Google Tests New Channel Prioritization Controls for Performance Max Campaigns

Google is testing a new Performance Max feature that would allow advertisers to make positive or negative adjustments to individual channels—Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps—by influencing the CPA thresholds the algorithm applies to each. Rather than fixing a percentage of budget to specific channels, the controls appear to signal channel preference through economics; a positive adjustment relaxes CPA acceptance for a channel, while a negative one tightens it. As Search Engine Land notes, this represents a departure from PMax's historically hands-off approach and follows Google's earlier rollout of channel-level reporting, giving advertisers both visibility and direct influence over how the system distributes spend across inventory.