Video Makes Up 9.9% of Google Ads vs 70.2% for Plain Text Ads

Search for a plumber, a lawyer or accounting software on Google and the ads you see are lines of text: a headline, a link and a sentence or two. Google has offered video placements on YouTube and across its network for years, yet most of the ads businesses actually run are still text.

Ad format matters because each one reaches people at a different moment. Text ads answer a search someone has just typed. Image and video ads appear on YouTube, in apps and across websites, where they reach people before they search. An advertiser with only text ads can meet demand but cannot create it.

Most advertisers stop at text. Video makes up 9.9% of Google ads, image ads 19.9% and plain text ads 70.2%. 32.1% of advertisers run at least one video ad, so two in three have none, and 45.8% run nothing but text.

Google's Ads Transparency Center is a public database of verified advertisers and the ads they have shown. On September 23, 2026 we collected 70,003 ads from 5,919 US advertisers found through search keywords. Every ad carries a format label, text, image or video, and the first and last date it was shown.

We counted formats across all ads and per advertiser, compared how long each format stays live, and split advertisers by the size of their ad library: more than 40 ads on file, or 40 or fewer. An ad's life is the time between the first and last day it was shown. The advertiser-weighted share counts each advertiser equally, so a few very large accounts cannot dominate the result.

Text leads by a wide margin: 49,177 text ads against 13,918 image ads and 6,908 video ads. Images are about one in five ads and video about one in ten. Counting each advertiser equally barely changes the picture: text rises to 73.2% and video slips to 9.2%, so the pattern is not driven by a few large accounts.

By advertiser, 32.1% run at least one video ad and 45.8% run text ads only, with no image or video at all. For almost half of Google advertisers, advertising on Google means search ads and nothing else.

Formats differ sharply in how long they stay live. The median text ad runs for 370 days between the first and last day it is shown. Image ads run for 92 days and video ads for 76, less than a quarter of the life of a text ad.

That fits how the formats are used. A search text ad can run for a year with small edits to its wording. Video and display ads are tied to campaigns, seasons and offers, and they wear out as the same people see them again and again, so advertisers replace them far more often. Running video means producing new video regularly, which is one reason fewer advertisers take it on.

Video use tracks the size of an advertiser's ad library. Among the 712 advertisers with more than 40 ads on file, 61.5% run video. Among advertisers with 40 or fewer, the rate is 28.1%, less than half. Large accounts have the budgets to produce video and the campaigns on YouTube and across Google's network where it runs.

Video users are not simply newer advertisers. Among advertisers with a complete ad history, those with a video ad have been advertising for a median of 388 days, close to the 419 days of those without one. What separates video users is the size of their advertising program, not how long they have been at it.

If you only run search text ads, you are in the majority, and that is also the opportunity. Two in three advertisers have no video, so a business that adds it reaches people on YouTube and across Google's network with far less competition from its direct rivals. Short, simple videos shot on a phone work for YouTube and for Google's automated campaign types that mix formats.

Budget for a steady supply of new video rather than one polished spot. With a median life of 76 days against 370 for text, video needs fresh cuts every few months to keep performing. A youtube advertising agency can plan that production schedule alongside your search campaigns so both formats support each other.

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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-ads-video-creative-share">Video Makes Up 9.9% of Google Ads vs 70.2% for Plain Text Ads - Suff Digital</a></p>

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