Channel performance reporting helps you understand how your Performance Max campaign is delivering results across Google’s full range of channels and inventory. On the channel performance page, you’ll find a campaign-level performance summary along with data visualisation to help you determine which channels you’re engaging customers on and how they’re contributing to your conversion goals.
On this page
- Benefits of channel performance reporting for Performance Max
- Navigate the channel performance report
- Segments and metrics
- Frequently asked questions
Benefits of channel performance reporting for Performance Max
The channel performance report offers the following key benefits:- Understand how your Performance Max campaign is performing across all of Google's channels and inventory, and clearly find how each channel contributes to your overall conversion goals.
- Drill down into specific channels and ad formats, including video and ads with product feeds, to pinpoint opportunities for improvement.
- Utilise diagnostics that surface potential issues on different channels, enabling you to quickly identify problem areas and prioritise your efforts.
- Use time series charts to monitor changes in channel serving across available inventory and understand how channel contributions evolve day to day.
Navigate the channel performance report
Access your channel performance report
- Go to Campaigns within the Campaigns menu
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- Select the Insights and reports drop-down in the section menu.
- Select channel performance.
.You can select Download on the table toolbar to download any information found on the channel distribution table.
on the table toolbar to add a segment, such as 'Ads using product data', to your channel distribution table. If you need to add more than one segment, you can select Download and then More options and add multiple segments to your report download.The channel performance report has three sections: Performance summary, Channels-to-Goals chart and Channel distribution table.
Performance summary- Actual ROAS or CPA: The actual ROAS or CPA of your Performance Max campaign during the selected time period
- Average target ROAS and CPA: Your average target ROAS or CPA during the selected time period
- Interactions: Total clicks and engagements of the campaign
- Conversions: The number of conversions attributed to the campaign
- Conv. value: The total value of the conversions attributed to the campaign
- Cost: The cost of the campaign
The Channels-to-Goals chart shows how Performance Max uses various channels to help your goals. You'll find key performance metrics gathered by each channel. These metrics can help you understand how each channel contributes towards your campaign goals based on inputs including your campaign objectives, targets and specified budget.
There are three drop-downs at the top of the report that allow you to further customise your view:
- Channel: Filter for a specific channel or all channels
- Format: Filter for 'Ads using product data', 'Ads using video' or 'All ads'
- Conversions: Filter for 'Conversions' or 'Results'
- Filtering for 'Conversions' shows the conversions your campaign is optimised for.
- 'Results' shows conversions for all of your goals, including those that you aren't optimising for in your campaign.
The time series chart shows how performance evolves over your selected date range. This helps you identify exactly when major shifts in channel performance occur, such as identifying changes to the channel mix when adding a video to your campaign or evaluating the impact of changes in campaign goals or bid strategy targets.
To drill down deeper, select a specific channel from the drop-down menu. This allows you to compare multiple metrics – such as impressions, clicks and conversions – on a single chart for that channel. Learn more About channel performance over time.
The channel distribution table provides you with the most detailed information. The columns in this table include all of the available metrics.
To slice data by additional segments, select the Segment
Status column: The status column provides diagnostics that surface potential issues on specific channels so that you know where to prioritise your efforts.
| Status | Meaning |
| Not eligible |
The channel can't show ads. |
| Eligible (limited) |
Issues are present that are limiting where and when ads can show. |
| Eligible | The channel has no issues. |
| Missing required assets | The channel has missing network-specific assets. |
Below are some of the diagnostics that you may find if we detect issues that are limiting your campaign's performance on a particular channel.
| Type | Description | Examples |
|
Asset group policy issues |
All or some of your asset groups are disapproved or limited. |
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Product feed issues |
There are issues with your product feed or Google Merchant Center account. |
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| Missing required or network-specific assets |
The channel can't show ads or is limited due to missing required assets. Note: You can use the channel performance report to identify the reasons behind your ads not displaying on specific channels. This diagnostic identifies these gaps by listing the minimum assets required for an asset group to begin showing ads. |
A business name for Discover or a square image for Display is missing and preventing your campaigns from serving. |
| Missing and disapproved assets | The channel can’t show ads or is limited due to missing or disapproved assets. |
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| Final URL expansion | Final URL expansion isn't enabled, limiting serving on Search. |
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Missing video assets |
Ads can't show in the channel effectively without at least one video asset. |
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| Campaign is budget-constrained |
The channel has not shown ads recently and the campaign is limited by budget. In this scenario, you may find the following message: 'This channel isn't showing ads because the budget is being prioritised for conversions on more efficient channels' |
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Segments and metrics
Note: You can view any date range after 6 June, 2025 using the date picker.
Segments
| Segment | Definition |
| Channel |
The channel where an ad was served, including:
Learn more about how Performance Max channels are defined. |
| Ads using product data | Ads that use product data, including Shopping ads across Google Search, YouTube Search, Maps and Search partners, as well as dynamic remarketing on Google Display Network. Other formats using Merchant Center feeds on Gmail and video ads with products on YouTube and Discover aren’t included yet. |
| Ads using video | Ads that use the video ad format. |
| Conversion category | The conversion category, also known as the conversion goal, that conversions belong to. |
| Conversion action | The name of the conversion tracking action that you set up. |
| Ad event type | The action that precedes a conversion. For example, Engaged-view, clicks, interaction or impression. |
Metrics
You can review the following metrics in your report:
- Impressions: The number of times that your ad was shown on a specific channel
- Clicks: The total clicks received from a channel
- Interactions: A combination of total number of clicks and engagements on your ads from a channel.
- Conversions: The total number of conversions from a channel
- Conversion value: The total value of the conversions from a channel
- Cost: The cost of ads running for a channel
- Results: The number of conversions that you've received from the primary conversion actions in each of the goals in your account for a specific channel. Learn more About Results Reporting.
- Results value: The conversion value that you've received for the primary conversion actions in each of the goals in your account for a specific channel. Learn more About Results Value.
Frequently asked questions
Refer to Troubleshoot the Performance Max channel performance report for help with specific performance concerns.
Does the report support attribution modelling for conversion actions?Check the status column in your channel distribution table to understand if there are any issues preventing a channel from showing ads. If there are no evident issues, it's likely that Performance Max is prioritising channels offering a higher return on investment (ROI) at that moment. The system aims to maximise performance by bidding on inventory predicted to deliver the most cost-efficient, highest ROI conversions in real time, focusing on channels expected to drive the best results for your goals and budget.
Other factors that can lead to a channel (or the entire campaign) not spending include:
- Recent changes: Frequent adjustments to budget, bidding strategy, targeting or assets can cause campaigns to re-enter a learning phase or temporarily stop serving. Allow one to two weeks for stabilisation after significant changes.
- Bid strategy targets: Unrealistic target CPA (too low) or target ROAS (too high) can restrict serving.
- Asset quality: Poor Ad Strength due to insufficient or low-quality assets can limit reach.
- Audience signals: Issues with audience signal configuration, especially for 'New customers only' targeting without an existing customer list for exclusion, can prevent serving.
- Conversion tracking: Ensure that conversion tracking is active and correctly configured as issues here severely impact performance-based bidding.
- Account/Campaign-level issues: Check for billing alerts, Merchant Center suspensions or policy flags.
- Campaign cannibalisation: Multiple Performance Max campaigns targeting similar areas might compete, leading to underperformance for some.
If you’d like additional guidance on how to take action on your channel performance report, refer to our guide on how to Troubleshoot the Performance Max channel performance report.
Performance Max campaigns use AI to automatically allocate budget across all Google channels to maximise conversion. The system prioritises channels that it predicts will deliver the best performance. While you can't directly control budget allocation per channel, you can influence it if you:
- Optimise assets: Provide high-quality, diverse assets relevant to the channels that you want to prioritise (for example, search-relevant assets for better Search performance).
- Refine audience signals: Use strong audience signals like Customer Match, custom audiences and website visitors to guide the AI.
- Ensure accurate conversion tracking: Performance Max optimises towards your defined conversion actions. Set these up correctly and value them appropriately.
- Utilise search themes: Use search themes effectively to guide the campaign on relevant search queries.
- Apply content suitability and exclusions: Employ content suitability settings and account-level placement exclusions to limit exposure on unwanted Display or YouTube content. You can also use negative keywords at the account level.
- Note: This might reduce overall reach.
- Respect the learning period: Give the campaign one to two weeks (or more) to learn and optimise after significant changes.
If a primary goal is Search traffic with more manual control, consider a standard search campaign alongside Performance Max for specific objectives.
For concerns brand suitability, utilise account-level features. If invalid traffic is a concern for lead generation, ensure a strong measurement foundation. Learn more about How to use brand suitability features in Performance Max and Best practices for generating high-quality leads.
No, all offline conversions driven to each shop will be summed in the 'Total conversion' column.
Image assets can be used in channels besides Display, such as in the Discover feed, YouTube image ads or as image extensions in Search.
Results Reporting highlights and explains the value and results your campaigns are delivering for the goals set up in your account. It surfaces the full value of your campaigns performance, illustrating the quantity of conversions driven across each conversion goal category, such as Purchase.
In the table view, you can segment by 'ads using product data'. This will help you to find where ads that are pulling data from your Google Merchant Center feed are surfacing. You can find this breakdown by channel.
