Google offers multiple campaign types that reach users outside of Search, but two are commonly confused: Discovery Ads (now rebranded as Demand Gen) and Display Ads on the Google Display Network (GDN). Both serve visual ads. Both can target audiences. Both can support remarketing. Yet they operate very differently — and choosing the wrong one wastes budget.

This discovery ads vs display ads comparison is written for Singapore marketers who need a clear, practical breakdown. We cover placements, targeting, creative requirements, costs, and — most importantly — when each campaign type is the right choice for your business.

If you have been running GDN campaigns and wondering whether Google Discovery Ads (Demand Gen) deserve a share of your budget, or if you are launching a new campaign and unsure which format fits, this guide gives you the framework to decide with confidence.

What Are Discovery / Demand Gen Ads?

Discovery Ads were launched in 2019 and rebranded as Demand Gen campaigns in late 2023. The rebrand brought additional features — including video support and lookalike segments — but the core concept remains the same: visually rich, AI-optimised ads that appear in Google’s owned-and-operated feed environments.

Demand Gen ads show in three specific placements:

  • YouTube (Home and Watch Next feeds) — the highest-volume placement, appearing between organic video recommendations
  • Gmail (Promotions and Social tabs) — expandable ads that open to a full landing-page-style experience
  • Google Discover feed — the personalised content feed on Android devices and the Google app

The defining characteristic of Demand Gen is mid-funnel intent. Users scrolling these feeds are in a browsing mindset — not actively searching, but receptive to relevant content. Google’s AI determines which users are most likely to engage based on their search history, browsing behaviour, YouTube watch patterns, and app usage.

Because these are Google-owned properties, ad quality is tightly controlled. There are no low-quality publisher sites, no accidental placements next to questionable content, and no banner blindness from users conditioned to ignore sidebar ads. The trade-off is a smaller inventory pool compared to the Display Network.

Demand Gen campaigns support single-image ads, carousel ads (up to 10 cards), and video ads — all assembled from your creative assets using Google’s machine learning to serve the best-performing combination to each user.

What Are Display Ads (GDN)?

그리고 Google Display Network is Google’s oldest visual advertising platform, covering over 3 million websites, apps, and Google-owned properties. When most marketers think of banner ads on the internet, they are thinking of GDN.

Display Ads appear across an enormous range of placements:

  • Publisher websites — news sites, blogs, forums, and content platforms that monetise with Google AdSense
  • Mobile apps — in-app banner, interstitial, and native ads via AdMob
  • YouTube — banner overlays and companion ads (not in-feed like Demand Gen)
  • Gmail — similar to Demand Gen, but with less native formatting

The strength of the Display Network is sheer scale and control. You can target by audience (affinity, in-market, custom segments), by context (topics, keywords, specific placements), or a combination of both. You can hand-pick individual websites where your ads appear, or exclude categories of sites you want to avoid.

GDN supports multiple ad formats: responsive display ads (Google assembles your assets automatically), uploaded image ads (custom-designed banners in standard IAB sizes), and HTML5 animated ads. The most common and recommended format is responsive display ads, which adapt to fit any available ad slot across the network.

Display Ads operate primarily at the top of funnel (awareness) and bottom of funnel (remarketing). For cold audiences, CTRs tend to be low — often below 0.50% — because users are not in an active discovery mindset. For remarketing, Display remains one of the most cost-effective channels available, with CPCs frequently under SGD 0.50 in the Singapore market.

Head-to-Head Comparison: Demand Gen vs Display Ads

Dimension Demand Gen (Discovery) Ads Display Ads (GDN)
Placements YouTube Home/Watch Next, Gmail, Discover feed 3M+ websites, apps, YouTube, Gmail
Ad formats Single image, carousel (up to 10 cards), video Responsive display, uploaded banners, HTML5
Targeting options Custom segments, lookalike segments, in-market, affinity, remarketing lists All audience types plus contextual (topics, keywords, managed placements)
User intent level Mid-funnel — browsing, receptive to discovery Top-funnel (prospecting) to bottom-funnel (remarketing)
Typical CPM (SG) SGD 8–20 SGD 2–10
Typical CTR 0.80%–2.50% 0.30%–0.80%
Best for Product discovery, lead gen, mid-funnel engagement Brand awareness at scale, remarketing, broad reach
Creative requirements High-quality lifestyle images, square and landscape; headlines, descriptions Multiple image sizes or responsive assets; logos, headlines, descriptions
Placement control No manual placement selection — Google controls delivery Full control — include/exclude specific sites, apps, categories
Video support Yes — YouTube Shorts, in-feed video ads Limited — banner companions only (use Video campaigns for pre-roll)
Reporting granularity Placement-level reporting available; asset-level performance Full placement, audience, topic, and keyword-level reporting

The most significant differences are in placement quality and targeting philosophy. Demand Gen prioritises premium, brand-safe placements with AI-driven audience matching. Display prioritises reach and advertiser control. Neither is inherently better — they serve different strategic purposes.

When to Use Demand Gen Ads: 5 Scenarios

1. Launching a New Product or Service

When you need to introduce something unfamiliar to the market, Demand Gen’s feed placements create a native, editorial-feeling experience. Users scrolling YouTube or Discover are in a content-consumption mindset — ideal for “here’s something you didn’t know you needed” messaging. A Singapore fintech launching a new savings product, for example, would benefit from carousel ads showing different use cases directly in users’ feeds.

2. Driving High-Quality Leads for B2B

Demand Gen’s lookalike segments — built from your existing customer lists or website visitors — tend to produce higher-quality leads than broad GDN prospecting. Because the placements are limited to Google-owned properties, you avoid the low-intent clicks that sometimes come from in-app placements on the Display Network. For B2B remarketing and prospecting, this translates to a lower cost per qualified lead.

3. When Creative Quality Is Your Competitive Advantage

If you have invested in strong visual assets — professional photography, lifestyle imagery, well-produced short videos — Demand Gen showcases them in full-bleed, high-impact placements. The feed environment gives your creative room to breathe, unlike standard display banners competing with website content around them.

4. Mid-Funnel Nurturing Between Search and Conversion

Users who have visited your site or engaged with your brand but have not converted often need another touchpoint. Demand Gen fills the gap between their initial search and final decision. A Singapore education provider could retarget prospective students with carousel ads showing campus facilities, student testimonials, and course highlights — all within the YouTube or Discover feed.

5. Reaching Mobile-First Audiences

Singapore’s internet usage is overwhelmingly mobile. Discover feed is exclusively a mobile placement, and YouTube feed consumption is heavily mobile-skewed. If your target audience primarily engages on smartphones — which in Singapore means most consumers — Demand Gen’s mobile-native formats outperform traditional display banners designed for desktop ad slots.

When to Use Display Ads: 5 Scenarios

1. Maximising Reach on a Limited Budget

그리고 Google Display Network’s massive inventory means CPMs are significantly lower than Demand Gen. If your primary goal is getting your brand in front of as many relevant eyeballs as possible — common for new businesses building initial awareness in Singapore — GDN delivers more impressions per dollar.

2. Remarketing to Website Visitors

Display remarketing remains one of the highest-ROI tactics in digital advertising. Following users across the web with tailored ads after they visit your site keeps your brand top-of-mind during their decision process. For e-commerce businesses in Singapore, dynamic remarketing (showing the exact products a user viewed) on GDN consistently delivers strong return on ad spend.

3. When You Need Placement Control

Some campaigns require strict control over where ads appear. A luxury brand may want to show ads only on premium lifestyle publications. A healthcare company may need to exclude certain content categories. GDN’s managed placements and extensive exclusion options give you this control — Demand Gen does not.

4. Contextual Targeting by Topic or Content

If your product is closely tied to specific content categories — financial services ads on investment news sites, or fitness equipment ads on health blogs — GDN’s contextual targeting (topics and keywords) places your ads alongside relevant content. This approach does not rely on audience data, making it useful as third-party cookies continue to phase out.

5. Supporting an Always-On Brand Awareness Strategy

For sustained, long-term brand presence, GDN’s lower costs make it practical to run continuously. Many Singapore brands maintain an always-on display campaign at modest budgets (SGD 500–2,000/month) to ensure consistent brand visibility, supplementing it with higher-impact Demand Gen or Search campaigns during peak periods.

Creative Best Practices for Each

Demand Gen Creative Best Practices

  • Use lifestyle imagery over product-on-white shots. Feed environments reward content that looks native — authentic, people-focused images outperform studio product photography by 20–40% in CTR.
  • Design for mobile-first. All three Demand Gen placements are predominantly mobile. Ensure text on images is large enough to read on a 6-inch screen and that your key message is visible without zooming.
  • Leverage carousels for storytelling. Use the multi-card format to walk users through a narrative: problem, solution, proof, call to action. Each card should work independently but build on the previous one.
  • Include video assets. Since the Demand Gen rebrand, video ads (especially YouTube Shorts-format vertical video) unlock significant additional inventory. Even a simple 15-second video can meaningfully increase your reach.
  • Write headlines that spark curiosity. Users in feed environments respond to headlines that create an information gap — “The mortgage mistake 70% of Singaporeans make” outperforms “Get a great mortgage rate” every time.

Display Ad Creative Best Practices

  • Prioritise responsive display ads. Google’s responsive format adapts to thousands of ad slot sizes. Provide at least 5 landscape images, 5 square images, 5 headlines, and 5 descriptions to give the algorithm maximum flexibility.
  • Keep uploaded banners simple. If you use custom-designed banners, limit them to one clear message, one image, and one call-to-action button. Banner blindness is real — simplicity cuts through.
  • Design for the smallest sizes first. The 320×50 mobile leaderboard and 300×250 medium rectangle are the highest-volume placements. If your message does not work at these sizes, it will not perform.
  • Use brand colours and logos consistently. Across 3 million sites, brand recognition is your strongest asset. Ensure your logo is always visible and your colour palette is instantly identifiable.
  • Refresh creative every 4–6 weeks. Display ad fatigue sets in faster than other channels because the same users see your ads repeatedly across multiple sites. Regular creative rotation maintains CTR.

Budget and Bidding Considerations

How you allocate budget and set bidding strategies differs meaningfully between these two campaign types.

Demand Gen Budget and Bidding

Demand Gen campaigns support three bid strategies: Maximise Conversions, Maximise Conversion Value, and Maximise Clicks. For most Singapore advertisers, starting with Maximise Clicks during the learning phase (first 2–3 weeks) and switching to Maximise Conversions once you have accumulated 50+ conversions produces the best results.

Minimum recommended daily budget for Singapore campaigns: SGD 30–50. Below this, the algorithm cannot gather enough data to optimise effectively. For competitive industries (finance, education, real estate), plan for SGD 80–150/day to reach meaningful scale.

Expect higher CPCs than GDN — typically SGD 0.80–3.00 in Singapore — but also higher conversion rates. The cost per acquisition from Demand Gen often matches or beats Display despite the higher per-click cost, because feed placements attract more engaged users.

Display Budget and Bidding

GDN offers the widest range of bid strategies: Manual CPC, Enhanced CPC, Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximise Conversions, and Viewable CPM (for awareness campaigns). This flexibility is one of Display’s key advantages.

For remarketing campaigns, Target CPA 또는 Maximise Conversions with a CPA cap works well. For brand awareness, Viewable CPM (vCPM) bidding ensures you pay only for verified viewable impressions — important given that many display ad slots have poor viewability.

Minimum recommended daily budget: SGD 15–30 for remarketing, SGD 30–80 for prospecting. GDN’s lower costs mean you can start smaller, but very low budgets (under SGD 10/day) spread across millions of placements often produce negligible results.

A practical allocation for Singapore businesses running both campaign types: dedicate 60–70% of your visual advertising budget to Demand Gen for prospecting and mid-funnel engagement, and 30–40% to Display for remarketing and always-on brand presence.

Full-Funnel Strategy: Singapore Business Example

Let us walk through how a Singapore-based online furniture retailer might use both Demand Gen and Display Ads together across the full customer journey.

Top of Funnel — Awareness

The retailer runs a GDN prospecting campaign targeting in-market audiences for “Home Furniture” and “Home Decor” with responsive display ads. Budget: SGD 40/day. The goal is impressions and reach among Singaporeans actively browsing home-related content. Bid strategy: Viewable CPM. This establishes brand recognition at the lowest possible cost.

Mid-Funnel — Consideration

Simultaneously, a Demand Gen campaign targets lookalike segments based on the retailer’s past purchasers. Carousel ads showcase curated room setups — a living room collection, a bedroom set, a home office arrangement — appearing in YouTube and Discover feeds. Budget: SGD 70/day. Bid strategy: Maximise Clicks initially, transitioning to Maximise Conversions. This drives qualified traffic from users who resemble existing customers.

Bottom of Funnel — Remarketing

에이 GDN dynamic remarketing campaign follows users who visited specific product pages but did not purchase. Ads show the exact sofas, tables, or shelves they viewed, with pricing and a “Still thinking about it?” message. Budget: SGD 25/day. Bid strategy: Target CPA set at SGD 15. This captures the highest-intent users at the lowest cost per conversion.

Re-Engagement

에이 Demand Gen campaign targets past purchasers (60–180 days ago) with new arrivals and complementary products via Gmail and YouTube feed placements. Carousel ads show “Complete your living room” with items that complement their previous purchase. Budget: SGD 20/day. This drives repeat purchases and increases customer lifetime value.

Total visual advertising budget: SGD 155/day (approximately SGD 4,650/month). Combined with Google Search campaigns capturing high-intent queries, this full-funnel approach covers every stage of the buying journey — from first impression to repeat purchase.

This layered strategy works because each campaign type plays to its strengths. Display handles the high-volume, low-cost touchpoints. Demand Gen handles the high-engagement, mid-funnel moments. Together, they create a seamless path from awareness to conversion.

For help building a similar full-funnel strategy, our performance marketing team works with Singapore businesses across industries to structure campaigns that maximise return across the entire customer journey.

자주 묻는 질문

Are Discovery Ads and Demand Gen Ads the same thing?

Yes. Google rebranded Discovery campaigns as Demand Gen campaigns in October 2023. The core functionality is identical — ads in YouTube, Gmail, and Discover feeds — but Demand Gen added video ad support, lookalike audience segments, and A/B creative experimentation tools. If you previously ran Discovery campaigns, they were automatically migrated to Demand Gen. All existing campaigns, audiences, and performance data carried over without interruption.

Can I run Demand Gen and Display campaigns at the same time?

Absolutely, and for most Singapore advertisers, running both simultaneously is the recommended approach. The two campaign types serve different placements with minimal overlap. Demand Gen covers Google-owned feed environments; Display covers third-party websites and apps. Running both ensures you reach users across the full spectrum of their online activity. Set distinct goals for each — engagement and leads for Demand Gen, reach and remarketing for Display — and monitor audience overlap in Google Ads’ audience manager to avoid excessive frequency.

Which has better return on ad spend — Demand Gen or Display?

For prospecting (reaching new audiences), Demand Gen typically delivers a stronger ROAS because its feed placements attract more engaged users. CTRs are 2–3 times higher than GDN prospecting, and conversion rates tend to follow suit. For remarketing, Display often wins on raw ROAS because you are reaching users who already know your brand at very low CPMs. The best results come from using both: Demand Gen for efficient prospecting and Display for cost-effective remarketing.

Do I need different creative assets for Demand Gen and Display?

Yes, and this is a mistake many advertisers make. Demand Gen performs best with lifestyle-oriented, mobile-optimised images that look native to social feeds — think Instagram-quality visuals. Display performs best with clearly branded banners that stand out on publisher websites. Reusing the same assets across both will underperform. At minimum, create separate image sets: editorial-style imagery for Demand Gen, and logo-prominent branded designs for Display. Headlines and descriptions can share messaging themes but should be written for each context.

What is the minimum budget to test Demand Gen ads in Singapore?

For a meaningful test, allocate at least SGD 900–1,500 over 30 days (SGD 30–50/day). This gives the algorithm enough data to complete its learning phase and optimise delivery. Testing with less than SGD 20/day typically produces unreliable data — you will see erratic performance and may draw incorrect conclusions about the campaign’s potential. Start with a single audience segment, 3–5 image assets, and one clear conversion goal. Run for a full 30 days before evaluating. If results are promising, scale gradually by adding additional audience segments rather than increasing budget on a single segment.