Google said on its Ads Developer Blog that from the week of December 1, 2026 the Google Ads API will stop accepting a campaign-level setting that keeps Demand Gen campaigns off the Display Network.
What happened
In its announcement, Google said Display targeting for Demand Gen will be managed only at the ad group level, using channel controls. Setting the campaign-level Display field (target_content_network) to false during campaign creation or update will return an operation-not-permitted error. New campaigns will default that field to true, and Google says overall serving behavior stays the same because ad group channel controls default to Display off.
Existing campaigns that opted out of Display at campaign level will be rewritten. Ad groups set to all channels move to all owned and operated channels, and ad groups that mixed Display with other channels get Display switched off explicitly. Ad groups that targeted only Display inside a campaign that blocked it will be paused, because a Demand Gen ad group must have at least one channel. Google says no existing campaign changes where it serves.
Why it matters
The change lands on anyone who builds Demand Gen campaigns through the API: agencies, bid tools and in-house scripts. A script that sends the old campaign-level flag will start failing in the first week of December, and Google’s own recommended actions are to review campaign creation payloads and audit existing ad groups.
One thing to watch
In our reading, the useful check is a query rather than a code review. Google publishes a sample query in the announcement that lists each Demand Gen campaign with its ad group channel settings and status. Run it before December 1 and compare the output with the channels your media plan names. We covered other Google Ads control changes in Google Ads Adds Channel Priority and Budget Allocation Controls and in Google Takes AI Mode Ads to 10 More Countries as Search Revenue Rises 12%.
Source: Google Ads Developer Blog
