Demand Gen use_audience_grouped flag

[Gregory Gao]

Hello,

With reference to this doc: https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/remarketing/audiences

I am trying to create a Demand Gen campaign with useAudienceGrouped flag set to false, using the Java SDK, getting the following error:
GoogleAdsException@270 "com.google.ads.googleads.v18.errors.GoogleAdsException: errors { error_code { context_error: OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CONTEXT } message: "The operation is not allowed for the given context." location { field_path_elements { field_name: "operations" index: 0 } field_path_elements { field_name: "create" } field_path_elements { field_name: "audience_setting" } field_path_elements { field_name: "use_audience_grouped" } } } request_id: "MD5NSDZng3r-PpYb8unCQg" "

Wish to understand:
- Is it possible to set useAudienceGrouped flag as false upon campaign/adgroup creation?
- Is audience segment criteria (user list) supported for demand gen campaigns/adgroups?

Thank you.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thank you for contacting the Google Ads API support team. 

Based on the request Id, I understand that you are encountering an OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CONTEXT error while trying to create a demand gen campaign by setting use_audience_grouped as false. This error indicates that the operation is not allowed for the given context. Possible cause for it is using audience targeting with a campaign type that is not supported.

Please note that as per the documentation, if ‘use_audience_grouped’ is false, the campaign may use audience segment criteria and as per the Audiences document, Audience Segment targeting is supported for Display, Search, Video, Hotel, and Standard Shopping campaigns. Based on this, please find answers to your queries below:

• Is it possible to set useAudienceGrouped flag as false upon campaign/adgroup creation?

Answer: Yes, it is possible to set the ‘useAudienceGrouped’ flag as false while creating a campaign/ ad group for the campaign type which supports audience segment targeting.

• Is audience segment criteria (user list) supported for demand gen campaigns/adgroups?

Answer: No, audience segment criteria is not supported for demand gen campaigns/ ad groups.

I hope this clarifies your concern. Feel free to reach out for any  further concerns/ queries.

Thanks,
 

Google Ads API Team

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[2025-06-03 18:33:32Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!500Ht01re5Fx:ref" (ADR-00309734)