YouTube and Demand Gen ad and ad group status

Every ad group contains at least one ad:

• One YouTube & partners or Demand Gen line item contains…
  • One or more ad groups, where each ad group contains…
    • One or more YouTube ads

This structure means that status changes at the line item level will affect the statuses of the ad groups and ads within it. A status change at the ad group level will affect the ads within it.

For example, if you pause your ad group, the ads within it will not serve.

• About ad group status
• About ad status
• Check the status of an ad group or ad
• Troubleshoot low impressions or ads not serving

About ad group status

Ad group status reflects overall serving enablement, or whether or not your ad group is eligible to bid.

What each status means

• Eligible: The ad group can serve.
• Paused: You’ve temporarily stopped this ad group from serving and its ads aren’t running.
• Removed: You’ve removed this ad group and its ads aren’t running.
• Incomplete: You haven’t finished setting up this ad group and its ads aren’t running.
• Line item paused: The line item for this ad group is paused so its ads aren’t running
• Line item removed: The line item for this ad group has been removed so its ads aren’t running.
• Line item ended: The line item’s flight date has ended so its ads aren’t running.
• Line item pending: The line item’s flight date hasn’t begun so its ads aren’t running yet.

About ad status

The YouTube videos used in YouTube ads go through a creative review process to check that they comply with our content requirements. Making changes to a YouTube video generally won't impact the ad's approval status, unless the YouTube video is removed from the YouTube channel or the visibility is changed to private.

Review timeline

• After you create or edit an ad, the review process begins automatically. Each ad is assigned a status before and after it’s been reviewed.
• Most ads are reviewed in 1 business day, but complex reviews or reviews for new accounts and specific formats (image and video) can take up to 5 business days. It is recommended to wait for this duration, before reaching out to the support team about your ad review status.

What each status means

Before a review, your ad will have the following status:

• Under review: The ad is still being reviewed and can’t serve until the review is complete.

• Approved: The ad complies with our content requirements and can serve to any audience.
• Approved (limited): The ad can serve, but not in all situations because of policy restrictions, such as trademark use, gambling-related content, or negative imagery. This status may appear as "Eligible (Limited)" in the Policy Manager.

After review, your ad cannot serve if it has the following status:

• Disapproved: The ad cannot run because its content or landing page violates our content requirements. Learn more about fixing disapproved ads.
• Approved (limited all locations): The ad can't serve in your targeted locations because of policy restrictions and targeting settings.

Check the status of an ad group or ad

1. Navigate to an existing YouTube & partners or Demand Gen line item.
2. Click the Ad groups tab. You’ll see a table with all of your ad groups and the ads in each of them.
3. Check the messages in the Status column.

Troubleshoot low impressions or ads not serving

If your ads are marked as "Eligible" or "Approved," but you're seeing zero or low impressions, consider the following troubleshooting steps:

• Verify status: Ensure your line item, ad group, and ads are all set to "Enabled" and not "Paused".
• Wait for the learning phase: If you’ve recently changed budgets or bidding strategies, allow 5–14 days for the system to optimize.
• Broaden targeting: Check if overly restrictive geographic or audience targeting is limiting your reach.
• Check billing: Ensure there are no billing holds or unconfigured payment methods on your account.
• Policy requirements: For political ads, verify that all specific verification requirements for that policy are complete
• Kickstart a review: If ads remain eligible but don't serve after the review period (up to 5 business days), performing a small edit (such as adding a period to a text field) and saving can often kickstart a fresh review.