Google Launches AI-Powered Advertising Tools in India
Google has introduced a suite of AI-powered advertising tools in India, following its debut in the U.S. back in May. The move comes as the repeal of India’s “Google tax” has made the South Asian market more appealing to global tech firms looking to sell online ads.
In March, the Indian government scrapped its 6% levy on digital advertisements, effective in April, in response to trade concerns raised by the Trump administration. The levy was criticized by the United States Trade Representative as “discriminatory and unreasonable,” as domestic companies were exempt. The repeal of this tax is expected to reduce costs for tech giants like Google, Meta, and Amazon.
Google recently hosted a local version of its Marketing Live event in India to showcase its AI-powered tools for Indian marketers. Among these tools is “Generated for You” within Product Studio, which utilizes AI to identify relevant content opportunities across shopping catalogs and pre-generates images and videos that merchants can easily publish across Google platforms. Another tool introduced is Smart Bidding Exploration in search campaigns, an opt-in feature that uses AI to identify new, qualified leads that merchants may have overlooked.
Google’s Vice President for Global Ads, Dan Taylor, highlighted the new agentic capabilities in Google Ads and Analytics, stating that these tools can learn from various advertising inputs to help businesses achieve their goals more effectively.
One of the notable additions is AI Max for Search Campaigns, designed to improve search ad campaign performance by identifying relevant and high-performing search queries based on brands’ landing pages, existing ads, and keyword lists. During early testing, Indian online marketplace Cashify saw a 15% increase in conversions and a 12% reduction in customer acquisition costs after deploying AI Max.
In addition to these features, Google announced that ads will soon appear on AI Overviews in India and introduced shoppable connected TV ads on YouTube in the country. YouTube’s masthead on mobile will also begin serving ads in India.
Roma Datta Chobey, managing director of Digital Native Industries at Google India, shared that YouTube on connected TVs has been the most-watched streaming service on television in India, with YouTube Shorts also gaining significant traction. As a growing digital advertising market, India is expected to reach nearly $7 billion by the end of 2025, according to a recent Dentsu Digital Advertising report.
Google has reaffirmed its commitment to the Indian market, citing its large user base and consistent growth in ad revenues. In fiscal year 2024, Google’s gross ad revenue in India increased by 11% year-over-year, reaching â‚ą312.21 billion ($3.6 billion), with net advertising revenue rising by 18% to â‚ą27.43 billion ($320 million).
