Google is introducing a new Performance Max beta that allows advertisers to source video assets straight from Merchant Center — a seemingly minor change that could have major consequences for retail and e-commerce advertisers.
How it works. Google Ads will now:
- Automatically surface product-linked videos from Merchant Center during PMax campaign setup
- Streamline creative production for retail and e-commerce marketing teams
- Tighten product–creative alignment, helping ads feel more relevant
- Lift performance, particularly for advertisers managing extensive SKU catalogs
Why we care. This change removes a long-standing bottleneck in PMax: sourcing and uploading strong, product-specific video assets. By automatically ingesting videos from Merchant Center, Google is more tightly connecting live inventory with creative, which usually leads to higher ad relevance, better engagement, and stronger results.
For brands managing thousands of SKUs, this can significantly accelerate campaign setup and maintenance while ensuring broad video coverage — something that was previously time-consuming and resource-intensive.
The big picture. Google has been quickly broadening PMax’s creative inputs — from importing social video to now tapping Merchant Center — underscoring a larger strategy to make PMax more turnkey for advertisers heavily focused on commerce.
First seen. Senior performance marketing executive Rakshit Shetty was the first to flag this update, sharing a screenshot of the new option on LinkedIn.
The bottom line. It’s a quiet, incremental change — but a meaningful advantage for brands running eCommerce operations at scale.