The important part is easy to miss. The Display Network itself is not disappearing. The campaign type that manages it is. So if you have spent years refining your Display setup, now is the moment to protect that work rather than wait for Google to move it for you.
What is actually changing
Display has run as its own campaign type for close to two decades. From here on, Google Display Network inventory becomes one channel inside Demand Gen, sitting alongside YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Maps. Demand Gen can reach up to three billion users a month across those surfaces, which is a far wider canvas than Display on its own.
You can still run Display-only campaigns. Channel controls inside Demand Gen let you limit delivery to the Display Network if that is all you want, so nobody is forcing you onto YouTube or Gmail. The buying interface changes, not the inventory. That distinction is worth getting your head around before you touch your Google Ads account structure. Google has published its migration timeline in Google Ads Help if you want the official version.
| Stage | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Migration tool opens | June 2026 | You can voluntarily move existing Display campaigns into Demand Gen |
| Manual deadline | January 2027 | You can no longer create new standalone Display campaigns |
| Automatic migration | Through 2027 | Any remaining campaigns are moved for you |
Why you should not wait for the automatic migration
If you do nothing, your campaigns still move. Google has confirmed that remaining eligible campaigns will be migrated automatically. The risk sits in the detail. Years of placement exclusions, app exclusions, managed placements, and brand safety controls do not always carry across cleanly.
Picture a UK homeware retailer spending around £6,000 a month on Display. Over three years its team has built a long exclusion list, stripping out parked domains and low-quality apps. If an automatic migration drops part of that, the brand could suddenly show up next to inventory it spent years avoiding. That is exactly the scenario worth heading off early. A structured audit of your account will show you what you have built and what needs rebuilding by hand.
What you gain in Demand Gen
It is not all defensive. The migration tool ports your recent performance history, roughly the last 42 days, so campaigns avoid a cold start and learning usually settles within a day or two. You also pick up tools Display never had. Lookalike segments are exclusive to Demand Gen and help you reach people similar to your best customers, which pairs neatly with smarter remarketing. Creative formats expand, particularly video, and reporting gets more granular, split by format such as In-Feed, Skippable In-Stream, and Shorts.
Google’s own data points to upside too. It found advertisers adding the Display Network inside Demand Gen saw an average 9.5% lift in return on investment, based on internal figures from August 2025. Read that carefully. It is Google’s number, from Google’s accounts, and your result will depend on your audiences, creative, and tracking. Because Demand Gen leans into demand creation, it is also a sensible moment to revisit brand demand versus demand capture.
How to prepare without a scramble
Treat this as a project with a deadline, not a tidy-up for later. Start with the campaigns carrying the most spend and the most refined settings. Export your exclusion lists and managed placements before anything moves. Rebuild the important controls inside Demand Gen and test them on a small budget first, ideally through a structured PPC testing plan so you can compare like for like.
Creative carries more weight in this mixed, visual environment, so check your assets are up to it. The pages you send that traffic to matter just as much, which is where solid technical SEO services and PPC landing pages that convert earn their keep. Plenty of high click-through ads still fail to drive revenue, so judge the move on enquiries and sales, not clicks. It also pays to weigh Demand Gen against your wider organic search growth and, as Google leans harder into AI across advertising and search, to keep an eye on generative AI results optimisation.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Google Display Network going away?
No. The Display Network and its two million plus sites and apps remain. Only the standalone Display campaign type is being retired, with that inventory now managed inside Demand Gen.
When do I have to migrate my Display campaigns?
The migration tool arrives in June 2026, you have until January 2027 to move campaigns manually, and Google will automatically migrate the rest through 2027.
Will I lose my campaign history if I migrate?
No. The migration tool carries over roughly the last 42 days of performance history, so your campaigns avoid a cold start and learning resumes quickly.
Can I still run Display-only campaigns?
Yes. Channel controls inside Demand Gen let you restrict delivery to the Google Display Network if you do not want YouTube, Gmail, Discover, or Maps placements.
Plan the move before Google plans it for you
The worst version of this is waking up to migrated campaigns you never reviewed. The best version is a tested, deliberate move that keeps your exclusions intact and your costs predictable. Talk to our digital team about a managed transition, and let our PPC management specialists handle the audit, the rebuild, and the testing. Book a free consultation and go into 2027 in control.