Demand Gen Ads: Creative, Image Sizes and Ad Copy From One URL
Demand Gen is the one Google campaign type that lives or dies on creative. It runs your ads inside YouTube, Discover, and Gmail feeds next to organic content, so a scroll-stopping image matters more than a keyword. Paste a product or landing page URL and Adscreator builds the whole asset set: landscape, square, and portrait images, headlines, long headlines, and descriptions, all in one pass.
Flat pricing, no credits · Updated July 2026
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Direct answer
A Demand Gen ad maker is a tool that produces the images and text a Google Demand Gen campaign needs, without a designer. Adscreator takes a product or landing page URL, writes headlines within the 40-character limit, long headlines up to 90 characters, and descriptions up to 90 characters, then generates on-brand images and renders them at 1200 x 628 landscape (1.91:1), 1200 x 1200 square (1:1), and 960 x 1200 portrait (4:5) so every required ratio is filled. Google then mixes those assets into feed-native ads across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. Each run returns multiple variants, which is what a Demand Gen asset group wants, since Google tests combinations rather than serving one fixed ad. You export the files and upload them in Google Ads. Adscreator produces static images and text, not video.
The problem
Demand Gen replaced Discovery ads, and it kept the thing that makes those placements hard: they are feed-native, so your ad sits next to a friend's YouTube video or a Gmail promotion and has to earn the click on looks alone. Yet most advertisers reach Demand Gen with search-ad muscle. They write three headlines, drop in one product photo, and wonder why the campaign stalls. A Demand Gen asset group takes up to 5 headlines, 5 long headlines, 5 descriptions, and 20 images across three ratios, and Google rates the creative "Poor" until you fill it. Filling it the old way means a designer crops the same shot into a 1.91:1 landscape, a 1:1 square, and a 4:5 portrait, then a copywriter writes five 40-character hooks that each stand alone. So the asset group ships thin, and a format built to compete in a feed runs one photo against creators who post daily.
How Adscreator handles it
Adscreator makes the whole asset group the output instead of an afternoon of cropping. Paste the product or landing page URL and it reads what you sell, writes the headlines inside the 40-character limit and the long headlines and descriptions inside 90, and generates on-brand imagery using your colors, logo, and fonts. The same input is rendered at all three ratios Google asks for, so the landscape, square, and portrait slots are filled rather than one image stretched or auto-cropped. Because every run returns variants, filling five headline slots and several images is one pass, not an afternoon of exports. Pricing is flat with no credits, so building a full, feed-ready asset set for each product or theme costs the same as building one. Adscreator never connects to your Google Ads account: you review the assets, export them, and upload them yourself.
specs
What a Demand Gen asset group asks for, and what Adscreator fills.
These are the asset slots Google specifies for a Demand Gen ad, verified against Google Ads Help in 2026. You need at least one landscape image, one square image, and a logo to publish, but the ad rates higher and serves in more feeds the more distinct assets you supply. Note the headline limit is 40 characters here, wider than the 30 characters Performance Max and responsive display ads allow. Adscreator generates the static image and text assets from one URL; Google auto-generates video from your assets if you supply none.
| Asset slot | Spec and limit | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Headlines | 40 characters max. 1 minimum, up to 5 | Yes |
| Long headlines | 90 characters max. 1 minimum, up to 5 | Yes |
| Descriptions | 90 characters max. 1 minimum, up to 5 | Yes |
| Business name | 25 characters max, matching your domain or verified business name | Yes |
| Landscape image 1.91:1 | 1200 x 628 recommended, 600 x 314 minimum. Up to 20 images total | Yes |
| Square image 1:1 | 1200 x 1200 recommended, 300 x 300 minimum | Yes |
| Portrait image 4:5 | 960 x 1200 recommended, 480 x 600 minimum | No |
| Vertical image 9:16 | 1080 x 1920 recommended, 600 x 1067 minimum, for Shorts and vertical feeds | No |
| Square logo 1:1 | 1200 x 1200 recommended, 144 x 144 minimum. Up to 5 | Yes |
| Landscape logo 4:1 | 1200 x 300 recommended, 512 x 128 minimum | No |
| Video | 5 seconds or longer, 16:9, 1:1, and 9:16 | No |
Images upload as JPG or PNG at 5 MB or less; logos are 150 KB or less. Because Demand Gen serves in vertical feeds like YouTube Shorts, supplying the 4:5 portrait and 9:16 vertical images keeps your creative from being letterboxed or cropped in the placements where attention is highest. Adscreator produces the image and text assets, not video: if you leave the video slot empty Google will assemble one from the assets you provided, which is worth reviewing before it runs.
Demand Gen is a social surface hiding inside Google Ads
Search ads answer a question someone already typed. Demand Gen does the opposite: it puts your ad in front of people scrolling YouTube, the Discover feed, and Gmail before they have gone looking for anything, which is the same job Meta and TikTok ads do. That changes what good creative means. A search ad can be plain text and still work because the intent is already there. A Demand Gen ad competes with the video a person actually came to watch, so it needs the visual craft of a social ad: a strong image, a hook that reads in a feed, and enough variety that Google can match the right angle to the right viewer. The mistake is treating Demand Gen like another search campaign and feeding it one stock photo. The advertisers who win here bring social-ad creative discipline to a Google budget, which is exactly the gap a URL-to-creative tool closes: it produces feed-native imagery and hooks at the volume the format rewards, without a design queue.
Ad Strength is a completeness score, so fill every ratio
Google grades each Demand Gen asset group from Poor to Excellent, and the rating largely reflects how many distinct assets you supplied and how varied they are, not how clever any single line is. Adding the fourth and fifth headline, the long headlines nobody bothers with, the portrait and vertical images, and descriptions that make genuinely different arguments is what moves it. Ad Strength is a guide rather than a ranking factor you can bank on, but a Poor asset group is a real signal that the system has too few combinations to test, and thin combination sets are how Demand Gen drifts toward the cheapest impressions instead of the best. The specific trap in Demand Gen is skipping the portrait and vertical ratios: when your only image is a 1.91:1 landscape, Google has to crop it for the vertical YouTube Shorts and feed placements where the format serves most, and a cropped hero image is a weak ad in the highest-attention slot. The practical target is every image ratio present, several headlines that each make a different point, and enough descriptions that the ad reads well in any combination.
what it uses
The features behind demand gen ad maker.
questions
Demand Gen ad maker: the questions people ask.
What are the specs for Demand Gen ads?
A Demand Gen ad needs a 1.91:1 landscape image at 1200 x 628 (600 x 314 minimum), a 1:1 square image at 1200 x 1200 (300 x 300 minimum), and a 1:1 square logo at 1200 x 1200. You can add a 4:5 portrait image at 960 x 1200 and a 9:16 vertical image at 1080 x 1920 for Shorts placements. Text is up to 5 headlines of 40 characters, up to 5 long headlines of 90 characters, and up to 5 descriptions of 90 characters, plus a 25-character business name. Images upload as JPG or PNG at 5 MB or less.
What size should Demand Gen images be?
Google recommends 1200 x 628 for the 1.91:1 landscape image, 1200 x 1200 for the 1:1 square, and 960 x 1200 for the 4:5 portrait. For vertical feeds like YouTube Shorts, add a 9:16 image at 1080 x 1920. Logos are 1200 x 1200 square and 1200 x 300 landscape. Upload JPG or PNG files of 5 MB or less. Adscreator renders all of these ratios from a single URL.
What is the headline character limit for Demand Gen?
Demand Gen headlines are up to 40 characters, which is wider than the 30-character limit on Performance Max and responsive display ads. Long headlines and descriptions are up to 90 characters, and the business name is up to 25 characters. You can supply up to 5 of each, and Google mixes them into ads across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail, so write each headline to stand on its own rather than as part of a sentence.
What is the difference between Demand Gen and Performance Max?
Performance Max runs across every Google surface including Search and Maps and hands almost all targeting to the model. Demand Gen is narrower and more visual: it serves in YouTube, Discover, and Gmail feeds, gives you audience controls and creative-level reporting Performance Max hides, and is built to feel like a social ad. If you want feed-native, image-led reach with more visibility into what worked, Demand Gen is the closer fit; Adscreator builds the assets for both from the same URL.
How many assets do you need for a Demand Gen ad?
The minimum to publish is one landscape image, one square image, one logo, one headline, one long headline, and one description. The practical answer is to fill the slots: aim for several landscape, square, and portrait images, all 5 headlines each making a different point, 3 to 5 long headlines, and 3 to 5 distinct descriptions. That range is what moves Ad Strength toward Excellent and gives Google enough combinations to serve well across feeds.
How much does a Demand Gen ad maker cost?
Adscreator starts at $39 per month on Starter, or $29 per month billed yearly, flat, with no credits and no free plan. Because there is no per-image meter, building a complete feed-ready asset set for every product or theme costs the same as building one. Your Google Ads media budget is separate and billed by Google directly.
▪ keep reading
Demand Gen and Performance Max share an asset-set mindset but not the character limits, so it is worth reading the Performance Max asset specs alongside this page, and building both from one URL with the Performance Max asset generator.
Because Demand Gen serves in feeds, the creative craft is closer to social than to search. Scroll stopping ad creative covers what earns the click there, and Google display ad sizes is the reference for the rest of your Google image inventory.
▪ more use cases