Google rolls out AI Max, Retention Mode, & creative tools for Indian advertisers

 At the India edition of its annual Google Marketing Live event, Google unveiled a series of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools aimed at transforming advertising strategies for Indian businesses. The announcements underscored Google’s focus on helping marketers anticipate, rather than react to, consumer behaviour in a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.

According to Google, 80% of Gen Z in India uses Google Search for shopping, discovery, research and decision-making. The new launches are intended to make this journey more interactive and intuitive, as AI increasingly becomes central to the consumer experience.

Roma Datta Chobey, Managing Director – Digital First Businesses, Google India, said: “As consumer behaviour continues to evolve, with people searching, streaming, scrolling, and shopping across multiple screens, purchase journeys have become increasingly non-linear and complex. To help marketers navigate this landscape, our latest launches unlock further enhanced capabilities in scaling creative capacity with AI, delivering relevant messages at the right moments, and driving greater precision. Google’s full stack of AI-powered advertising solutions, gives marketers new opportunities to drive profitability and deliver outcomes with unmatched efficiency.”

Product and feature launches

Creative AI with “Generated for You” - Later this year, Google will launch a new feature called “Generated for You” in Product Studio. The feature uses AI to identify relevant products from a merchant’s catalogue and automatically generate images and videos that match brand identity. It also analyses trends to suggest campaign concepts and seasonal promotions. Google stated that advertiser adoption of AI-generated creative tools has increased by over 250% in the past year.

Performance-Driven Campaign Enhancements - Several updates were announced to improve campaign performance and reduce effort:

AI Max for Search- This is now available in India. The feature enhances existing search campaigns using AI that analyses landing pages, ads and keywords to optimise delivery. Cashify tested the feature and saw a 15% increase in conversions.

Performance Max (PMax) Retention Only Mode- Currently in beta, the feature allows advertisers to optimise campaigns exclusively for re-engaging existing customers across app and web platforms. Swiggy used this feature to reduce re-engagement costs by nearly two-thirds.

Smart Bidding Exploration - Described as Google’s most significant update to bidding in over a decade, this feature helps advertisers identify previously untapped conversion opportunities. Campaigns using the feature saw an average 18% increase in unique search query categories with conversions.

Search and YouTube features

Ads in AI Overviews - This will roll out later this year in English across mobile and desktop in India. The ads will appear directly within AI-generated overviews when they are contextually relevant to both the search query and the AI-generated response. According to Google, AI Overviews are used by more than 1.5 billion users each month, with over 10% growth in eligible queries in key markets such as India and the US.

Shoppable Connected TV (CTV) and YouTube Masthead Enhancements - A new shoppable format for CTV will allow viewers to interact with ads using features like QR codes and “send to phone” links. The YouTube Masthead, the platform’s most prominent ad space, will now be shoppable on mobile, enabling brands to promote new product launches and drive engagement during high-traffic periods.

Measurement and Planning Updates - To simplify measurement and provide actionable insights, Google announced two updates to Meridian, its open-source Marketing Mix Model (MMM) tool:

  • Marketers will be able to access key metrics like reach and frequency more frequently through an API via the MMM Data Platform.

  • A dynamic scenario planner is being added to help marketers model and adjust cross-channel spend more effectively.

Google Ads and Analytics

Google plans to introduce agentic AI features across Google Ads and Google Analytics globally. These assistants will guide advertisers through onboarding, campaign setup, reporting and troubleshooting. In Google Ads, the agent will recommend keywords, audience strategies and ad creatives. In Analytics, the assistant will proactively surface insights and simplify data exploration through visuals.

The announcements come as Google continues to expand its use of generative AI across its product suite. The tools are intended to help Indian marketers improve creative efficiency, campaign accuracy, and measurable outcomes at scale.

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