Marketing minus Mad Men

WITH A FRESH WAVE OF AI FEATURES, GOOGLE IS REIMAGINING THE AD FUNNEL

- GEETIKA SRIVASTAVA

ON ANY GIVEN day, an average consumer would watch a random Shorts video on YouTube, search for the website of the brand embedded in it, scroll through the bouquet of offerings, and make a purchase, all without leaving Google territory.

This increasingly linear journey of the consumer makes Google's AI-led suite of ad tools so compelling.

Google isn't hiding that it knows this. On Thursday it rolled out several new AI-powered features for its ad ecosystem in India, structured around four key pillars: creative, performance, discovery, and agentic tools.

The ambition is clear: To be the only platform present across all four behaviours shaping the digital consumer—searching, scrolling, streaming, and shopping.

"While many platforms offer reach, only Google and YouTube can help brands be present across all four of these behaviours," says Roma Datta Chobey, managing director, digital native industries, Google India.

Google will help the buyer in brand discovery, and help the seller with customization and measurement.

It is rolling out ads in AI Overviews, Shoppable CTV, and a Shoppable YouTube Masthead.

Shoppable CTV lets users engage with products directly from the big screen.

This is key for YouTube, which has been India's most-watched CTV platform for the past 12 months.

The agentic capabilities in Google Ads and Analytics offer AI assistants that help set up and optimize campaigns with minimal manual effort.