Open the Channel Prioritization card. The 50 percent line is a best-effort allocation.

Open Account settings and look for the Channel Prioritization card. If it isn't there, stop.

The 50 percent Display line is a daily allocation that works on a best-effort basis. It is not the cap in the AI summary at the top of Google's blog.

I fetched Google's help page, About channel prioritization and budget allocation, and the Ads & Commerce post, Guide your campaign spending with new priority and allocation features, on 19 October 2026. I didn't sign in to an ads account. The clicks below are the ones the help page names. If a label is missing in the account in front of you, that page already has a reason. Availability varies, and the rollout is still going.[1][2]

The summary is not the setting

Google's blog is dated Oct 14, 2026. Tal Akabas, Director of Product Management, Google Ads, is the byline. The deck says you can now sort ad networks by priority and put a budget on a secondary channel, so you can test it with a limit instead of leaving it off.[2]

Above the article, a block tells you to set the Google Display Network to "Low priority" with a 50% budget cap by February 2027, to keep your existing configuration. The page labels that block. Summaries were generated by Google AI. Generative AI is experimental.[2]

Don't brief that block.

The article under it is narrower. Starting in February 2027, for Search campaigns with the Google Display Network turned on, the current spend allocation setup will go away, and you may see a shift in channel spending. To keep the current configuration, set the Google Display Network to "Low priority" with a 50% budget allocation.[2]

That sentence does not say "cap." It does not say "by February 2027" as a deadline to click. It says the old setup goes away starting in February 2027.[2]

The help page adds the two words the blog body drops. To keep your current configuration, set the Google Display Network to "Low priority" with a 50% daily budget allocation, which operates on a best-effort basis.[1]

Daily. Best-effort. Those words are the brief.

Date it, then look at the account

The help page says that starting on October 15, 2026, these controls will progressively become available for Search, Shopping, Performance Max, and Demand Gen. Today is October 19. That start date has passed. The same page still says the rollout runs over the coming months, and that availability may vary by campaign type and timing.[1] The blog dates the announcement October 14 and says the same rollout, at the account, on the campaign, and on shared budgets.[2]

"You can now," in the deck, is not "your account has the card this morning." If Account settings has no Channel Prioritization card, write that down and stop. The help page tells you to locate the card. It does not name a second menu.[1]

I didn't open an account, so I'm not describing a badge the page doesn't name.

High spends first. Low is the other tier.

You set priority at the account, on a shared budget, or on a campaign. Two tiers.[1]

High priority means Google AI puts spend on those channels first, within your target if you use Target CPA or Target ROAS, before any remaining budget goes to Low. By default, every channel is High.[1]

Low priority means Google AI aims to spend there after the High channels. Use it for a channel you value less, instead of opting out.[1]

That order is not a promise on every bid strategy. If the campaign uses Target CPA, Target ROAS, or Target CPC and it is not limited by budget, priority levels generally don't change how spend is distributed. A budget allocation on a Low channel still applies.[1]

When Target CPA, Target ROAS, or Target CPC is limited by budget, High spends first, within the target, and Low can take what's left if it can still hit the target.[1] Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value, Maximize Clicks, Manual CPC, and Target Impression Share are simpler on that page. High spends the budget first. Whatever High can't spend goes to Low.[1]

A percentage of the daily budget, not of yesterday's spend

A budget allocation on a Low priority channel is optional. It is a share of the campaign's average daily budget, and the help page calls it a best-effort limit.[1]

Use the example on the page. A 5% allocation on a $1,000 average daily budget means Google AI will aim to keep that channel at or below $50 a day. That is not 5% of what the campaign actually spent yesterday.[1]

Best-effort is the next sentence. Google aims to stay inside the percentage. It does not guarantee it. Daily spend on that channel may go past the allocation. The allocation resets each day. Unspent and overspent amounts don't carry over. On a shared budget, the percentage applies to the shared budget as a whole.[1]

A 0% allocation on a Low channel means Google won't spend on that channel.[1] That is the off switch the page names. It is not the 50% line.

An account default applies to every eligible campaign of that type, unless you override it on the campaign or on the shared budget. If a campaign already spends more than the percentage you just set, you may see a shift after Save.[1]

Until February 2027, a Search campaign with the Display Network on, that has not set priorities or an allocation, keeps the current Display Expansion behavior.[1] Set priorities on that Search campaign before February 2027, and the new settings apply right away. They replace the old Display Expansion budget behavior.[1]

Don't Save a tier because the card was sitting there. On Search, that Save is the switch.

In February 2027, Search campaigns with Display Expansion enabled move onto these controls. The current spend setup goes away, and spend may shift between Google Search, Search partners, and the Display Network.[1] The keep-current path is Low priority plus a 50% daily allocation, best-effort. The blog's February sentence drops "daily" and "best-effort." Brief the help page.[1][2]

One February sentence is separate. As part of that change, the Display Network will no longer serve on Search campaigns that use Target Impression Share.[1] If that is the bid strategy, the page does not offer a 50% workaround. Write the bid strategy in the note. Leave the word "cap" in the summary.

Which campaign gets which row

The progressive start on the help page's channel list is October 15, 2026. The rollout line is still "over the coming months."[1]

Search gets Google Search, search partners, and the Display Network. Shopping gets Google Search and search partners. That Shopping list does not include Display, so don't hunt for a Display row there. Performance Max gets Google channels, search partners, and the Display Network. Demand Gen gets Google channels and the Display Network. Prioritization is available on Demand Gen. Budget allocation is not. Don't type a percentage there and call it a cap.[1]

On Performance Max and Demand Gen, Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, and Discover sit together as "Google channels." Search partners and Display can each get their own priority. The page mentions individual opt-outs on Search and Demand Gen. It does not give those clicks. I'm not adding them.[1]

Set this in Google Ads or Search Ads 360. API and Editor support is coming soon. You can't set it from a manager account. Open the client account, or set it on the campaign.[1]

Campaign total budgets work with these controls for Demand Gen only. On every other type, the settings won't apply to a campaign total budget.[1] Shared budgets need the same campaign type, and then the budget is one pool.[1] Custom experiments can use the controls. In those experiments every channel sits on the same priority tier, and a multi-campaign shared budget is not supported.[1]

A Low priority plus a percentage is the blog's path for testing a network you had turned off.[2] That is an option on the page. It is not a result, and it is not a reason to opt a channel back in before the card shows up.[2]

The clicks

Use the help page. I didn't click them in an account.[1]

If the card is missing, stop after the second step. Write "card not on Account settings." Don't keep hunting.[1]

Account level:

• Go to Account settings.[1]
• Locate the "Channel Prioritization" card.[1]
• Select the campaign type: Search, Shopping, Demand Gen, or Performance Max.[1]
• Assign High priority or Low priority to each available channel.[1]
• For a Low priority channel, a budget allocation percentage is optional. A 0% allocation means Google won't spend on that channel.[1]
• Click Save.[1]

Campaign level, when one campaign should override the account default:

• Go to the Campaigns page.[1]
• Select the campaign and click Settings.[1]
• Expand the "Channel Prioritization" card.[1]
• Select "Use campaign-level settings." If the campaign uses a shared budget, those settings apply to every campaign on that budget. You can switch back to the account default.[1]
• Assign a priority to each channel. The optional percentage, and the 0% rule, match the account steps.[1]
• Click Save.[1]

Read what is already set. The default is High on every channel.[1] If you want today's Display Expansion mix on Search to hold until February 2027, and you have not set these controls, leave them unset.[1]

If you want the keep-current path the help page names, set Display to Low and enter 50 as the daily allocation. Write "best-effort, not a cap" next to it.[1][2]

Skip the percentage on Demand Gen. On a non-Demand Gen campaign with a campaign total budget, don't brief Save as a spend change. If you are in a manager account, open the client account first.[1]

What to hand over

Hand them the card reading, not the summary.

Write the date, the campaign type, and whether you used the account card or campaign-level settings. A missing card is the whole note.[1] If you saved a percentage, write that it is a share of average daily budget, that it resets each day, and that spend may go past it.[1] A 50 on Display for Search means you followed the help page's keep-current path, not the summary's cap.[1][2]

If Target CPA or Target ROAS isn't limited by budget, say priority alone generally won't move the mix.[1] If the bid strategy is Target Impression Share on Search, keep that off the 50% line.[1]

You have a card, two tiers, an optional percentage, and Save. The summary is why someone forwarded the blog. It is not the setting.

Sources

[1] https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/18385152 — About channel prioritization and budget allocation, Google Ads Help. Fetched 19 October 2026.

[2] https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/channel-prioritization-budget-allocation — Tal Akabas, "Guide your campaign spending with new priority and allocation features," Google Ads & Commerce Blog, Oct 14, 2026. Fetched 19 October 2026.