Businesses across South Africa are poised to strengthen their digital presence and drive real growth, following a series of AI innovations announced at Google Marketing Live (GML) 2025.
The annual Google showcase highlights the latest product developments in advertising and commerce.
Google Marketing Live updates
The updates announced at GML 2025 underline the expanding role of AI in marketing, with tools designed to help businesses better connect with customers and streamline their digital strategies.
“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,” said 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.”
Ads are coming to more markets
Among the biggest updates are ads in AI Overviews and the rollout of ads in AI Mode, a new conversational search experience designed to handle more complex queries.
AI Overviews have been one of its most successful Search features in the last decade.
The company processes over 5 trillion searches per year, and in markets like the U.S. and India, AI Overviews are driving a 10%+ increase in engagement for relevant queries.
Users interacting with these summaries are more satisfied and search more frequently.
This trend is good news for advertisers. Commercial search queries are on the rise, offering more touchpoints for brands to connect with new audiences.
Testing ad placements
Starting this month, Search and Shopping ads will appear in AI Overviews on desktop in the US, with broader expansion planned for later in 2025.
That includes mobile and desktop rollout in English across key countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Canada, and others.
Google is also testing ad placements in AI Mode responses where relevant.
This move is particularly relevant for South Africa, where 55% of internet users have engaged with generative AI tools in the past year, well above the global average.
AI assistants and creative tools
Google is also launching more advanced AI assistants to help businesses streamline marketing tasks. These “agentic” AI capabilities offer personalised guidance in areas like campaign setup and reporting.
A new Marketing Advisor is also being rolled out in Chrome, offering step-by-step help for marketers. Similar capabilities are coming to Google Ads and Google Analytics soon.
To support creative content generation, Google introduced:
- Image-to-video transformation: Uses generative AI to convert still images into motion video, powered by Google’s Veo model. Already live in Merchant Centre, it will expand to Google Ads.
- AI outpainting: Automatically expands videos to fill unused frame space across aspect ratios. It’s already available in App campaigns and coming to more formats soon.
- Asset studio: A new workspace in Google Ads to centralise creative tools and enable advertisers to generate visuals and showcase products easily.
Better measurement and data control
Google unveiled tools to help advertisers better assess performance and manage customer data.
- Incrementality testing: A simplified way to test what’s truly working in campaigns.
- Data manager: A central platform for collecting and securely managing customer data from various sources, with privacy safeguards built in.
These innovations are designed to help local businesses stay competitive, build resilience, and connect with audiences more effectively using AI.
