Google says these advancements highlight how AI is transforming advertising and digital commerce, providing tools designed to help businesses connect with their customers more effectively.

"In Sub-Saharan Africa, the digital landscape is experiencing explosive growth, making digital presence and AI adoption no longer an option, but a necessity for businesses to thrive and connect with their customers effectively," says Kabelo Makwane, Google Country Director for South Africa. "These GML announcements reinforce our commitment to equipping South Africa's vibrant business community with cutting-edge AI tools to unlock new opportunities and achieve their growth ambitions."

According to Google, key innovations introduced at GML 2025 include:

Ads in AI Overviews and New AI Mode Ads AI Overviews

These overviews provide AI-generated summaries at the top of Google Search results. In major markets like the US and India, AI Overviews are driving over a 10% increase in Google usage for the types of queries that show them. People who interact with AI Overviews search more often and are happier with the results, with the volume of commercial queries also increasing. This presents significant opportunities for advertisers as people turn to Search to discover new brands and products.

Initially, Search and Shopping ads in AI Overviews will be expanding to desktop in the US starting  Wednesday, 21 May. Later in 2025, ads in AI Overviews will expand in English to select countries on mobile and desktop, including Canada, Australia, the Philippines, South Africa, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya and Indonesia.

This expansion, along with tests for ads within AI Mode — a more conversational AI search experience for complex questions — is intended to offer businesses more opportunities for consumer connection. Where relevant, ads may appear below and be integrated into AI Mode responses. This is particularly relevant in regions where AI adoption is growing, such as South Africa, where 55% of the online population has used generative AI in the past year, significantly above the global average.

Introducing AI Marketing Assistants

Google is launching advanced "agentic capabilities" across its advertising platforms, offering AI assistants that can simplify tasks and provide personalised support. These new tools learn from various inputs to offer tailored guidance and assist in executing tasks, from setting up campaigns to reviewing reports. This includes a new "Marketing Advisor" in Chrome, an AI agent offering step-by-step guidance. Coming soon to Google Ads and Google Analytics, these empower marketers to focus more on high-level strategy and creative innovation.

Google says it is introducing new features to help brands create visually compelling content more easily:

Image-to-Video Transformation

This new generative AI feature allows users to transform still images into dynamic videos. It's powered by Google's latest Veo model. This capability is already available in the Merchant Center and will be coming to Google Ads in the future. This helps brands tell powerful stories and grab shoppers' attention without needing extensive video production resources.

AI Outpainting

This generative AI feature intelligently expands videos beyond their original frames. It's the same technology seen behind 'The Wizard of Oz' at Sphere. AI outpainting is currently available in Google Ads App campaigns and will expand to more campaign types later in 2025. This allows advertisers to fill all remaining aspect ratio gaps with customised, native videos.

Centralising Creative Tools With Asset Studio 

Google is introducing a new workspace called Asset Studio within Google Ads, coming soon. This studio will centralise existing creative tools and offer new capabilities. Users can generate stunning images and showcase products in action.

New Ways for Advertisers to Measure and Understand Ads

New tools are being introduced to help advertisers better understand how their advertising performs. This includes making it simpler to conduct "incrementality testing," which helps businesses discover what truly adds value to their ad campaigns. Additionally, "Data Manager" is a new central platform designed to help businesses collect, store and use their customer information from different sources, all while keeping privacy in mind. These improvements aim to provide marketers with clearer insights and better results.

Google concludes that the innovations announced at GML 2025 are designed to support the digital economy in South Africa. With the increasing adoption of AI and the growth of digital platforms in the region, these tools are positioned to assist local businesses in their digital endeavours.

For more information, visit www.ads.google.com. You can also follow Google Ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, or on X. 

*Image courtesy of contributor