Google Rolls Out AI-Driven Marketing Tools in India After ‘Google Tax’ Repeal
Google has officially launched its AI-driven advertising tools in India, after a U.S. release earlier this year in May. The South Asian market is now even more appealing for multinational tech companies hawking online ads after the repeal of the so-called “Google Tax.”
In March, the Indian government canceled a 6% tax on digital advertisements — implemented in April — that was meant to address trade complaints the Trump administration raised. The U.S. Trade Representative had denounced it, saying it was “discriminatory and unreasonable” because it excluded domestic firms. Its absence jacks up operating costs for global tech titans including Google, Meta and Amazon.
On Thursday, Google held a regionalised version of its Marketing Live event and introduced these AI-powered tools for Indian marketers.
One such tool, “Generated for You,” accessible through Product Studio, finds content opportunities in shopping catalogs and then automatically suggests images and videos using AI. Those merchants can save or publish this content on Google’s platforms. Another tool, Smart Bidding Exploration for Search Campaigns, is thankfully an opt-in tool that expands current smart bidding strategies and seeks out new, high-potential leads that merchants might not regularly target or bid on.
Google also implemented new “agency” features in Google Ads and Analytics.
Dan Taylor, Google vice president of global ads, said in a virtual media roundtable:
“These agentic tools learn from advertising inputs like datasets, landing pages, creative assets as well as real-time campaign results to remove the guesswork out of the process of achieving business goals.”
The company also unveiled AI Max for Google Search Campaigns, which is designed to enhance campaign performance through the detection of even more relevant, high-performing search queries. It studies a brand’s landing pages, current ads and list of keywords.
During an initial trial of AI Max, Indian online market Cashify reported that it increased conversions by 15% and decreased customer acquisition costs by 12%.
Google also said that ads will start appearing on AI Overviews in India later this year.
The company has also launched shoppable connected TV (CTV) ads on YouTube in India. Meanwhile, YouTube’s masthead on mobile is now extended to advertisers in the country.
“In the past year, YouTube is now the most watched streaming service on connected TVs in India,” said Roma Datta Chobey, managing director, digital native industries, Google India.
Short videos on the platform have been watched trillions of times since they were launched in the country, she added, calling India a key market for YouTube Shorts.
Eighty-seven percent of Indian shoppers watch YouTube or Shorts, according to Chobey.
India’s digital advertising footprint has been growing fast as more of the country’s population comes online, making it the world’s second-largest internet market by users. A report released last year by Dentsu Digital Advertising estimated that the country’s digital ad market will grow by more than 20% annually to almost $7 billion by the end of 2025.
“India is a vibrant digital ecosystem. We have the most number of users trying and adopting our products, so that’s how we can bring these primarily to India so fast,”
— Chobey told TechCrunch in an interview when asked about the timing of the AI ad tools’ debut.
Google also told TechCrunch that all the new features it recently launched — such as AI Max for Search Campaigns, Smart Bidding Exploration, YouTube’s shoppable masthead and CTV ads, and Performance Max retention-only mode — now support Hindi to better the effectiveness of local campaigns.
Moreover, urban and rural audience filters at the state level have been launched for Indian advertisers to improve media planning, buying, and reporting.
India has been an important market for Google not just because it has a huge user base but also it is a market where the internet giant has consistently earned a large amount of ad revenue. In the FY24, Google’s gross ad revenue in India grew at 11% y-o-y to ₹312.21 billion ($3.6 billion) and net ad revenue grew at 18% to ₹27.43 billion ($320 million).
