Discovery Ads were first introduced by Google at the Google Marketing Live 2019 event. After concluding the testing phase that lasted until the end of last year, Google Discovery Ads officially launched to all advertisers worldwide, becoming a direct competitor to Facebook Ads.

Discovery Ads - A quiet but extremely powerful move

Although Discovery Ads were launched last month, you might not have encountered any Google Discovery ads yet. This is because the tech giant is quietly and cautiously rolling out the scale to advertisers step by step.

The biggest benefit of Discovery Ads is that with just one campaign, advertisers can reach all users in various locations within Google's ecosystem:

• Google Discovery feeds – a homepage displaying updates on topics users have previously expressed interest in, often appearing on Android devices or the mobile version of the Chrome web browser
• Google Search app
• The “minus one” screen on Android devices, where news and content curated by Google are displayed.

Inspired by Facebook's success, Discovery campaigns aim for native ads that target based on customer data rather than search intent. Google also predicts that Discovery Ads can reach 2.9 billion people across various platforms. Meanwhile, Facebook recorded 2.99 billion monthly users on its affiliated apps at the end of last March. This means that even without appearing on social media platforms, Google is confident that its ads can achieve coverage comparable to Facebook.

“We are holding the tool to display high-quality ads, with the most excellent and relevant images to users”.

A Google representative stated

A 2019 experiment by digital marketing agency iProspect showed that Discovery Ads reach deeper into customer segments of the sales funnel and help advertisers save up to 48% on cost-per-action.

Start advertising with Discovery Ads

Discovery Ads are currently available in 2 formats:

• Discovery Carousel Ads: Carousel ads integrating multiple images
• Discovery ads: Ads with only 1 image

Regarding images

You can upload images yourself or ask Google to scan your website for suitable image sizes and choose from the Shutterstock library. It is important that the images are eye-catching and high-quality.

Regarding text

Similar to Responsive search ads, Discovery Ads allow advertisers to adjust to display more text and messages more relevant to the target audience. You can enter up to 5 headlines and 5 descriptions. Google will also estimate your weekly ad impressions based on geographic targeting. Additionally, Discovery campaigns also target based on other criteria such as demographics (age, gender, income).

You can let Google automatically choose the call to action for your ads or select from 10 available CTAs such as “Apply Now,” “Contact Us,” “Download,” “Visit Site,” and “Shop Now.”

Not only a fresh and exciting advertising format from Google, Discovery Ads also blur the lines between traditional information search, display, and social activations, while targeting different audience groups. Google's advice for advertisers is to “choose an average daily budget at least 10 times the cost-per-action (CPA) value and wait for at least 40 conversions before changing the campaign.”

Source: Ngoc Anh / Advertising Vietnam

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