YouTube Ads Explained: Formats and Campaign Types for 2026

Last updated: 21 August 2026. Originally published July 2021. Substantially rewritten — several campaign types named in the original version no longer exist.

What YouTube ads are

YouTube ads are bought and managed through Google Ads, not through YouTube itself. They can appear before, during or after a video, in search results, in the home feed, and, increasingly, inside Shorts.

If you learned YouTube advertising a few years ago, be warned that the campaign structure has changed more than the ad formats have. Two campaign types that used to be central have been retired and folded into something else. That section is below.

Where your ads can appear

• YouTube home feed
• Within and around YouTube videos
• YouTube search results
• YouTube Shorts
• Google video partners — sites and apps in the Display Network

The ad formats

Skippable in-stream

Plays before, during or after a video, skippable after five seconds. The workhorse format and the one most campaigns lean on for scale.

Those first five seconds are the entire game. If the hook does not land before the skip button activates, you have paid for nothing. Front-load the message; do not build to it.

Non-skippable in-stream

Up to 15 seconds, no skip option, priced on impressions via target CPM. Guarantees the full message is delivered, at the cost of showing it to people who would have skipped, some of whom will resent it.

In-feed video ads (formerly video discovery ads)

Appears as a thumbnail with headline text in YouTube search results, alongside related videos, and in the home feed. You pay when someone chooses to click and watch.

Because engagement is opt-in, in-feed video ads tend to attract higher-intent viewers than skippable in-stream, at the cost of lower impression volume for the same budget. Google renamed this format from “video discovery ads,” so older guides describing the two as separate things are describing one thing under two names.

Bumper ads

Six seconds, non-skippable, priced on impressions. Too short to explain anything, which makes them ideal for one memorable idea and useless for anything requiring persuasion. Works well layered on top of a longer campaign for frequency.

Shorts ads

The format that did not exist when this guide was first written. Full-screen and vertical, on a swipe-past model. Inventory is available through Demand Gen and Performance Max campaigns, though dedicated Shorts-only targeting remains limited.

The mistake almost everyone makes here is cropping a horizontal in-stream ad and calling it a Shorts ad. It reads as an intruder and performs like one. Shorts creative needs a hook inside two seconds, a native feel, and text overlays that work with the sound off.

Masthead

The banner across the top of the YouTube home feed, autoplaying muted. Reservation only, booked through a Google sales representative, priced on impressions. This is a launch-day product for large advertisers, not something you can set up yourself.

Campaign types: what changed

This is where guides written before 2025 will mislead you.

Demand Gen replaced Video Action Campaigns. Google retired new VAC creation around April 2025 and finished auto-upgrading existing campaigns to Demand Gen through April 2026. Demand Gen had already replaced Discovery campaigns in 2023 to 2024, and from June 2026 it is absorbing standalone Display campaigns too.

So if you are looking for Video Action Campaigns or Discovery campaigns in your account, they are not hiding. They no longer exist. Here is the current set:

Campaign type	Use it for	Typical bidding
Video reach	Maximum unique reach across bumper, in-stream, in-feed and Shorts from one campaign	Target CPM
Video views	Views at efficient cost, served across skippable in-stream, in-feed and Shorts	Target CPV
Demand Gen	Conversions, leads and traffic across YouTube, Discover, Gmail and Display	Target CPA or ROAS
Performance Max	Conversion volume across all Google inventory, with the least manual control	Target CPA or ROAS

A useful way to think about the choice: use standard video campaigns when you need control over format and placement-level reporting. Use Demand Gen when you have both video and image assets and are willing to let Google decide delivery in exchange for reach. Most well-run accounts use both.

Demand Gen also supports engaged-view conversions, crediting viewers who watch ten or more seconds of a skippable in-stream ad without clicking, and integrates with Merchant Center product feeds. For retailers, attaching the feed is usually the highest-leverage single change available.

Why advertise on YouTube at all

• Targeting by demographic, interest, life event, specific channels, specific videos, or your own customer lists
• Real-time reporting, so you can kill a failing creative in days rather than at the end of a flight
• Low entry cost relative to broadcast video
• Remarketing to people who have already watched your content or visited your site
• It creates demand rather than only capturing it, since search ads reach people already looking, YouTube reaches people before they start

That last point is the strategic case. Accounts that run YouTube alongside Search often see search performance improve over time, because audiences arrive at the search ad already knowing who you are.

If you are starting from scratch

Link your YouTube channel to Google Ads, upload creative, and pick the campaign type that matches your actual goal rather than the one with the most features. Start with a single format and enough budget to learn something from it — spreading a small budget across four formats teaches you nothing about any of them.

Creative quality decides outcomes here far more than bid settings do. If a campaign is underperforming, the answer is almost always in the first five seconds of the video rather than in the account structure.

For a look at what has actually resonated with audiences in this market, see our archive of Pakistan’s most-watched YouTube ads of 2020. For the broader context, our overview of who uses digital marketing covers where video fits alongside other channels.

Common questions about YouTube ads

What happened to Video Action Campaigns?
Google retired them. New Video Action Campaign creation ended around April 2025, and existing campaigns were automatically upgraded to Demand Gen through April 2026. If a guide tells you to create one, it is out of date.

What is the difference between in-feed and in-stream ads?
In-stream ads play inside a video someone is already watching. In-feed ads appear as a thumbnail in search results or the home feed, and only play if the viewer chooses to click. In-feed generally attracts higher intent at lower volume.

How much do YouTube ads cost?
Cost depends on format, targeting and competition rather than a fixed rate. You typically pay per view on view-focused campaigns and per thousand impressions on reach and bumper formats. Budget enough to gather meaningful data on one format rather than spreading it thin.

Do I need a YouTube channel to run YouTube ads?
Yes. Your video creative is hosted on a YouTube channel linked to your Google Ads account. The channel does not need an existing audience, and videos can be unlisted.

Can I just crop my existing ad for YouTube Shorts?
You can, and it usually performs poorly. Shorts is a vertical, sound-off, swipe-past environment that needs a hook within about two seconds. Repurposed horizontal creative reads as an intrusion.