Google has recently officially launched a new set of AI advertising tools in India, aimed at helping local businesses improve the effectiveness of their online ads. This tool was first introduced at an event in the United States in May this year, and with the Indian government's removal of the "Google tax" in April, this market has become more attractive for global technology companies.
The "Google tax" refers to a 6% tax imposed by the Indian government on digital advertising. Previously, the U.S. Trade Representative criticized it, calling it discriminatory. The removal of the tax has reduced costs for tech giants such as Google, Meta, and Amazon, further driving their development in the Indian market.
During Thursday's "Marketing Live" event, Google introduced the localized version of its AI advertising tool. The "Generate for You" feature can identify relevant content opportunities from shopping catalogs, pre-generate images and videos using AI technology, which merchants can save or publish. Additionally, the feature called "Smart Bidding Exploration" uses AI to help merchants find new customers, who are often potential users that merchants have not previously targeted.
Google has also introduced new intelligent features in its advertising and analytics tools. These "smart" tools can learn from ad inputs, data sets, landing pages, and real-time ad performance to help merchants achieve their business goals. Google's AI Max tool is specifically designed for search ads, and it can identify more relevant and high-performing search queries by learning from brand landing pages and existing ads.
In early testing, Cashify, an Indian platform for second-hand electronics, reported that after using AI Max, its conversion rate increased by 15%, and customer acquisition cost decreased by 12%. In addition, Google announced that ads will be available in the AI overview in India later this year, further enriching the user's advertising experience.
In video advertising, Google has launched shoppable YouTube connected TV ads. YouTube has become the most popular streaming service on connected TVs in India, with billions of short video views. Research shows that 87% of Indian consumers watch YouTube or Shorts while shopping, which undoubtedly presents a huge opportunity for advertisers.
As India becomes the world's second-largest internet market, the growth potential of digital advertising continues to emerge. According to the latest Dentsu Digital Advertising Report, the Indian digital advertising market is expected to grow at a rate of over 20% per year, reaching nearly $7 billion by 2025.
Google stated that India is a dynamic digital ecosystem, which is one of the reasons they are accelerating the launch of these innovative tools. These new features include support for Hindi to better meet local market needs, and the introduction of more detailed urban and rural audience filters to help advertisers with precise media planning and reporting.