Reach Planner in Google Ads
Reach Planner is the Google Ads tool for planning new YouTube and video campaigns before they run: how many people a budget could reach, how often, at what cost, and with which mix of ad formats. This guide covers access, creating a media plan, the audiences and formats it plans, the reach curve, the metrics, saving and sharing plans, turning a plan into campaigns, and what to do when it won't forecast, using Google's own help pages.
This guide is built from Google Ads Help: About Reach Planner, Create a YouTube media plan in Reach Planner, About suggestions in Reach Planner and Fix forecasting issues in Reach Planner. The ad formats themselves are in our YouTube video ads guide, and their sizes and lengths in our YouTube ads specs guide.
What Reach Planner does
Google calls Reach Planner "a Google Ads campaign planning tool" that plans "reach, views, and conversions-based video campaigns across YouTube and video partners sites and apps." You give it a location, dates, an audience and a budget; it forecasts reach, frequency, TrueView views, conversions and impressions, broken down by ad format, demographic and device. It can pick the formats and budget split for you, or you can build the mix yourself and compare versions.
Google says it is designed for "media planners who plan future brand or video campaigns". Forecasts are modelled on ad market trends and the historical performance of similar campaigns, are based on Google's unique reach methodology, and are updated weekly. They include co-viewing, meaning extra reach from people watching together on connected TVs.
It plans new campaigns. For existing campaigns with history, Google points to Performance Planner: its suggestions page says Performance Planner "is suitable for existing Demand Gen campaigns' performance based on their historical data. Use Reach Planner for new Demand Gen campaigns."
Access and availability
Open it under the Tools menu, Planning, Reach Planner. Google notes that it "isn't available in all regions as we gradually expand access to qualified Google Ads accounts", and suggests asking your Google Ads representative whether you can use it. Its help page lists the supported countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific; in some countries TV and YouTube population data aren't included in forecasts.
Creating a media plan
- Select the plus icon, then choose a country or region and a currency, and YouTube as the channel. A TV plan can be combined with YouTube using "Keep TV and add YouTube".
- Set the dates: 1 to 92 days.
- Set demographics: all people, or a specific age or gender. Targeting must be 18 or older; minors can't be planned for.
- Optionally pick a sub-location (state, city, TV or metro region, where available), audiences and YouTube Select lineups.
- Enter the budget.
- Choose the goal and ad mix: Awareness (efficient reach or efficient completions), Consideration (maximise views), Action (online conversions), or Create your own to pick formats, pricing and budgets yourself.
- Select View forecast.
The goal decides which metrics the plan page shows; you can still change formats and budgets there. For Action plans, Google recommends a conversion rate in line with past campaigns for similar conversions.
Formats, buying and pricing
Reach Planner plans the same buying methods as YouTube campaigns:
- Auction: you bid with a target CPM, CPV or CPA. This covers Video reach campaigns (bumper, skippable and non-skippable in-stream), Video view campaigns, Demand Gen, Target Frequency and video ad sequencing.
- Reservation: a set number of impressions at a fixed CPM, including Masthead and Premier Reach with YouTube Select lineups.
- Rate card: pre-set prices for special formats or YouTube Select placements.
Target Frequency plans take a weekly target of 2 to 4 or a monthly target of 4 to 8; how frequency caps work is covered in our frequency capping guide. You can also choose surfaces (in-stream, in-feed, Shorts), and Google measures mobile, desktop, tablet and connected TV. Forecasts with auction formats can reflect seasonal changes, because auction costs vary through the year.
Audiences
Audiences work much as they do in campaigns: demographics, affinity, in-market and life events, custom segments, your data (remarketing, Customer Match, YouTube users) and lookalike segments; our YouTube ads targeting guide explains each. A customer list can only be used in a forecast if it is at least 10 days old, has a membership lifespan of 30 days or more, and has between 10,000 and 700,000 users on display or video.
One trap: adding a lineup and an audience to the same campaign forecasts only the overlap between the two. Google suggests two separate campaigns in the plan to avoid restricting inventory.
The reach curve
The plan page shows reach against budget as a curve. Reach curves flatten as budget grows, because extra spend starts to build frequency instead of new reach. Google says the curve "doesn't represent the total YouTube population or available spend for your campaign"; its last point is the estimated reach of the campaign, not the whole reachable universe. The TrueView views curve is closer to a straight line. The conversions curve applies the conversion rate you give across its whole length; Google offers high and low suggestions and, for accounts with enough conversion data, a historical rate.
In the side panel you can set a target instead of a budget, such as on-target reach %, TRPs, average or weekly frequency, views or conversions, and the plan adjusts to it.
Key metrics
- On-target reach: people in your target demographics and location the plan is expected to reach. It includes visitors to the location, so it can exceed the census population.
- Average frequency: on-target impressions divided by on-target reach.
- TRP: on-target reach % times average frequency; 10% reach at a frequency of 1 is 10 TRPs.
- On-target CPM, cost per reach and CPP (cost per TRP).
- Additional reach and impressions: estimated extra from co-viewing on connected TVs.
- Conversions: forecast interactions times the conversion rate you enter.
Average frequency can come out higher than your frequency cap. Google explains that caps for signed-out viewers apply per device or browser, while Reach Planner counts unique people across devices. Google also stresses the forecasts don't "guarantee performance or outcomes"; ad quality, relevance and settings still decide the result.
Saving, comparing and sharing
Select Save, name the plan and select Save copy. A saved plan keeps its forecast for the chosen dates; when you reopen a plan that is still running you can refresh the forecast. From the plan page you can download a CSV with the detailed metrics, copy the plan to compare it with another version, and export a summary to Google Slides. Saved plans can also be shared.
Turning a plan into campaigns
Reach Planner doesn't create campaigns. Google says a forecast "assumes that each campaign has one ad group and one ad format", so create a separate campaign for each format in the plan, choosing to create a campaign without a goal's guidance. If the campaigns you build differ from the plan, reported results may differ from the forecast. Live reach and frequency then show in Google Ads' brand reports; for measured impact, see our Brand Lift guide.
When it won't forecast
Google's forecasting issues page says Reach Planner forecasts only when there is enough data, which usually means broader targeting. Common causes:
- Narrow targeting: widen audiences, locations or demographics on the line item.
- Custom segments: keywords Google doesn't recognise, or too few keywords; check the estimate in a draft Video campaign and fix the segment.
- Policies: alcohol and gambling ads can only be planned for countries that allow them, and HFSS food and drink ads need a self-declaration.
- Rate card: next year's rates may not be loaded yet, and date ranges spanning two years return no forecast.
How we use it
This is our own practice, not Google's guidance:
- We use it to set expectations before a first YouTube campaign: what a budget can reach in the client's area, and where the curve starts to flatten.
- We compare two or three saved plans (reach-led, views-led, conversions-led) and share the range, not one number.
- We enter a conversion rate from the client's own past campaigns when there is one, rather than the default.
- We build campaigns one format per campaign, as the plan assumes, and check results against the forecast after the first weeks.
If you want help planning a YouTube campaign, see our services.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't I see Reach Planner in my Google Ads account?
Google says it isn't available in all regions and is gradually expanding access to qualified accounts. Your Google Ads representative can tell you whether you can get access.
What is the difference between Reach Planner and Performance Planner?
Reach Planner plans new video campaigns from market data; Performance Planner forecasts changes to existing campaigns from their history. Google says to use Reach Planner for new Demand Gen campaigns.
How long can a Reach Planner forecast be?
Between 1 and 92 days. Google caps forecasts at 92 days to match its forecasting and reporting windows.
Why is my forecast frequency higher than my frequency cap?
Caps for signed-out viewers apply per device or browser, but Reach Planner counts unique people across devices, so one person can see the ad more often than the cap.
Does Reach Planner create the campaigns for me?
No. You create the campaigns in Google Ads, one per ad format, to match the assumptions behind the forecast.
For more on YouTube advertising, see our guides to YouTube Shorts ads and Demand Gen campaigns.