Google Advances AI in Advertising and Digital Commerce
Google has introduced a series of AI-driven tools aimed at helping businesses connect more effectively with their customers. These innovations reflect how AI is reshaping advertising and digital commerce, especially in fast-growing digital markets.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, digital growth is surging, making AI adoption essential for businesses to succeed. Kabelo Makwane, Google Country Director for South Africa, highlights that these new tools will empower South Africa’s business community to seize fresh opportunities and achieve growth goals.
Key Innovations Introduced at GML 2025
Ads in AI Overviews and New AI Mode Ads
AI Overviews provide AI-generated summaries at the top of Google Search results. In markets like the US and India, these overviews have increased Google usage by over 10% for relevant queries. Users engaging with AI Overviews tend to search more frequently and report higher satisfaction, with commercial queries also on the rise.
Starting 21 May, Search and Shopping ads will appear in AI Overviews on desktop in the US. Later in 2025, this feature will expand in English to select countries including Canada, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, India, and others. Ads will also be tested within AI Mode—a conversational AI search experience for complex questions—with ads appearing below or integrated into AI Mode responses where relevant.
This is especially significant in regions like South Africa, where 55% of the online population has used generative AI in the past year, well above the global average.
Introducing AI Marketing Assistants
Google is launching AI assistants with advanced capabilities across its advertising platforms. These assistants simplify tasks and offer personalized support by learning from multiple inputs. They help with everything from campaign setup to report analysis.
A new "Marketing Advisor" will be available in Chrome, providing step-by-step guidance. Similar AI agents will soon come to Google Ads and Google Analytics, allowing marketers to spend more time on strategy and creativity.
New Features for Creating Visually Compelling Content
- Image-to-Video Transformation: This generative AI feature converts still images into dynamic videos using Google's latest Veo model. Available now in Merchant Center and coming soon to Google Ads, it enables brands to tell engaging stories without heavy video production.
- AI Outpainting: This technology expands videos beyond their original frames, filling in aspect ratio gaps with customized content. It’s currently used in Google Ads App campaigns and will extend to more campaign types later in 2025.
Centralising Creative Tools With Asset Studio
Google will soon launch Asset Studio within Google Ads, a centralized workspace for creative tools. It will combine existing features and introduce new options to generate images and showcase products in action, streamlining content creation.
New Ways for Advertisers to Measure and Understand Ads
Google is rolling out tools to improve ad performance analysis. This includes simplified incrementality testing to identify what drives real value in campaigns. Additionally, the new Data Manager platform helps businesses collect, store, and use customer data from multiple sources while prioritizing privacy.
These updates aim to give marketers clearer insights and better control over their advertising efforts.
With AI adoption growing and digital platforms expanding in regions like South Africa, these tools are positioned to support local businesses in achieving their digital goals.
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