Biddable Monthly Industry Update

November Update

November brought another month of bidddable updates. Google is pushing harder into journey-level bidding and clearer channel reporting. TikTok is trying to close the gap between how many people believe in AI automation and how many actually use it. Meta is turning Threads into a more serious media channel.

This update walks through what changed, why it matters for your brand, and practical actions you can take now.

Performance Max: Channel Reporting Finally Shows Where Spend Goes

What is happening

Google has rolled out channel performance reporting across all Performance Max campaigns globally. You can now see how spend and performance break down by channels such as Search, YouTube, Maps and more. Reporting on search partners and manager account (MCC) level access is also on the way.

Why this matters

Performance Max has always worked like a black box for many brands. You knew the overall results, but not which surfaces were driving them. With channel reporting, you can finally see whether PMax is acting more like a search campaign, a YouTube campaign or a mix of both. That helps you judge overlap with your existing campaigns and spot wasted impressions.

What you can do

• Review your PMax channel report and compare it with your current campaign structure. If PMax is heavily skewed to Search, you may want to tighten your search keywords to avoid duplication. 
• If YouTube or Maps are driving better assisted conversions, consider shifting creative to suit those environments, for example, more visual assets for YouTube and stronger store messaging for Maps. 
• Set clear expectations internally that PMax is still automated, but you now have better levers for budget allocation.

Google AI Tools: Smarter Reporting and Asset Generation

What is happening

Google continues to add AI to its ads and publisher tools. On the publisher side, Ad Manager now includes generative AI reporting that can answer natural language questions like “Which ad units had the highest CPM last week?” and build custom reports.

On the advertiser side, Google Ads API v22 introduces an AssetGenerationService to create text and image assets with generative AI and expands automation for Demand Gen campaigns, including new bidding options.

Why this matters

You will see faster reporting workflows and more AI-generated recommendations across Google surfaces. Even if you never touch the API, these changes sit behind many of the tools in the Google Ads interface. Expect more auto-suggested creatives, performance summaries and “explain this” style insights inside your account.

What you can do

• Decide where you are comfortable letting AI help. You might allow AI to suggest headlines and images as a starting point, while keeping human oversight for brand tone and compliance. 
• Use AI-driven performance summaries to spot anomalies and new opportunities, but validate them with your own analysis instead of accepting every recommendation.

Journey Aware Bidding: From Single Conversions to Full Journeys

What is happening

Google is preparing a new bidding model called Journey Aware Bidding. Instead of optimising only for one main conversion, the algorithm will consider the full lead-to-sale path. That includes micro conversions such as leads, MQLs, SQLs, opportunities and closed deals, as long as you send those events into Google Ads and categorise them correctly. 

Why this matters

For brands with long or complex funnels, current bidding often over-values the first form fill and under-values later qualification. Journey Aware Bidding could give more weight to conversions that correlate with actual revenue, not just raw leads. That can improve lead quality, reduce wasted spend on low-value actions and align media with sales reality.

What you can do

• Audit your conversion setup now. Map every stage of your funnel, from first enquiry through to closed sale. 
• Make sure you can track each step with clean, deduplicated events that can feed into Google Ads. 
• Agree internally on which stages should influence bidding and which are only for reporting. Brands that prepare their data now will move faster when Journey Aware Bidding becomes available.

New Brand Suitability Controls Across YouTube, Discover and Display

What is happening

Google has launched unified brand suitability settings across YouTube Home, YouTube Watch Next and Discover, building on existing controls. Inventory types and excluded content themes now work in a more consistent way across YouTube, Discover and the Google Display Network, and apply to formats such as Performance Max, Demand Gen, Video Reach and Video View campaigns. 

Why this matters

Brand safety and suitability no longer live only in traditional video placements. Your ads can appear in many feed-based environments. Unified controls mean you can set your risk tolerance once and know it will carry across more of your inventory. That protects your brand while keeping campaigns simpler to manage.

What you can do

• Review your inventory type settings and content exclusions. 
• Decide how much risk your brand is willing to accept in exchange for reach. 
• If you tighten suitability, monitor delivery and performance, then increase bids or budgets in your “safe” inventory to maintain volume. 
• Make sure your creative matches the content level you have chosen, for example more serious messaging in highly curated environments.

Search Term Insights: More Predictive, Not Just Reactive

What is happening

Google has enhanced its Search Term Insight reporting with forward-looking signals, such as predicted 30-day search volume, trend curves and clusters of rising search terms grouped by theme. These features are surfacing in recent Google Ads update roundups and are rolling out across accounts.

Why this matters

Search term reports used to be backwards-looking. You saw what people had already searched for. Predictive volume and rising clusters move you closer to “search trend forecasting”. You can spot emerging topics before competitors fully react and align your bids and creatives to those patterns.

What you can do

• Build a simple cadence where you review Search Term Insights weekly. 
• Flag any clusters with rising volume and relevance to your business. 
• For strong themes, create dedicated ad groups, tailored ad copy and landing pages. For low-quality or irrelevant terms, add negatives quickly so they do not drain budget as they grow.

Google Ads API and Ad Manager updates

What is happening

Google Ads API v22 is live. It supports generative AI for asset creation, more detailed bidding strategy data and better support for Demand Gen bidding.

Google Ad Manager API v202511 is also out. It enables more precise targeting using Publisher Provided Signals, so publishers can share richer audience and context data with buyers.

Why this matters

If you run large or complex accounts, a lot of your advantage comes from cleaner data and stronger integrations, not manual tweaks.

These API changes make it easier to plug AI-generated creatives into your workflows and to read performance at a more granular level.

Publisher Provided Signals help programmatic buyers maintain relevance as traditional tracking signals weaken, which protects performance over time.

What you can do

• Identify where you can use AI-generated assets to speed up creative testing, while keeping human sign-off for brand and compliance.
• If you run programmatic through Ad Manager, review how you pass and target Publisher Provided Signals, then plan a test that compares PPS-driven segments with your current targeting.

Google Demand Gen New Customer Acquisition Modes

What is happening

Demand Gen campaigns now include two specific options for acquisition. 

• New Customer Only focuses bidding on people who have not bought from you before.
• New Customer Value lets you bid more for higher-value new customers, based on first-party data.

Why this matters

Many visual campaigns blend prospecting and remarketing. That mix makes it hard to see how much new customer growth you are really getting.

These modes help you push more of your budget into true acquisition instead of spending heavily on people who already know and buy from you.

What you can do

• If acquisition is a key objective, set up a test campaign using New Customer Only or New Customer Value and run it alongside your current Demand Gen setup.
• Make sure your customer lists and tags can reliably distinguish new from existing customers.
• Track cost per new customer, but also compare downstream metrics such as repeat rate or revenue by cohort, so you can judge whether the higher intent audiences justify stronger bids.

Threads Ads: Verification Makes the Channel More Serious

What is happening

Meta has expanded third-party verification for Threads ads. Partners such as Integral Ad Science, DoubleVerify and Scope3 now provide brand safety and suitability measurement for Threads feed. Zefr support is coming soon too. 

Why this matters

Threads is moving from experiment to standard part of the Meta inventory mix. Third-party verification gives brands more confidence that their ads appear in appropriate contexts and provides independent reporting on quality. This can make Threads a more realistic option for upper-funnel campaigns.

What you can do

• If your brand is already active on Meta, review whether Threads is enabled in your placements and how it is performing. 
• Test different creative formats and hooks tailored to text-first, conversational environments, rather than lifting Instagram assets directly.

TikTok: AI Automation Adoption Gap On TikTok

What is happening

New research from TikTok and NewtonX shows a clear gap between belief and action. Around nine in ten advertisers expect AI automation to drive future business growth and 93% say it improves their own performance. Yet only around a fifth have fully integrated AI automation into their core operations. 

Why this matters

Most brands say they believe in AI automation, but many still run campaigns with manual setups and fragmented data. That creates an advantage for advertisers who move faster. If you learn how to use automation on TikTok now, you can reach more of the right people for the same budget while others are still testing basics.

What you can do

• Audit where you currently use automation in TikTok Ads Manager, for example, only bidding, or also creative and targeting.
• Pick one or two campaigns where you can safely increase automation, rather than changing everything at once.
• Set clear KPIs for those tests, such as cost per incremental conversion or cost per high intent session, so you can prove whether automation is helping.

TikTok: Smart+ and Symphony Controls

What is happening

TikTok has upgraded its Smart+ buying experience so you can set automation levels module by module. You can now adjust how much control Smart+ has over targeting, budget and bidding, creative and placements, all within a single buying flow. 

At the same time, Symphony Automation is built into Smart+. Symphony uses generative AI to create and refine TikTok first assets, including resizing videos, refreshing audio, translating and dubbing, and improving overall quality. 

Why this matters

Smart+ no longer forces you into a black box. You can choose where to rely on automation and where to keep manual settings. Symphony then reduces the production time for creative, which is often the main bottleneck when you want to test more audiences or messages.

What you can do

• Decide which modules you are comfortable automating. A common pattern is to keep manual control on budgets and core targeting, while letting Smart+ and Symphony test creative variations and placements.
• Use Symphony to generate multiple versions of your best-performing concepts, then compare performance to your existing manual creatives.
• Document which combinations of automation and control perform best, so your team has a repeatable setup for future campaigns.

TikTok: Attribution and Measurement Enhancements

What is happening

TikTok has expanded its Attribution Analytics tools. The suite now includes features such as Assisted Conversion, Performance Comparison, Time to Conversion and Touchpoints to Conversion. These help you see how TikTok contributes to conversions that might happen later or through other channels, such as search or direct. 

Why this matters

Last-click reporting often underplays TikTok’s role, especially for upper-funnel and mid-funnel campaigns. If you only look at final clicks, you may underinvest in TikTok even when it is driving a lot of assisted value. Attribution Analytics gives a clearer view of how TikTok fits into the full journey.

What you can do

• Turn on Attribution Analytics in TikTok Ads Manager and review Assisted Conversions and Touchpoints to Conversion each month.
• Compare performance across different attribution windows using the Performance Comparison feature, so you understand how long conversions tend to take after a TikTok touchpoint.
• Feed these insights back into your bidding and budgeting decisions. For example, if TikTok drives a high share of assisted conversions for a key product, consider protecting or increasing spend, even if last-click metrics appear modest.

Final Thoughts

Across these updates, three themes stand out.

First, the platforms want more of your journey data. Journey Aware Bidding, Search Term Insights and TikTok Attribution all reward brands that track clean, multi-stage conversion paths and share that data back. If you improve your tracking now, you will feed every bidding model with better signals.

Second, brand suitability is moving into more feed and discovery environments. New controls across YouTube, Discover, Display and Threads mean you can protect your brand more consistently, but you need clear internal guidelines on acceptable risk and content types.

Third, automation is no longer all or nothing. Google, Meta and TikTok are giving you more hybrid modes where you set guardrails and let AI handle the heavy lifting inside them. The brands that gain the most will be the ones that experiment, measure and then standardise what works.