TLDR
Google will allow alcohol brands to use personalised targeting on YouTube from 30 October 2026, ending a long-standing ban on audience-based alcohol ads. Australian advertisers must satisfy both Google's updated rules and the ABAC Code's age-restriction requirements to stay compliant.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What Google changed and when
Google announced on 3 September 2026 that it will update its personalised advertising policy for YouTube inventory. "Starting on October 30, 2026, we're updating our personalized advertising policy for YouTube inventory to allow for alcohol where locally permitted," the Google Ads policy team said.[1] That ends a long period during which alcohol brands could place ads next to relevant YouTube content but could not follow a specific viewer around the platform using interest, behaviour or demographic data.
The update covers alcohol, alcohol-related products and alcohol alternative beverages. According to Google's policy announcement, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Poland are the only markets excluded, which puts Australia explicitly in scope.[1]
What advertisers can and cannot do
From 30 October, a Shiraz brand will be able to serve a pre-roll to a 35-year-old who has searched for wine reviews, or build a lookalike audience from its own customer list. Those are the standard audience-based tools YouTube offers every other eligible category, which alcohol brands have not been able to use until now.[1]
Google's own prohibitions stay in place regardless of the new permission. Google's policy continues to prohibit targeting based on sensitive interest categories related to alcohol, maintains restrictions on YouTube Kids and supervised child accounts, and does not permit personalised ads to be served to minors.[3] Alcohol-related health information, such as data suggesting a user has searched for addiction support, also stays off-limits as a targeting input.[1]
The ABAC layer Australian buyers must read alongside it
The Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code sets the conditions for using the new permission in Australia. ABAC requires marketers to use what it calls Available Age Restriction Controls, defined as technologies and methods available to restrict a marketing communication to adults, including age restriction, targeting, or affirmation technologies.[2]
That obligation existed before Google's September announcement. ABAC does not require a platform to age-restrict its entire service; it requires the advertiser to use whatever controls the platform makes available.[2] A media buyer who turns on personalised alcohol targeting on YouTube from 30 October without applying age-based controls to exclude minors would satisfy Google's minimum floor but breach the ABAC Code.
What agencies should do before the date
Alcohol advertisers and their agencies have until 30 October to update campaign settings, confirm that demographic floors are applied, and check that neither alcohol-related health data nor YouTube Kids inventory enters their targeting logic. Google's policy page, updated 3 September 2026, is the operative document on the platform side; the ABAC Code of June 2019 governs Australian conduct obligations.[2][1]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When exactly does the Google personalised alcohol advertising change take effect?
Which countries are excluded from the policy change?
What does the ABAC Code require Australian alcohol advertisers to do on YouTube?
Can alcohol brands target users based on health information related to alcohol?
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
