Use your data segments to advertise on YouTube

You can show personalized ads on YouTube, Search, Shopping, and Gmail to people who have seen your YouTube videos or have interacted with your YouTube channel. This article explains how to use your data segments in your campaigns.

Before you begin

	Link your YouTube channels or videos made by YouTube creators to your Google Ads account.
	Enable your data while linking YouTube channels to your Google Ads accounts.
	Check if personalized ads are turned on in your YouTube account settings. If personalized ads are turned off, targeting viewers who interacted with your YouTube channel or video won't work.
	Make sure the videos used to build your data segments are compliant with the personalized advertising policy.
	Check if the YouTube channel and video content is marked as made for kids. Any videos with sensitive content won’t be eligible.
	Make sure the list status is set to “Open” and that you have a minimum of 1,000 active visitors or users on the list. Learn more about your data segments.
	If the list size is decreasing, check if the membership duration has expired. For example, if you set the membership duration to 30 days, users will stay on your data segment for a maximum of 30 days.
	Keep your targeting broad. If you use more than one targeting method at a time, Google Ads will apply them all in your campaign, which may restrict your impressions significantly.

Instructions

Create a data segment with your YouTube users

1. If you haven't already, link your YouTube channels or videos made by YouTube creators and Google Ads accounts.
2. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
3. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
4. Click Audience manager.
5. Click the plus button , then click YouTube users.
6. Enter a name for your audience.
7. Click the “List members” drop-down menu and choose the users you’d like to include in the audience segment. For example, you can choose users who watched a video from your channel or who subscribed to your channel.
8. Select either a YouTube channel or a video made by a YouTube creator linked to your Google Ads account.
9. Expand the “Pre-fill options” section, then choose how you want to populate your list. You can pre-fill the list with users who match the actions you previously selected within the past 30 days, or you can start with an empty list.
10. Expand the “Membership duration” section, then enter the number of days someone stays in your audience segment. The maximum membership duration is 540 days.
11. Click Create.

After your data segment has gained interactions from at least 1,000 viewers, you can use it for your campaigns. Select one of your data segments you want to use while creating a new campaign or as a target for an existing Video campaign.

Add a data segment with YouTube users to existing ad groups or campaigns

1. If you haven't already, link your YouTube channels or videos made by YouTube creators and Google Ads accounts.
2. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
3. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
4. Click Audience manager.
5. Select the Audiences tab.
6. Click the pencil icon .
7. Select Campaign or Ad group from the drop-down menu.
8. Click Select a campaign.
9. Select the ad group or campaign you want to add your data segment to.
10. Choose Targeting or Observation.
11. Select the segment you want to target and check the specific boxes related to the chosen segment.
12. Click Save.

If your Google Ads account is overseen by a manager account, linking your YouTube channel will allow the Google Ads manager account to access your YouTube channel metrics. If you have set up data segment sharing in your Google Ads account, a manager account can share your data segments that you’ve created with its other managed accounts.