Google Tests AI-Animated Video From Static Images in PMax

Google is running a quiet test inside Performance Max that converts static product images into short AI-animated video clips. The feature appears at the asset group level, where advertisers manage their creative assets, and requires no separate video upload or production work.

The animation is generated automatically from existing image assets. Advertisers who have access to the test will see the option when editing asset groups inside an active PMax campaign.

Video has always been a gap for many PMax advertisers

Performance Max campaigns are designed to serve across Google's full inventory, including YouTube, which requires video. Google has consistently flagged video as a quality signal inside PMax, meaning campaigns with video assets tend to perform better than those without.

Despite that, a significant share of advertisers run PMax without any video creative. The most common reason is budget: producing even a basic video requires time and resources that many smaller advertisers or direct-response teams do not have allocated.

This feature could address that gap directly. Rather than asking advertisers to create video from scratch, Google generates it from assets they have already uploaded.

Asset group controls remain in place

The feature is applied at the asset group level, not the campaign level, which gives advertisers meaningful control. If an advertiser runs multiple asset groups targeting different audiences or product lines, they can enable the AI video feature in some groups and not others.

Advertisers can also remove AI-generated assets from rotation the same way they manage any other asset in PMax. Google does not lock assets in place once they are generated.

Part of a larger AI creative push inside Google Ads

This test fits a pattern Google has been building toward over the past year. The company has expanded AI-assisted creative tools across several ad products, including image generation in Demand Gen, Veo 3 integration in Asset Studio, and automated asset suggestions inside Search campaigns.

PMax has been a consistent target for these additions. Google has framed PMax as the product where its automation runs deepest, and creative generation is the next layer it is building out.

The animated video feature has not been officially announced. Advertisers who do not currently see it in their accounts should expect a broader rollout if the test produces positive results.