Google vertical video ads launch on DV360 with Gemini AI integration

The integration of vertical video into Display & Video 360 addresses the fragmentation of mobile-first media buying by eliminating the need for separate budgets across social and programmatic channels. By centralizing 9:16 assets, Google is positioning its DSP to capture spend that previously required manual execution across siloed platforms. This move forces a shift in the ecosystem toward unified frequency management, as Gemini AI attempts to solve the persistent problem of cross-platform audience duplication. Watch for whether competitors like The Trade Desk introduce similar AI-driven vertical unification to maintain parity in mobile-heavy campaign performance.

Google's Display & Video 360 vertical video unification represents the company's most significant push to consolidate portrait-format buying into a single programmatic workflow. Google announced the Vertical Video Unification feature on September 28, 2026, with Marta Martinez describing it as a way to centralize vertical video buys from publishers across channels into a single workstream, powered by Gemini AI for buying, execution, and full-funnel measurement. During initial testing, Unilever's Hellmann's brand and WPP Media achieved a 24% increase in unique reach while reducing cost per unique user by 25%, results that Google is using to validate the platform's cross-channel deduplication claims against siloed buying strategies.

The competitive positioning of DV360's vertical video launch sits within a broader DSP rivalry. A mid-2026 analysis comparing The Trade Desk and Google DV360 found that global programmatic ad spend is projected to clear $158 billion by year-end according to WARC, with DV360's integration across Google Audience Center, Google Analytics 4, and Campaign Manager 360 creating a measurement flywheel that independent DSPs cannot replicate at scale. The same analysis noted that an independent Ebiquity audit covering 11 multinational brands found DV360 delivered statistically superior performance on YouTube and Google Display Network inventory, while The Trade Desk outperformed on third-party publisher environments and CTV, suggesting Google's vertical video unification strengthens its position specifically where it already holds an advantage.

On the technical side, Google has been building toward vertical video unification through its existing creative tooling. Google Ads already offers a video enhancements feature that uses AI to automatically create vertical 9:16 versions of landscape creative, which serves primarily on Shorts inventory but can also appear on skippable in-stream placements. This asset-generation capability, combined with DV360's new unified buying layer, means advertisers can now produce and distribute vertical creative within the same Google ecosystem without manual reformatting, reducing production friction for campaigns that span YouTube Shorts, mobile apps, and connected TV.