Telecom
New ways to help you drive performance with Demand Gen
In today’s complex digital landscape, consumers turn to visual-first content to get ideas and inspiration across platforms. To stay relevant, brands need to show up when and where it matters most to their audience.
YouTube, for instance, fosters deeper connections than traditional social media. In fact, Gen Z viewers rank YouTube #1 when it comes to feeling like they’re doing something quality with their time,1 and 61% of Gen Zs agree they feel closer to creators they watch on YouTube than on other platforms.2 This translates into strong results: a Nielsen analysis found that YouTube delivers 2.3x higher long-term ROAS than paid social.3
In 2023, we launched Demand Gen campaigns to help businesses build deeper engagements with potential customers and boost online sales and leads. Demand Gen helps you create and convert demand on YouTube and Google’s most visual, immersive surfaces when consumers aren’t searching for you. It offers AI-powered features with flexible controls to connect your business with the right customers wherever they are in their buying journeys.
Today, we’re introducing new ways to help you enhance your Demand Gen campaigns — including expanded controls to customize campaigns for specific channels, new creative enhancements, and richer product and in-store details in your ads. We’ll also share an update on the upgrade timeline to transition your Video Action Campaigns to Demand Gen.
Control where your ads appear
We’ve heard from many of you that flexible controls are crucial for AI-powered campaign optimization. Building on the success of creative preferences and an early experiment, we’re expanding channel controls to all available ad surfaces in Demand Gen globally starting in March. With channel controls rolling out as a beta to everyone, you’ll be able to precisely choose where your ads appear across YouTube, Discover and Gmail — including the ability to tailor your Demand Gen campaigns to serve specifically on YouTube Shorts.
Additionally, we’re adding Google Display inventory to Demand Gen to help you stay top-of-mind with more customers wherever they are browsing content — reaching over 90% of the global internet population across more than 3 million sites and apps.
You can precisely choose where your ads appear across YouTube and Google with channel controls in Demand Gen.
To maximize reach, we encourage all advertisers to take advantage of the full inventory in Demand Gen to fluidly optimize across channels. Learn more about the benefits of cross-channel optimization here.
Multiply your creative impact
Compelling creatives fuel successful campaigns. This requires a strong variety of assets that meet the specifications of different inventory and formats so you can show up when it matters — and that resonate with the diverse needs and interests of your customers. To help you craft stronger ad creatives, we’re introducing more ways to tailor your assets to different screens and formats:
- Demand Gen offers various video and image formats to help you craft unique brand stories on YouTube. Starting in late February you can also run 9:16 vertical image ads on Shorts to create a more immersive, full-screen experience.
- Last November, we launched video enhancements in Demand Gen, allowing you to flip your original video and create new videos in different aspect ratios. In the coming weeks, we’ll roll out a new feature to help you create shorter versions of your videos at scale.
Create shorter versions of your videos at scale with new video enhancements.
You’ll also find an improved ad creation flow in Demand Gen. You’ll now have the option to select the specific types of video enhancements that you’d like to apply to your ads to maximize the variety of your video assets. If needed, you can opt out and manually edit your videos directly in the flow. And you can now share ad previews with your creative stakeholders outside of Google Ads to make the feedback and approval process more efficient.
Drive sales with a more seamless purchase journey
Next, we have new features coming specifically for retailers to help you drive more sales throughout the purchase journey and create a smoother online-to-offline shopping experience:
- For advertisers with a Google Merchant Center account, we’re rolling out a new experience in Demand Gen with product feeds in a few weeks to unlock deeper product discovery. Customers can instantly access full product details directly from your ads, seamlessly transitioning from one product details page to another.
Get full product details directly from your ads with improved experiences in Demand Gen with product feeds.
- With local offers for Demand Gen with product feeds, you can show real-time local product availability, connecting online shoppers with your physical storefronts and driving them to nearby store locations. Then, maximize your omnichannel strategy by optimizing for both online sales and in-store visits with omnichannel bidding.
Contact your Google account team today to learn more about the beta for both features.
Show real-time local product availability in your ads with local offers.
Compare performance across platforms
Lastly, we’re introducing new reporting columns in Google Ads to help you better understand how Demand Gen campaigns perform compared to your paid social efforts and how they inform budget decisions. These columns, which have started to roll out to advertisers globally this month, will include view-through conversions to align with how social advertising platforms measure performance. They will also isolate the impact of Demand Gen from other Google campaigns to provide a more comparable view across channels.
Check out important upgrade milestones for Video Action Campaigns
Last year we announced the upgrade of Video Action Campaigns to help advertisers access the same and even more new features through Demand Gen. Many advertisers are already seeing better performance after transitioning to Demand Gen. Based on a Nielsen analysis, on average, Demand Gen delivers 58% higher ROAS than Video Action Campaigns.4 That’s why we’re taking the next steps to help simplify the process to upgrade.
If you currently use Video Action Campaigns, here are some key upgrade milestones and answers to important FAQs:
- Starting in April, following the launch of channel controls, you’ll no longer be able to create new Video Action Campaigns in Google Ads and Display & Video 360 platforms. We recommend that you start upgrading to Demand Gen yourself before the automatic upgrade goes into effect starting in July to maintain full control of your campaigns.
- Use the upgrade tool (available in March) to apply your historical settings and learnings from Video Action Campaigns to your new Demand Gen campaigns. This helps you upgrade while maintaining your existing strategy and driving consistent performance. Your new Demand Gen campaigns will continue to serve only on YouTube and Google video partners (if you’ve opted-in) until you adjust the settings. While channel controls in Demand Gen will be released as a beta in March, you will be able to continue serving only on YouTube just as you can do today in Video Action Campaigns.
- To instantly access new and expanded features in Demand Gen, such as a wide range of inventory and lookalike segments, we recommend creating new Demand Gen campaigns, or using the copy-and-paste tool to upgrade today. Check our FAQ page for more guidance.
- Starting in July, we will auto-upgrade any remaining Video Action Campaigns in Google Ads. This upgrade process may take a few months to complete and not all accounts will be upgraded at the same time.
- Your historical learnings in Video Action Campaigns will be applied to your new Demand Gen campaigns to help maintain consistent performance. Your inventory settings will be preserved, ensuring your ads continue to serve only on YouTube and Google video partners (if you’ve opted in) until you adjust the settings.
Marks and Spencer (M&S), a global clothing and homeware retailer, saw big success using Demand Gen to drive better results. Partnering with Incubeta, M&S tested Demand Gen and exceeded their forecasted ROAS by 186%, with a 66% lower CPA. The campaign also performed favorably compared to their paid social campaigns.
To learn more about how to upgrade Video Action Campaigns to Demand Gen, visit our FAQ page. To learn more about how you can drive performance with Demand Gen, check out our best practices guide.
MTN Nigeria, in collaboration with ONErpm and Ultima Studios, has announced Ayodeji Benson, popularly known as Ayo Benzi, as the winner of the maiden edition of the Next Afrobeats Star reality show.
L-R: Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria; Ayodeji Benson, Winner, Next Afrobeats Star Reality Show (Season 1) and Emamoke Ogoro, General Manager, Brand and Communication, MTN Nigeria, at the grand finale of the Next Afrobeats Star Reality Show (Season 1), held at the Ultima Studios, Lekki, Lagos on Saturday, December 13, 2025.
The grand finale, held on Sunday night at Ultima Studios in Lekki, Lagos, marked the climax of a nationwide talent search that began in September with over 15,000 aspiring musicians.
After weeks of auditions, mentorship, and rigorous training, five finalists – Ayo Benzi, Dave Cash, Kaeko, Somto O’Laker, and Lucky Yay – battled for the top prize in a high-energy showcase of performance and artistry.
At the end of the electrifying contest, Ayo Benzi emerged victorious, securing a ₦150 million music deal. Dave Cash was named first runner-up with ₦100 million, while Kaeko, Somto O’Laker, and Lucky Yay received ₦75 million, ₦50 million, and ₦25 million respectively.
Throughout the season, contestants were mentored by leading Afrobeats producers Sarz, Puffy Tee, P Prime, and Andre Vibez. Benzi, who was part of Puffy Tee’s team, credited the mentorship programme for sharpening his craft and stage presence.
Speaking at the event, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Nigeria, said the initiative reflects the company’s commitment to youth empowerment and cultural expression.
“The Next Afrobeats Star platform is about creating real opportunities for young Nigerians and giving their talent the structure, visibility, and support it deserves.
“Afrobeats continues to place Nigeria on the global cultural map, and MTN is proud to be enabling the next generation of artists who will take this sound even further,” she said.
She added that the finale was not just a competition but a celebration of growth and readiness for the global stage.
In his acceptance speech, Ayo Benzi described the victory as a defining moment in his career.
“A big thank you to MTN. From the audition days, the treatment MTN has given us has been amazing. God bless the brand,” he said.
The finale also featured guest performances by Afrobeats stars Iyanya and Bella Shmurda, adding glamour to the night and reinforcing the show’s connection to the wider music ecosystem.
With the successful conclusion of the season, MTN Nigeria and its partners reaffirmed their role in championing youth ambition, supporting creative industries, and shaping the future of Nigerian music through platforms that turn potential into opportunity.
T2, formerly known as 9mobile, is under investigation by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Benue State for an undisclosed incident disrupting USSD, SMS, voice, and data services across nine local government areas.
T2
The affected areas include Ado, Agatu, Gwer East, Gwer West, Konshisha, Obi, Ohimini, Okpokwu, and Otukpo, as detailed in an advisory on the NCC Major Outages Portal, which tracks significant disruptions reported by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Neither T2 nor its public relations firm, Chain Reactions, has responded to inquiries on the outage’s cause or restoration efforts as of this report.
The NCC’s continued reference to the operator as 9mobile, months after its public rebranding to T2 in August 2025, has sparked questions about whether the name change was formally notified to the regulator.
This probe aligns with NCC mandates requiring operators to disclose major outages, their impacts, and timelines for fixes, with compensation obligatory for disruptions exceeding 24 hours under the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations.
Industry watchers note that such incidents, often linked to fibre cuts, power failures, or infrastructure faults, underscore ongoing challenges in Nigeria’s telecoms sector, particularly amid T2’s subscriber losses post-rebrand. NCC vows transparency via its portal to hold operators accountable and protect consumers.
Telecom
NCC Unveils Draft 5-Year Spectrum Roadmap, 60 GHz License-Exempt Guidelines to Boost Broadband, Innovation
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has unveiled two pivotal regulatory draft documents aimed at reshaping Nigeria’s communications sector over the next five years and fast-tracking deployment of ultra-high-speed wireless technologies.
NCC
In a public notice dated December 19, 2025, and issued pursuant to its mandate under the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, the Commission published the Draft 5-Year Spectrum Roadmap for the Communications Sector (2025–2030) and Draft Guidelines for the Use of the 60 GHz License-Exempt Band for Multi-Gigabit Wireless Systems.
Both documents are accessible on the NCC website for stakeholder review, with the roadmap outlining strategic spectrum planning, allocation, and management to optimise utilisation, support emerging technologies like 5G and IoT, expand broadband access, and align with global best practices.
The Spectrum Roadmap emphasises four core pillars: bridging the digital divide through low-band spectrum and satellite services, attracting investments via flexible licensing models, enhancing service quality with mid-band optimisation, and fostering innovation in areas such as direct-to-device connectivity and secondary spectrum trading.
It sets ambitious targets including universal 4G coverage nationwide, 50 per cent 5G penetration in state capitals, and average broadband speeds of 100 Mbps by 2030, while addressing rising data demand through band refarming and efficient management.
Complementing this, the 60 GHz Guidelines establish a license-exempt framework for the 57–66 GHz band, enabling multi-gigabit speeds up to 10 Gbps for short-range applications like WiGig, fixed wireless access, enterprise connectivity, urban broadband, and backhaul solutions.
The rules mandate NCC type approval for equipment, site registration for outdoor use, and interference mitigation measures, while prohibiting wide-area networks to safeguard primary users.
In line with Section 58 of the NCA 2003, NCC invites comments from industry operators, equipment manufacturers, consumer groups, and the public, with submissions due by Friday, January 16, 2025, via email to [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].
The notice, signed by Mrs Nnenna Ukoha, Head of Public Affairs, stresses that stakeholder inputs will refine the frameworks to drive innovation, investment, competition, and sustainable growth in Nigeria’s telecoms ecosystem.
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