After first announcing the option last year, Google has now made its Discovery Ads available in all regions, providing another consideration for your campaigns.

As explained by Google:

"More consumers are now finding their next favorite brand or product through a growing variety of touchpoints - in fact, 86% of online consumers say they're on the lookout for shopping ideas as they watch videos or explore content across the web. With Discovery ads, you can rely on Google's understanding of consumers' intent across our properties to engage these audiences as they scroll through their favorite Google feeds - no search query needed."

As you can see above, Discovery Ads will be displayed on YouTube, in the Google Search app and even within Gmail, highlighting "timely offers to shoppers as they check their inbox for the latest products and deals".

Discovery Ads utilize social media-like targeting, as opposed to keyword-based intent, with advertisers able to target their campaigns by audience and/or demographic. And taking on social ads is clearly where Google is aiming with the option - as noted by Search Engine Land, Google specifically points to social platforms in its comparisons for Discovery Ad campaigns:

"In case it wasn’t abundantly clear that Discovery ads are aimed at paid social dollars, Google spells it out. In one case study cited in today’s announcement, Deckers “repurposed high-quality images from social campaigns” for Discovery ads last holiday season."

So, you can now extend the reach of your social campaigns onto Google as well, which could end up providing good results as Google makes the ads more present. 

Google's taking a cautious approach with the option, wary of disrupting user feeds, so they're not being heavily featured as yet. But it could end being a good option to maximize your ad spend, especially considering the capacity to reach users who are likely looking for products within Google's apps.

You can read more about Discovery Ad campaigns here.