As a global leader in SEO, content marketing, and data analytics, Anastasia Braitsik has a unique vantage point on the evolving digital advertising landscape. With Google constantly updating its platforms, her insights are crucial for agencies and advertisers navigating these changes. We sat down with her to discuss the recent rollout of Performance Max channel reporting at the MCC level, exploring what this means for efficiency, transparency, and the future of the platform. The conversation delves into the practical shifts in workflow for agencies, the strategic insights that are now within reach, and what this development signals about Google’s direction with its increasingly automated campaign types.
The new MCC-level Channel Performance report is described as a major efficiency gain for agencies. Could you walk us through the old process of analyzing PMax channels across accounts and contrast it with the new, streamlined workflow this report enables?
Honestly, the old process was a significant drain on resources and a real headache for any agency managing a large portfolio. You had to manually log into every single client account, one by one. For each account, you’d navigate to the PMax campaign, pull the channel performance report, and then export that data. The next step was stitching all of these individual reports together in a spreadsheet or data studio, just to get a basic, high-level view. It was incredibly tedious, time-consuming, and prone to human error. This new MCC-level report is a breath of fresh air; it completely transforms that workflow into a single, unified view, delivering that “major efficiency gain” the industry has been asking for.
With this cross-account view of channels like Search, Display, and YouTube, what specific metrics will you prioritize? Can you share an example of a strategic insight an agency might uncover now that was previously hidden or difficult to find?
The immediate priorities will be analyzing spend allocation versus conversion volume across the entire client portfolio. We can now instantly see where PMax is investing budget—whether it’s heavily leaning on Search, YouTube, or Display—and how that correlates with results across different industries or business types. For example, an agency might manage ten different e-commerce clients. With this report, they could suddenly spot a portfolio-wide trend that PMax is driving surprisingly high-value conversions through the Discover channel for apparel clients, but not for home goods clients. That’s a powerful, strategic insight that was nearly impossible to see before without hours of manual data crunching. It allows us to have much more informed conversations about budget and strategy at a macro level.
The article calls this a step toward making Performance Max less of a “black box.” In practical terms, how does this specific channel-level data increase transparency, and what key aspects of PMax do you feel still lack the clarity advertisers need?
This is a significant step forward because it answers the most fundamental question advertisers have: “Where is my money going?” For a long time, PMax felt like you were just handing your budget to Google and hoping for the best. Now, seeing the breakdown across Search, Shopping, YouTube, and the other channels provides a foundational layer of transparency. It helps build trust and allows for better analysis. However, the black box isn’t gone entirely. We can see where the money went, but we still don’t have full clarity on why the algorithm made those allocation decisions. We also lack granular asset-level reporting within those channels at the MCC level, so we don’t know exactly which creative or copy is driving performance on Display versus YouTube across our accounts.
Looking ahead, the article mentions watching for deeper metrics or export options. What specific data points or reporting functionalities, beyond what’s currently available, would be the most impactful for Google to add to this MCC-level report?
The most impactful addition would undoubtedly be asset-level reporting layered onto this channel view. Imagine being able to see, from the MCC dashboard, that one specific video creative is the top performer on YouTube across five different accounts. That kind of insight is a game-changer for creative strategy at scale. Beyond that, more robust export options are critical. Agencies rely on third-party dashboards and BI tools, and the ability to easily pull this MCC-level channel data via an API would allow for much deeper, customized analysis and reporting automation. Finally, having more granular conversion data, like cost-per-acquisition breakdowns per channel across the entire MCC, would be incredibly valuable for strategic planning.
What is your forecast for Performance Max reporting? Do you predict Google will continue this trend of opening up the “black box,” and what major reporting feature do you think we might see next?
I am optimistic that Google will continue this trend. The pressure from agencies and large advertisers for more transparency is significant, and features like this demonstrate that they are listening, even if the pace feels slow. The “black box” approach is hitting a ceiling of tolerance in the industry. I predict the next logical and most-requested step will be the introduction of more granular asset-level insights within the MCC view. Being able to see not just which channel is working, but which specific creative asset is driving that performance across your entire client base, is the next frontier for optimizing PMax at scale.
