across millions of publisher sites (Google Display Network) plus mobile apps. Demand Gen is the newer format — Google announced it in 2023 and in March 2024 it replaced the old Discovery campaign. Demand Gen combines five surfaces: YouTube In-stream (skippable video), YouTube In-feed (next to YouTube search results and on the home feed), YouTube Shorts, Google Discover (mobile feed) and Gmail Promotions. So it is not a "new Display" — it is a different product, in a different place, for a different job.
Demand Gen announced by Google in May 2023, GA (general availability) and replacement of Discovery in March 2024 — Google Blog — Demand Gen launch.
Full comparison table
| Aspect | Display | Demand Gen |
|---|---|---|
| Surfaces | Google Display Network (~2 million sites + apps) | YouTube In-stream + YouTube In-feed + YouTube Shorts + Google Discover + Gmail Promotions (5 surfaces) |
| Campaign goal | Awareness, brand reach, remarketing | Awareness + consideration + leads (mid-funnel) |
| Ad format | Static JPG/PNG, responsive (auto-generated), HTML5 (rare) | Video (15–60s), images, carousel up to 5 images, product feed (e-com) |
| Targeting | Affinity, In-market, Custom segments, contextual (placement, topic) | Lookalike, Customer Match, In-market, Custom intent |
| Placement control | Yes — you can exclude specific sites / categories / content types | Limited — Google decides where it shows (with YouTube placement exclusions) |
| Bidding strategies | Manual CPC, Maximize Clicks, tCPA, Maximize Conversions, vCPM | Maximize Conversions, tCPA, Maximize Clicks, Target CPM (since 2024) |
| CPM | 1–4 PLN (Poland) | 8–20 PLN (Poland) |
| CPC | 0.30–1.20 PLN | 0.80–2.50 PLN |
| CTR | 0.3–0.8% | 0.8–2.5% |
| Post-click engagement | Low (bounce rate 70–85%) | Higher (bounce rate 50–65%) |
Polish CPM/CPC/CTR figures from my own experience running both campaign types. International data confirms similar ratios — Demand Gen typically has 3–5× the CPM of Display, but 2–3× the CTR.
When to choose Display
- Remarketing. This is Display's "home" — site visited, cart abandoned, banner follows the customer around the web. Display is hard to beat here — cheapest CPM, good frequency control, plenty of placement exclusions.
- Brand defense. If you want your brand to appear next to industry content on publisher sites — Display does that more cheaply than any other format.
- Cheap mass reach. A campaign reaching 1–10 million users a month with a 2,000–10,000 PLN budget — Display delivers this. Demand Gen, on the same budget, will reach 3–5× fewer people.
- B2B with a long sales cycle, contextually placed. Decision-makers researching solutions on industry sites (whitepapers, reports, expert blogs) — Display lets you control the context where you appear. Note: B2B awareness on YouTube also works (especially with lookalikes built off your CRM), so Display is not the only option — it depends on where in the funnel you are and how your buyer consumes content.
- No video / no production budget. Demand Gen can run without video, but it works better with it. If you do not have video and do not want to invest in production — Display makes more sense.
When to choose Demand Gen
- Awareness for younger audiences. 18–35, mobile-first, visual content consumers. YouTube Shorts and Discover is where they live. Demand Gen reaches them, Display usually does not.
- You have strong video creative. Demand Gen shows your video as native content in YouTube and Shorts — that works if the video is good. If you only have static banners, Demand Gen is not for you.
- E-commerce with a product feed. In 2024, Demand Gen got Merchant Center feed integration — it shows products as a carousel in Discover and Gmail. A solid complement to Shopping and PMax for DTC brands.
- Lookalikes from Customer Match. Have a list of 5,000+ customers? Demand Gen lookalike works much more precisely than Display Affinity. The algorithm learns from your real customers.
- Product launch / seasonal campaign. Awareness that "something is happening" (release, promo, new line) — Demand Gen with video gets 2–3× the CTR of Display. Note: the audiences are different (passive site browsing vs active YouTube/Discover consumption), so do not compare CTR side by side in one report — compare the business outcome.
Hybrid — running both
The most common question from clients with bigger budgets: "Can I run both?". Yes — and it often makes sense. The best combination I see at larger clients:
- Display as the remarketing layer — catches people who already visited the site, cheap CPM, frequent exposure
- Demand Gen as the awareness/consideration layer — builds awareness with new audiences, lookalikes off existing customers
- Search + Shopping/PMax as the bottom of the funnel — captures purchase intent when the customer is already looking for you
From my experience, this hybrid needs at least 8,000–15,000 PLN/month for each layer to have enough data to learn. Below that — pick one: Display for remarketing (if you have traffic), Search for acquisition (if you have budget and intent), Shopping for e-com (if you have a feed). Demand Gen is usually the last layer you add, not the first.
Most common mistakes
- Confusing Demand Gen with Display. The client asks for "a Display campaign for remarketing" and the agency turns on Demand Gen because "it is newer". Demand Gen does not give you the same control over frequency and placement exclusions — for classic remarketing, Display simply works better.
- No placement exclusions in Display. Your ad ends up on kids' game apps, fake news sites, obscure forums. Check your placement list every month and add exclusions — that is the classic source of Display waste.
- Demand Gen with a single creative. The algorithm needs to rotate creatives to learn. One video plus one image is not enough. Give it 3–5 videos in different lengths plus 5–10 images plus copy variants — let the algorithm pick.
- Wrong bidding strategy in Display. Display rewards reach, so for awareness pick vCPM, for remarketing with conversions — tCPA or Maximize Conversions. Maximize Clicks only makes sense when your goal is traffic (e.g. building a remarketing list), not conversions — otherwise the system catches cheap accidental clicks.
- Demand Gen without feed integration for e-com. An e-commerce store with a Merchant Center feed should be using it in Demand Gen — it shows products with prices in Discover. Without the feed, Demand Gen only delivers brand awareness, which for a small store is often a budget waste.
When neither makes sense
Because sometimes neither does. If you do not have at least 1,000 visits per month and your budget is under 2,000 PLN/month, neither Display (not enough data for remarketing) nor Demand Gen (not enough budget for the algorithm to learn) will work in any meaningful way. Start with Search — high intent, low entry barrier, every złoty goes to a customer with a clear buying intent. Display and Demand Gen are layers you add once the basics work — not the other way around.
About the sources: Demand Gen — Google Blog — Demand Gen launch (May 2023). Discovery replacement mechanics — Google Ads Help — Demand Gen. Polish CPM/CPC/CTR rates and budget bands — from 11 years of running Google Ads campaigns at JP Ads. Numbers from my own practice are flagged "from my experience".