Overview
Eight out of ten advertisers running Google Performance Max campaigns are now registering connected television impressions on YouTube, according to reporting by Anu Adegbola at Search Engine Land and data cited from Smarter Ecommerce’s Mike Ryan (see the Search Engine Land report). The shift is not accidental. Since mid 2025 Google has quietly widened the inventory available to automated campaigns and, in January 2026, rolled out shoppable CTV formats that turn product feeds into interactive TV experiences. The result is that many brands are already on the big screen without actively choosing to be there.
How we got here
Timeline
– Q2 2025 – Google began serving CTV ads using standard product feed images, meaning advertisers with no video assets started getting TV impressions from catalog photos.
– January 2026 – Google announced shoppable CTV ads, allowing viewers to browse products and scan QR codes to purchase directly from their television via product feeds. See Search Engine Land for coverage of the announcement and technical details.
Why it matters
Performance Max was designed to simplify omnichannel buying by automating placements and creative. That works well when automation improves efficiency. It is a problem when automation obscures where budget goes and how your creative actually looks on a 65 inch screen. Advertisers who have not audited their channel mix risk two linked harms – wasted spend and brand damage. Low resolution or poorly composed product images that are adequate for a small shopping card can look amateurish on a living room TV and undermine trust in premium categories.
Practical steps for advertisers – what to do now
1. Pull your Channel Performance report and check CTV exposure
Google’s channel breakdown will show how much of your PMax spend and impressions are being assigned to TV inventory. If you have not checked recently, do so immediately and compare by absolute dates – for example compare performance from Q3 2025 to the present to see the trajectory. If you need background reading on the native report, Search Engine Land has a helpful explainer.
2. Audit and upgrade your feed images
Since Q2 2025 product feed images have been eligible for CTV. Clean up poor lighting, add lifestyle framing where relevant, and replace low-resolution assets. Treat feed images as primary creative for high-value SKUs rather than appendages of your catalogue.
3. Check shoppable CTV eligibility and results
If you run PMax with a Merchant Center feed you may already be eligible for the shoppable formats announced in January 2026. Track incremental conversions and cost per conversion specifically from TV inventory to confirm whether the new formats are actually adding value or simply redistributing spend.
4. Invest in dedicated TV creative where it matters
Auto-generated creatives are the floor. For categories where brand perception, premium pricing, or demonstration matter – think fashion, furniture, electronics – purpose-built video assets optimised for TV will usually beat repurposed stills.
Industry implications
Audience and measurement
YouTube’s viewing shift toward TV is not trivial. Executives at YouTube have said TV watch time now exceeds mobile in the US, and industry coverage has documented the change. That alters the balance between short-term direct response and longer-view brand exposure within a single automated campaign. Advertisers need to reconcile performance metrics that were developed for mobile-first shopping with the viewing habits and expectations of TV audiences.
Market concentration and the transparency problem
There is a wider policy angle here. Google’s continued push to monetise every screen in its ecosystem gives it tremendous leverage over both media supply and creative formats. Left unchecked, automated allocation can serve the platform’s yield optimisation goals rather than advertisers’ strategic objectives. That is not an ideological complaint so much as a practical one. Advertisers should demand better visibility and finer controls – or reallocate portions of their budgets to channels where they have predictable control.
A cautious, pragmatic approach pays off
For many Irish SMEs and retailers that rely on tight margins, the right first step is straightforward: know where your money is going. The next step is to measure the return from TV inventory separately and only scale creative investment when the data shows clear uplift. For larger brands, plan TV-specific creative and governance structures so that automation improves efficiency without ceding strategic control.
Conclusion
The expansion of CTV inventory into Performance Max campaigns marks a turning point. Advertisers are already appearing on the living room screen, but most have not treated the change as a deliberate media decision. The remedy is not to disable automation across the board but to add oversight – pull the channel reports, clean your feeds, test shoppable CTV where eligible, and invest in TV-grade creative where it will move the needle. For further reading, see the original Search Engine Land piece by Anu Adegbola and related coverage of YouTube viewing trends in Variety.
