Google gives away free spaces and credits for its Demand Gen AI tool while advertisers doubt its effectiveness regarding existing AdTech solutions.

Google provides Demand Gen users with cost savings opportunities through free ad space and advertising credits to grow its automated media buying tool adoption. Between 2023 and present Demand Gen autonomously selects top-performing video and image advertisements for distribution throughout Google properties that include YouTube Shorts alongside YouTube and Gmail and Discover.

To boost Demand Gen adoption Google provided between $1,000 to $20,000 of free advertising credits which advertisers could obtain for testing this product during a two-month period. Google’s promotional approach has generated enterprise-wide attention through their intense demand for the tool accompanied by numerous marketing materials. A media agency representative described the push from Google to use Demand Gen as an uninvited program which makes companies hesitant to dismiss it.

During the year Google has made intermittent ad credit offers to advertisers who match certain budget requirements and brand specifications according to Michael Lisovetsky who co-founded Juice agency. All advertisers do not receive identical offers from Demand Gen because their matches vary from complete dollar-for-dollar to partial discounts.

Several questions surround how well Demand Gen delivers its results to the market. The critics view Demand Gen as another black box solution similar to Performance Max which Google released previously through its AI-based budget distribution system across the advertising network. The increased adoption of Demand Gen fails to produce consistent results according to some advertisers who doubt its effectiveness compared to others in the competitive AdTech sector.