New PMax Feature: this will help you find hidden budget leaks & scale smarter

Google Ads Finally Shows Where Your PMax Budget Really Goes.

 For years, Performance Max has been a black box, you set a budget, and Google decides how to split it across Shopping, Search, Display, YouTube, and Discovery. 

Now, Google has introduced a “Share of Cost” toggle in PMax reporting.

 And if you’re running $30K–$500K+/mo in ad spend, this is more than a nice-to-have, it’s a scaling lever.

Here's what's new:

• Share of Cost Toggle: this reveals the exact percentage of your PMax budget each channel or placement consumes.

• Found in Cost Slider: turn it on, and see your budget distribution in real-time.

• First spotted by Thomas Eccel, Head of Google Ads at JvM IMPACT.

This is why it matters for Scaling:

Budget distribution in PMax isn’t random but it’s rarely perfect.

Until now, you couldn’t see if 40% of your spend was sitting in low-ROAS Display while YouTube Shopping retargeting was starved.

Here’s what this unlocks for DTC brands:

1. Cost transparency: Finally see where every dollar goes.

 2. Optimization insights: Compare spend share to conversion share to find waste.

3. Scaling opportunities: Shift budget into underfunded, high-ROAS placements without increasing total spend.

 Here's a quick example:

We recently reviewed a $200K/mo PMax account for a DTC apparel brand:

• 37% of budget was going to Display placements at 0.8 ROAS.

• YouTube Shopping retargeting was converting at 7.3 ROAS… but only getting 9% of spend.

By reallocating budget using this new Share of Cost view, we added $42K in monthly revenue with the same total ad spend. 

If you’re spending over $30K/mo on Google Ads, turn on the Share of Cost toggle and start reallocating budget where it actually drives revenue.

Small tweaks here can mean big ROI gains, especially when every dollar is being squeezed. 

Cheers, Patrick.

 CEO & Founder of Ad Lab.

 If you’d like our direct help to scale your brands with Google ads, we’re offering a limited number of spots to do just that.

Book a 30-minute Google ads calendly.com/ad-lab-io/free-audit

 We’ll give you:

• An in-depth audit of your account, where we'll uncover any weak spots that are silently wasting your budget and hidden revenue streams that you're not tapping into.

• A personalised 90-day roadmap to put you in the best position to scale your Google Ads profitably.

 This offer is for brands spending over $30k/month on Google Ads or making more than 1 million annually.

If you're below that, you don't need an agency to make a profit with Google Ads.