Google Ads API v26.2: Demand Gen overlay text and seasonality beta
Google Ads API v26.2, released 11 November 2026, adds beta seasonality adjustments for Demand Gen and customer-level reach metrics. Check how your tools create video ads.
If your scripts, tools or agency platform create Demand Gen video ads through the Google Ads API, check them now. In v26, new Demand Gen video responsive ads default to having text overlaid on the video, where earlier versions defaulted to off. Google released v26.2 of the API on 11 November 2026. It is a minor release that also adds beta seasonality adjustments for Demand Gen and customer-level reach reporting.
What changed
Google's release notes list v26.2 as a minor release with no breaking changes. In their words: "Minor versions like v26.2 don't contain breaking changes." (Google for Developers, Google Ads API release notes.)
Listed as new, with no beta label
- OVERLAY_TEXT_ON_VIDEOS. This is a new value of the AssetAutomationType enum. It overlays text from associated text Asset resources (such as headlines) on top of video Asset resources. You configure it in the AdGroupAd.ad_group_ad_asset_automation_settings field for Demand Gen video responsive ads (DemandGenVideoResponsiveAdInfo). For new Demand Gen video responsive ads created in v26, it defaults to the OPTED_IN status. In earlier API versions the default for new ads is OPTED_OUT, and querying the setting in a version earlier than v26 returns the UNKNOWN enum value.
- Customer-level reach reporting. The unique reach metrics, from Metrics.unique_users through Metrics.unique_users_ten_plus (the 1+ to 10+ frequency buckets), and their companion state metrics (for example Metrics.unique_users_info) can now be selected with the customer resource, in addition to the campaign resource. They can also be segmented by Segments.ad_format_type, Segments.ad_sub_format_type, Segments.ad_network_type and Segments.ad_sub_network_type on the campaign and customer resources.
- Hotel and vertical ads reporting. Segments.geo_target_country, Metrics.cross_device_conversions and a set of conversion breakdown segments can now be used with the hotel booking itinerary and vertical ads segments, subject to the segment combination rules in the vertical ads reporting guide.
- Multi-Party Authorization errors. Two new error codes: MULTI_PARTY_APPROVAL_UNSUPPORTED_RESOURCE_COMBINATION and STALE_MULTI_PARTY_AUTH_REQUEST.
Beta
- Seasonality adjustments for Demand Gen campaigns. BiddingSeasonalityAdjustment resources can now be applied to Demand Gen campaigns. With the scope field set to SeasonalityEventScope.CAMPAIGN, you list Demand Gen campaign resource names in the campaigns field. With scope set to SeasonalityEventScope.CHANNEL, you specify AdvertisingChannelType.DEMAND_GEN in the advertising_channel_types field. Google says support applies to the YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps inventory channels, and that seasonality adjustments have no effect on the Discover channel.
Already live in v26.1, not v26.2
Some items that may be read as v26.2 features sit in the v26.1 entry, dated 28 October 2026. Household income exclusions in Performance Max campaigns are one: you exclude income ranges by creating a negative CampaignCriterion resource with the income_range field set. The 6+ to 9+ unique reach frequency buckets and the companion state metrics were also added in v26.1. The v26.1 notes say the state information covers cases such as a value being suppressed for privacy or quality reasons. v26.2 extends where those metrics can be selected.
Nothing in the sources describes a planned feature for these items beyond what is above.
What this means for specialists
The overlay default is a quiet creative change. If a tool built before v26 never sets the asset automation setting, an ad it creates in v26 takes the new default, and text from the ad's headlines can appear on the video without anyone choosing it. That is an implication of the documented default, not a reported outcome. Check what the setting is on ads you have already created.
Older API versions cannot see the setting. A reporting or audit script that queries the setting in a version earlier than v26 gets UNKNOWN back. That tells you nothing about whether overlay text is on or off.
Seasonality can now be applied in code, with a narrower reach than the name suggests. Because Google says the adjustments do not affect the Discover channel, an adjustment would only touch the YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps portions of a Demand Gen campaign. It is also beta, so treat it as something to test rather than a settled part of a workflow. The sources give no performance figures.
Reach can be requested for a whole customer. Account-level frequency questions no longer have to be built campaign by campaign, and the ad format and network segments let you split that view.
Performance Max exclusions are programmable. Accounts that need household income ranges excluded can do it through a negative campaign criterion, provided the tooling calls v26.1 or later.
What to do this week
- List every script, tool or platform that creates Demand Gen video responsive ads through the API, and note which API version each calls. The Upgrade your API version guidance Google points to is where the proto differences are listed.
- For those calling v26, open the code that builds the ad and check whether it sets AdGroupAd.ad_group_ad_asset_automation_settings for OVERLAY_TEXT_ON_VIDEOS. If it does not, new ads are opted in.
- Open a sample of Demand Gen video ads created since v26 and check the status of the overlay text setting.
- Check any audit query on a version earlier than v26 that reads the setting, and make sure UNKNOWN is not treated as opted out.
- If you plan to try seasonality adjustments, decide whether each one needs the CAMPAIGN or the CHANNEL scope, and note that it will not affect Discover.
- Run a test query against the customer resource selecting Metrics.unique_users, Metrics.unique_users_ten_plus and the matching _info metric, with an ad format or network type segment.
- For Performance Max accounts that need household income ranges excluded, check whether a negative CampaignCriterion with income_range is already in place, and whether your tooling calls v26.1 or later.
What we do not know yet
- Beta access. The notes do not say who can use Demand Gen seasonality adjustments, whether there is an application process, which markets are covered or when the beta ends.
- Which versions carry the overlay default. The enum value is listed under v26.2, but the default is described as applying to new ads "created in v26". The sources do not say whether ads created in v26 and v26.1 are affected differently.
- Effect on the ad. The sources do not describe how the overlay text looks, how it is chosen, or what it does to performance.
- Deprecations. The release notes point to a separate Feature deprecations page. That page was last updated on 30 October 2026, before v26.2, and shows no entry for the overlay default or for Demand Gen seasonality adjustments.
Sources & Further Reading
- Google for Developers: Release notes | Google Ads APIhttps://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/release-notes
- developers.google.com: Developer products - Google for Developershttps://developers.google.com/products
- Google for Developers: Google Ads APIhttps://developers.google.com/google-ads/api
- Google for Developers: Feature deprecations and unversioned changes | Google Ads APIhttps://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/deprecations
