If you're building creative for Google Demand Gen campaigns, getting the video ad specs right the first time saves you from failed uploads, cropped-out logos, and assets that get served in the wrong placement. Google Demand Gen ads can run as video or image across YouTube Shorts, YouTube In-Feed, the Discover feed, and Gmail, and each of those surfaces favors a different shape. This guide walks through the exact specs to design for, the mistakes that trip up most advertisers, and a simple workflow for producing compliant video assets quickly.
What Google Demand Gen ads are, and why specs matter here
Demand Gen is Google's campaign type for reaching people as they browse visually rich feeds rather than searching with intent. Your video can appear in YouTube Shorts, between YouTube videos as an In-Feed ad, inside the Discover feed on Android home screens, and in Gmail's promotions tab. Because one campaign can serve across all of these placements, Google doesn't ask for a single fixed video size the way a story or reel format might. Instead, it asks advertisers to supply multiple aspect ratios so its system can pick the best fit for whichever surface the ad lands on.
This is the part that catches people out: if you only upload a landscape 16:9 video, your ad can still run in Demand Gen, but it will often get cropped, letterboxed, or simply skipped for vertical-first placements like Shorts. Supplying the full set of aspect ratios is the real "spec" that matters most for this format.
Video ad specs for Google Demand Gen ads
Here are the core video ad specs for Google Demand Gen ads to design around. Treat the numbers below as the working baseline to build to, then confirm against Google's current upload screen before you launch, since platforms do adjust thresholds over time.
| Spec | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Aspect ratios to upload | 9:16 (vertical), 1:1 (square), 16:9 (landscape) — upload all three per ad group |
| File format | MP4 is the safest choice; other common video containers are generally accepted but MP4 has the fewest upload issues |
| Resolution | Design at 1080×1920 for vertical and 1920×1080 for landscape as a safe, future-proof starting point |
| File size | Keep each file as small as you can without visible quality loss; very large files slow down upload and review |
| Video length | Google accepts a wide range of lengths; 15–30 seconds is a practical target that works across Shorts, In-Feed, and Discover |
| Audio | Optional but recommended; design the opening visual to work even if sound is off |
| Captions/text overlay | Not required by the platform, but strongly advisable for feed placements where autoplay sound varies |
Why three aspect ratios instead of one
Demand Gen is an asset-group format: you supply a pool of creative, and Google's delivery system assembles the best combination for each placement. A square 1:1 crop that works for Discover will usually look wrong dropped into a vertical Shorts feed, and a vertical 9:16 clip stretched into landscape will show black bars or an awkward crop on In-Feed. Supplying all three ratios isn't a nice-to-have; it's the difference between your ad reaching every eligible placement or only a fraction of them.
File format and size, in practice
MP4 with standard H.264 encoding is the format least likely to cause an upload error. If your export tool defaults to MOV or another container, convert to MP4 before uploading. On file size, there's no reason to push a 30-second vertical ad anywhere near a platform's upper limit — a well-compressed 1080×1920 file at a reasonable bitrate should land well under typical ceilings while still looking sharp on a phone screen.
Creative best practices that go beyond the raw specs
Meeting the technical specs gets your video approved. Getting it to actually perform in a Demand Gen feed is a separate job. A few practices consistently help:
- Open with the product or the problem in the first few frames — Demand Gen placements sit inside organic-feeling feeds, so a slow brand intro gets scrolled past before the offer ever shows.
- Add burned-in captions or on-screen text for every key line, since feed environments often default to muted playback until a viewer taps.
- Keep your logo and key message visible within the safe zone of a vertical frame — Shorts and some In-Feed placements overlay UI elements near the top and bottom edges.
- Build a clear single call to action near the end rather than stacking multiple asks; Demand Gen traffic is generally earlier in the decision journey than search traffic.
- Test a square 1:1 cut separately — it's easy to treat it as an afterthought, but Discover and Gmail placements lean on it heavily.
Common spec mistakes that hurt Demand Gen video performance
Most underperforming Demand Gen video assets aren't rejected outright — they're approved and simply never get much reach, or they run in the wrong shape. The usual causes:
- Only one aspect ratio uploaded, which limits eligible placements from the start.
- Text or logo placed too close to the frame edges, so it gets cropped when the system reframes the asset for a different placement.
- A silent-first design that relies entirely on voiceover to explain the offer, with no captions as a backup.
- Oversized source files that take a long time to upload and reprocess, slowing down testing cycles.
- A landscape video simply center-cropped into a square or vertical frame, cutting off the product or the key message instead of being reframed intentionally.
A simple workflow for building compliant Demand Gen video assets
The fastest way to cover every Demand Gen placement is to design once at 9:16 with a clean, central composition, then adapt that same cut into 1:1 and 16:9 rather than starting from scratch for each ratio. This keeps your message consistent and avoids the common trap of treating each aspect ratio as a separate creative project.
This is also where FrameNotion can shortcut the production step. You paste a product link, and FrameNotion AI writes and renders a 30-second vertical video ad — hook, problem, benefit, proof, offer, and call to action — complete with an AI voiceover, music cut to the beat, sound effects, and word-by-word captions, or music-only or silent if you prefer. Every ad is also delivered as 4:5, 1:1, and 16:9 automatically, which covers the square and landscape assets a Demand Gen asset group needs without a separate editing pass. A finished ad takes about 10–20 minutes, and the first one is free with a new account.
If you're adapting an existing campaign rather than starting fresh, see how to create vertical video ads for multiple platforms for a broader framework on reusing one core video across formats.
Demand Gen specs versus other Google video formats
It helps to see Demand Gen next to the formats it's sometimes confused with, since the asset requirements differ in meaningful ways.
| Format | Primary shape(s) | Where it runs | Key difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demand Gen video | 9:16, 1:1, 16:9 (upload all) | YouTube Shorts, In-Feed, Discover, Gmail | Needs multiple ratios in one asset group for full placement coverage |
| YouTube in-stream/Shorts ads (standard video campaigns) | 16:9 and 9:16 depending on placement | YouTube only | Tied to YouTube inventory specifically, not Discover or Gmail |
| Google Display video ads | 16:9 and 1:1 common | Display Network sites and apps | Runs as banner-style placements across third-party sites, not social-style feeds |
If you also run on Google's Display Network, the specs differ enough to warrant their own checklist — see video ad specs for Google Display ads and video ad specs for Display Network ads for the details on that format. For a deeper look at vertical-first creative thinking that applies well to the Shorts side of Demand Gen, video ad specs for In-Feed TikTok ads is a useful reference point even though the platforms differ.
Checklist before you launch a Demand Gen video campaign
- Export the ad in at least three aspect ratios: 9:16, 1:1, and 16:9.
- Convert all files to MP4 if your editor defaults to another format.
- Keep file sizes lean — compress until there's no visible quality loss, not until the file simply fits under a limit.
- Burn in captions for every spoken or important line.
- Check that your logo, offer, and call to action sit well inside the frame for all three ratios, not just the one you designed first.
- Preview each ratio at actual mobile size before uploading — details that look fine on a desktop editor can disappear on a phone.
Where FrameNotion fits into a Demand Gen workflow
FrameNotion isn't built to publish ads directly to Google or report on how they perform — you still manage the campaign and read the results inside Google Ads. What it handles is the part that eats the most time: writing the script, designing the frame-by-frame visuals, generating the voiceover and captions, and exporting the file in the shapes a Demand Gen asset group actually needs. You can also upload up to six product images or screenshots and a logo, add notes like a promo code, and the AI will fold those into the cut. If something needs adjusting afterward — a line of copy, a color, a different hook — you can request changes without starting over, and Pro and Agency plans allow A/B hook variants if you want to test multiple openings for the same asset group. Browse example ads to see finished output, or check pricing — the first ad is free, no card required.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run image-only creative in a Demand Gen campaign instead of video?+
Yes. Demand Gen asset groups accept images and video together, and the system will serve whichever asset fits a given placement best. Video tends to stand out more in feed-style surfaces like Shorts and Discover, but it isn't mandatory to include one.
Will my video automatically get cropped if I only upload one aspect ratio?+
It can run, but Google's system will crop or letterbox it to fit other placements, which often cuts off text or product shots. Uploading 9:16, 1:1, and 16:9 versions avoids relying on automatic cropping.
Does the same video asset work for Demand Gen and a standard YouTube video campaign?+
Often yes for the underlying file, but double-check placement-specific requirements in each campaign type, since Demand Gen asset groups are structured differently from single-ad YouTube video campaigns and may expect additional aspect ratios.
How strict is Google about video length for Demand Gen ads?+
Google doesn't enforce one universal length limit the way some social apps do. In practice, shorter cuts in the 15–30 second range tend to fit feed placements more naturally, so treat that as your working target rather than maximizing allowed length.
Do captions actually make a difference in Discover and Gmail placements?+
Captions matter most where autoplay sound is unreliable, which includes Shorts and In-Feed. Discover and Gmail placements can also show static or near-static previews, so clear on-screen text that communicates the message without audio is worth testing across all of them.