9 July, at Google Marketing Live Southeast Asia (GML SEA) in Singapore, Google announced a new generation of AI-powered tools on Search and YouTube designed to help brands and marketers stay ahead in an increasingly complex digital landscape. From transforming creative production to reimagining search ads, Google is turning AI into action—bringing smarter tools directly into the hands of marketers. 

Google and YouTube: Trusted channels for businesses in Southeast Asia

Every day, people turn to Google Search and YouTube to find information, discover new things, and get inspired. With over 5 trillion searches a year, AI is helping Search go beyond information to intelligence, allowing users to ask questions in different ways.

People now search using voice, images, and video—not just typed keywords. AI tools like Google Lens, Circle to Search, AI Overviews, and AI Mode on Search are opening new ways for users to explore and discover information faster. This shift is already delivering meaningful impact: Google Lens has grown 65% year-over-year globally, with more than 100 billion visual searches in 2025 so far—with one in five showing commercial intent. Circle to Search is also seeing rapid adoption, with younger users initiating over 10% of their searches with the feature.

Google also now facilitates over 1 billion shopping journeys every day around the world, with Gen Z emerging as the most active demographic on Search, driving more daily queries than any other age groups. This creates new opportunities for advertisers to connect with users throughout today’s fragmented consumer journey – from discovery to decision-making.

AI tools in Search are opening up new ways for users to discover information faster. Source: Getty Images

YouTube continues to lead the way in Southeast Asia—not just in viewership, but in delivering real impact for businesses. It’s the #1 video platform in the region, reaching more daily users than any other video platform. YouTube’s reach cuts across generations. In fact, more Gen Zs  in Southeast Asia watch YouTube than any other video platform. But what really sets YouTube apart is trust. Independent research from Kantar and MTM shows that in Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines users trust the views and opinions of YouTube creators more than those on other platforms. 

And when it comes to business results, YouTube consistently delivers. Across markets like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. YouTube drives more than 2X the ROI of linear TV –  specifically 4.1X in Indonesia, 2.3X in Thailand and 2.9X in Vietnam. It also outperforms other social platforms like TikTok and Meta – delivering 1.5X in Indonesia, 1.6X the ROI in Thailand, and 1.2X in Vietnam.

That’s proof that combining trusted creators, wide reach, and high relevance pays off—making YouTube an unmatched platform for brand discovery and growth in Southeast Asia.

YouTube has become an indispensable platform for brand discovery and growth in Southeast Asia. Source: Unsplash

Leveraging AI to help businesses to meet consumers where they are 

Digital advertising plays a crucial role in connecting curious consumers with businesses of all sizes.  The announcements at GML SEA detailed how Google is reimagining the future of advertising by delivering a roadmap of powerful, predictive tools designed to help marketers move from simply responding to the market to predicting it.

Product innovations highlighted at the event include: 

(1) Ads in AI Overviews: Now used by over 1.5 billion people worldwide, AI Overviews is the most widely used gen AI product in the world. It’s driving over 10% growth in applicable query types in major markets and has resulted in increasing volume of commercial queries. Ads within AI Overviews are now expanding to desktop in the US, and to mobile and desktop in select countries in English. 

Later this year, Ads in AI Overviews will roll out in English in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. This means more opportunities for businesses to show up right at that moment of relevance—when consumers’ curiosity is high and consideration begins.

Ads in AI Overviews. Source: Google

(2) Asset Studio: This new centralized workspace in Google Ads will use generative AI—including Google's advanced image and video models like Imagen and Veo—to help marketers create more valuable and helpful interactions by generating infinite variations of high-performing creative assets.

(3) AI Max for Search is a new AI-powered tool that helps businesses show up in more relevant search moments—without relying on a long list of keywords. It uses Google’s Gemini models to understand your website and ads, and automatically generates tailored headlines based on what people are really looking for. Whether someone types, speaks, or snaps a photo, AI Max helps ensure the right ad shows up—driving better results with less manual work.

Brands testing this are already seeing compelling results. Shopee, for example, ran a focused 5-week campaign experiment in  Singapore and Malaysia and saw 100% increase in conversions and a 49% higher ROI. 

AI Max for Search. Source: Google

(4) AI Mode: AI Mode is our most powerful AI search, with more advanced reasoning and multimodality, and the ability to go deeper through follow-up questions and helpful links to the web. Early testers are asking questions two to three times longer than traditional searches. We’ll soon begin testing relevant ads within AI Mode in the US, integrated into responses where it makes sense. This gives brands even more chances to show up in highly relevant, AI-powered moments.

Ads in AI Mode. Source: Google

(5) YouTube Creator Partnerships Hub: A new tool in Google Ads that makes it easier than ever for brands to discover and collaborate with YouTube creators. With smart search powered by AI, marketers can find creators by keyword, category, or trend—and view detailed insights like audience demographics and engagement before reaching out to the creator. Once a partnership is formed, brands can promote the creator’s content as ads and measure what’s performing best. It’s a one-stop shop to turn creator collaborations into real business results. The hub is now available in Singapore and Indonesia, with more markets coming soon.

(6)Agentic capabilities: Agentic AI is like having a supercharged assistant built right into Google Ads and Analytics. It doesn’t just support marketers—it works with them. By learning from your inputs like landing pages and performance data, Agentic AI can automatically generate, optimize, and maintain campaigns. In Ads, that means helpful features like real-time keyword suggestions and creative tweaks. In Analytics, it means instant, smarter insights. It's less manual work, and more time for strategy, creativity, and results.

Agentic AI is built into Google Ads and Analytics. Source: Google

“For years, we’ve been at the forefront of AI-driven advertising. As consumer journeys become more complex—and resources more limited—we’re equipping marketers with our most advanced models yet: more intelligent, more agentic, and more personalized. That means faster creative, wider reach, sharper insights, and better results. At today’s Google Marketing Live, we introduced new AI tools that span the entire marketing journey—from creative to performance, brand discovery, and agentic capabilities and showcased how brands in Southeast Asia are already unlocking real value with AI”, said Sapna Chadha, Vice President, Google Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier.