Performance Max was created to be the set-it-and-forget-it automation play Google dreamed up. But, five years in, the only way PMax works is when you actively guide it, and it literally drains budget when you treat it like a self-managing campaign. The hybrid strategy, running Performance Max alongside Standard Shopping rather than replacing it, is proving to be the path forward and producing the most consistent results for DTC and ecommerce brands right now. If your current setup is a single PMax campaign covering everything with a return on ad spend target you set 90 days ago, this is worth reading carefully. Where PMax Actually Stands Right Now A 2024 study by Optmyzr across 24,702 Performance Max campaigns found that 82% of advertisers were running PMax alongside other campaign types. And PMax consistently underperformed those other campaigns when they competed for the same traffic. That tells you a lot about how the campaign type actually behaves in a real account versus how it is positioned.…