October ad changes: Google launched its new AI ad formats only outside the EU

Google told advertisers on October 14 that a common setting in Search campaigns will stop working in February 2027. It was one of 14 October ad changes from Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok that we checked against each company’s own pages. Changes that give advertisers more budget control mostly ship to every account. New AI ad placements go to the US and English-speaking markets first, and no EU country appears on any launch list.

Google moves Display Network spending to a budget share

Google calls the new feature channel prioritization. A channel is where an ad appears: Google Search, search partner sites, or the Display Network on other websites. Advertisers can now mark a group of channels as high or low priority. For a low-priority channel, they set the largest share of the daily budget it may take.

The control works in Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns. It can be set for an account, a campaign or a shared budget. Google says it will roll out globally over the next months. The company’s own line is “Say goodbye to all-or-nothing channel targeting.”

The deadline matters for Search campaigns that also run on the Display Network. Starting in February 2027, the current way those campaigns split spending goes away. Google’s option is to set the Display Network to low priority with a 50 percent budget allocation. That keeps a similar split.

Four companies, 14 changes, one marked global

We listed every ad product change these companies announced in October on their official blogs and help pages. For each one we noted where it works and when. One change says “globally” in the announcement. Four name specific countries. One is open only to selected testers. Eight name no market at all.

Google made six changes. Channel priorities are the global one. AI-written review summaries in Search ads work only in English in the US, Australia, the UK and India. Ads in AI Mode, Google’s chat-style search, now run in 10 more countries. Ads that follow a user across several questions in one AI Mode chat launched only in the US. New customer retention goals and self-serve Conversion Lift studies list no countries.

Meta made one change for tools built on its Marketing API, the connection that outside software uses to buy Meta ads. Since October 19, each ad in one ad set can have its own age range and gender. Before, this needed separate ad sets. Meta named no countries.

Microsoft listed four changes that are live or rolling out in its October update. Its Conversions API, which sends purchase data straight from a company’s server, is now open to all. Performance Max, the campaign type where the system picks placements, gained age and gender targeting. Device targeting follows in the coming weeks. Search term and auction reports are now available for Performance Max. A landing page report for search terms starts in mid-November.

TikTok announced three things. TikTok Ad Network, which places ads in nearly 400,000 outside apps, became available in the US, its 48th market. Its new AI tools for shopping and lead collection are open only through tests. A product package from October 30, with new sales campaign tools and discount offers on ad buttons, names no markets.

LinkedIn is not in the count. We found no October ad announcements on its marketing blog.

Google ships AI Mode ads to 10 countries, none in the EU

On October 28 Google expanded ads in AI Mode to Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Brazil, Mexico and the UK are planned for the fourth quarter. The UK left the EU in 2020, so the list still holds no EU member. We covered the 10 new AI Mode markets when Google announced them.

Review summaries follow the same map. They are short AI summaries of customer reviews added to Search ads. Google’s help page says the summaries are only positive. Our earlier story explains how the review summaries work.

EU advertisers get the controls but must handle consent first

A company running ads in Germany, France or Poland will likely get most of October’s control features. Google says channel priorities go global. Microsoft and Meta set no country limits in their posts. The new AI formats are another story. EU advertisers can see review summaries only in English campaigns aimed at the US, UK, Australia or India.

Measurement brings an extra step in Europe. A Conversion Lift study hides ads from part of the audience and compares the two groups. Google requires at least 1,000 recorded customer actions, such as purchases, and a campaign budget of at least $5,000. A study runs for at least 7 days, and Google recommends 14 or more. Google calls the European Economic Area, the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, a privacy-sensitive region. It advises setting up consent mode there, which tells Google whether each user agreed to tracking. We explained the self-serve Conversion Lift setup earlier.

Meta paused its new business terms after UK and EU complaints

One more October change sits outside the ad tools. Meta’s new business terms were due on October 30. They let Meta crawl websites linked to a business and use that content to build its products, including AI features. They apply to any business using Meta, even one that buys no ads.

Publishers in several countries asked regulators to stop the terms. Meta moved the date to November 20, then paused the roll-out on October 28 until it consults industry groups. The UK Competition and Markets Authority opened a formal case on October 30. Our story on the CMA investigation into Meta’s terms has the details.

Our earlier stories cover two more of the changes. Google added three customer retention modes for Performance Max, Search and Shopping. Meta’s per-ad targeting is covered in our story on audiences for each ad creative.

Search campaigns with Display Network turned on have until February 2027

One setting is worth opening today in every Google Ads account: the network settings of each Search campaign. If the Display Network box is ticked, that campaign loses its current budget split in February 2027. Once channel priorities appear in the account, a low priority for Display with a 50 percent allocation keeps spending close to what it is now.