Performance Max uses generative AI to resize video ads into missing formats
Google Ads will now generate missing video aspect ratios automatically, trading manual production work for less creative control.
Mariano De Vitto · August 2026
Google Ads is rolling out a generative AI feature that automatically resizes video ads within Performance Max campaigns to fill missing formats, according to Search Engine Land, marking another step in the platform's steady march toward fully automated creative production.
Performance Max has always been built around the idea of maximizing reach with minimal manual configuration. Since its launch, Google's system has combined a single campaign across Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Maps, using machine learning to decide which assets to show, to whom, and where. Advertisers supply raw materials, images, headlines, video clips, and Google's algorithm assembles them into ad combinations optimized for performance across that entire footprint.
Filling the Format Gaps
The new feature extends that logic to video production itself. Instead of requiring advertisers to supply every aspect ratio and duration a placement might need, Google's system will generate the missing versions on its own, filling gaps across the Display Network, YouTube Shorts, and other surfaces where Performance Max serves ads. If a brand uploads a horizontal video but a placement calls for a vertical or square format, the generative model will produce that version automatically rather than skipping the placement or serving a poorly cropped default.
For marketers, this means Performance Max campaigns can now run more broadly without brands manually producing a full suite of video cuts for every placement. Google has positioned this as a way to reduce the production burden on advertisers, letting the algorithm generate square, vertical, or horizontal versions of a video when the original asset does not fit. In practical terms, that could mean fewer stalled placements, broader inventory access, and less reliance on agencies or in-house teams to churn out format variants for every campaign.
Who Controls the Creative?
That convenience comes with a tradeoff. Brand teams that once controlled cropping, pacing, and framing decisions for each format now hand those choices to Google's generative models. This matters most for teams with strict brand guidelines, since automated resizing may alter framing, cut key visual elements, or change pacing in ways that were never explicitly approved. A product shot centered for horizontal video, for instance, could be cropped awkwardly when the system reformats it for a vertical Shorts placement.
Search Engine Land notes that this shifts creative control further toward Google's automation stack, continuing a pattern already visible in Performance Max's automated asset combinations and targeting decisions. Marketers who have raised concerns about limited visibility into how Performance Max makes creative and delivery decisions will find this development extends that opacity into video production itself. It is a familiar tension for anyone who has worked with the campaign type: the same black-box logic that decides which headline pairs with which image now decides how a video gets cropped and paced.
What Marketers Should Do Next
Marketing teams should audit how their video assets appear across Performance Max placements once auto-resizing is live, checking for cropping or framing issues that could affect brand consistency. This is especially important for regulated industries, luxury brands, or any advertiser where visual precision carries legal or reputational weight. Spot-checking creative across Display, YouTube Shorts, and other surfaces should become a routine part of campaign management rather than a one-time launch check.
Teams with strict creative standards may want to supply pre-formatted assets for critical placements rather than relying on Google's generative resizing, preserving control over how the brand appears in its most visible or highest-stakes formats. For lower-priority placements, the automation may be an acceptable tradeoff that frees up production resources. Either way, this feature reinforces a broader trend: as Google automates more of the creative pipeline, marketers who want to protect brand consistency will need to be deliberate about where they still draw the line.
The Signal Brief · Mariano De Vitto — Head of Marketing, Barcelona