Google has revealed upgrades to its current ad capabilities, focusing on app promotion and video advertising, at the Dmexco digital media conference in Cologne, Germany.

Universal App Campaigns enable developers to promote their apps across search, display, YouTube and Google Play in unified campaigns. New targeting features for these campaigns will enable advertisers to target consumers who are likely to take specific actions within an app, such as using a voucher or reaching a certain level in a game.

Previously, such behaviour-based targeting was limited to app installs, but with the new feature, marketers can choose the in-app activity that they wish to optimise for, and can use third-party measurement partners or Googles own analytics tools to measure those activities.

Once the in-app activity is defined, Googles machine learning algorithms will evaluate user behaviours and target ads at the most valuable users, based on the metric marketers have specified.

Hotel search app Trivago tested the new version of Universal App Campaigns, targeting users likely to click on a deal with in the app. As a result, the firm acquired customers who were 20 per cent more valuable to its business across both Android and iOS.

The other update came to a new type of TrueView ad, a YouTube format which enables consumers to skip the ad, but only charges advertisers when the ad is viewed in its entirety, or drives a download or purchase.

The new TrueView for action format allows advertisers to include custom call-to-action buttons in their video ads, providing consumers with specific options like “Get a quote” or “Book now”.

According to Google, customised call-to-action buttons are especially advantageous for brands that offer products or services with high consideration like financial services, automotive or travel, and can help move customers along the path to purchase faster than normal.