For years, marketers have asked for better visibility into how individual channels contribute to Performance Max results.
Google has released a tutorial walking advertisers through its new Performance Max channel reporting. This reporting feature offers more transparency into how campaigns perform across Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover, and Maps.
With this new report, you can now dig deeper into performance by channel and format, making it easier to analyze results and troubleshoot.
Here’s a look at how to find the report and what you can do with it.
Where to Find Channel Performance Reporting
To find and access the channel reporting, head to your Google Ads account.
From there, navigate to: Campaign >> Insights & Reports >> Channel Performance
Image credit: Google, April 2025Once you’re there, you’ll see these items:
- A performance summary overview
- A channel-to-goals visualization
- Channel distribution table.
These items provide more than just a static view of performance. You’re able to click on specific channels to drill down into related reports, like placements on the Google Display Network, or Search Terms from the Search channel.
Exploring the Reports and Visualizations
The channel performance page isn’t just a high-level dashboard. It provides several views and reports that give you more context on how your ads are performing across Google’s network. Here’s a closer look at the most useful areas:
Ad Format Views
Not every ad performs the same across channels, which is why Google lets you break results down by ad format.
For example, you can see how video ads perform on YouTube compared to product ads shown on Search. This helps you spot whether one creative type is pulling more weight and whether you need to adjust your creative mix or budgets to support higher-performing formats.
Product-Driven Insights
If you’re running Shopping or retail campaigns, this section shows how ads tied to product data perform across channels.
You can see Shopping ads on Search as well as dynamic remarketing ads on Display. This gives ecommerce advertisers a clearer picture of how product feeds contribute to results beyond just one channel.
Channel Distribution Table
This table is one of the most detailed reports in the new view. It includes impressions, clicks, interactions, conversions, conversion value, and cost, all broken down by channel.
You can customize the table to highlight the metrics that matter most to your goals, such as ROAS or CPA, and even segment results by ad format (like video versus product ads).
Since the table is downloadable, you can also share it with teams or clients for transparent reporting.
Status Column and Diagnostics
The status column acts as a built-in troubleshooting tool. It surfaces issues or recommendations related to specific channels or formats, such as diagnostic warnings if ads aren’t serving as expected.
By reviewing these, you can quickly identify where performance may be limited and take action to resolve issues before they affect results at scale.
Reviewing Single-Channel vs. Cross-Channel CPA
One important takeaway from Google’s tutorial is that looking at average CPA or ROAS for a single channel doesn’t tell the full story.
Performance Max uses marginal ROI optimization, bidding in real time for the most cost-efficient conversions across all channels.
Since users don’t interact with just one channel, this cross-channel view helps advertisers see the broader picture of how campaigns drive results.
That means when evaluating effectiveness, Google recommends to prioritize your goals and audiences over individual channel performance.
How Advertisers Can Benefit From Performance Max Channel Reporting
The new reporting doesn’t change how Performance Max works behind the scenes, but it does help you:
- Understand which channels support your goals most effectively
- Identify areas where specific ad formats or channels may need creative or budget adjustments
- Communicate results more clearly with stakeholders by showing cross-channel contributions
With Search Partner Network reporting coming in the future, Google is signaling a continued investment in giving advertisers deeper visibility.
Performance Max remains a cross-channel campaign type, but channel reporting is a welcome step toward transparency. By digging into these reports, advertisers can better understand how ads perform across Google properties and make smarter optimization decisions.
