What happened
- On September 28, Google announced vertical video unification in Display & Video 360: programmatic buying and measurement of that format move into a single workflow within the platform.
- The company describes Gemini running the buying, execution and measurement, with control over overexposure of the same ad to the same person.
- In early tests, Unilever’s Hellmann’s, together with WPP Media, recorded 24% more unique reach and 25% lower cost per unique user.
- The announcement doesn’t detail which media make up the unified inventory, nor availability dates or markets.
Why it matters
- Both figures come from a test with one brand, one media buyer and one product. They’re not a rate or a guarantee, and Google’s text doesn’t say what baseline they were measured against.
- What does change is the unit of decision: if vertical video from several outlets is bought and measured in one place, frequency stops being managed platform by platform. That’s the source of the savings they report.
- For marketing teams in Chile that currently buy vertical separately on each network, the practical consequence is that reach duplication that used to be invisible becomes visible, and therefore something you can argue about with whoever sells each inventory.
The number
25% lower cost per unique user in Hellmann’s test with WPP Media.
Context
Google has been moving the format in the same direction for a month. It already brought Demand Gen to messaging apps and put a conversational agent inside YouTube ads. Vertical video unification closes the buying loop around those pieces.
What’s next
- No general availability date or list of markets announced. The text talks about early tests.
- No public detail on which outside publishers join the unified inventory.
Bottom line
WPP cut 8,500 jobs relying on efficiency attributed to artificial intelligence. The same organization now appears as the reference for a test that lowers cost per user. The two things describe the same movement from different sides of the contract.
Sources
- Introducing Vertical Video Unification with Display & Video 360, Google, September 28, 2026.
Written by Mamífero. Edited by Rodrigo Cornejo. See how we select and verify each note.
