Google brings AI updates to Search and YouTube in Southeast Asia
At the Google Marketing Live event in Singapore, Google announced new updates to its AI tools across Search and YouTube. The updates are intended to help marketers keep up with changes in how people find and interact with content online, particularly as more users turn to voice, video, and visual search instead of typing.
Search is no longer just about typing words into a box. More users now ask questions using photos, voice, or a mix of formats. Google says tools like Lens, Circle to Search, and AI Overviews are helping people search in new ways, with Lens alone handling more than 100 billion visual searches this year—about one in five showing commercial intent. Younger users, especially Gen Z, are also using Circle to Search to start more than 10% of their searches.
Google says it now supports over a billion shopping-related searches a day worldwide. In Southeast Asia, Gen Z users are driving more activity on Search than any other age group. This shift opens up new ad opportunities, especially for businesses looking to meet users earlier in their decision process.
YouTube stays strong in Southeast Asia
YouTube remains the most-watched video platform in Southeast Asia and continues to see high usage across generations. Independent surveys suggest users in countries like Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines trust YouTube creators more than those on other platforms.
That trust appears to translate into stronger business results. Google shared figures showing YouTube ads deliver more return on investment than traditional TV in Southeast Asia—4.1 times higher in Indonesia, 2.3 times in Thailand, and 2.9 times in Vietnam. YouTube also outperformed other social platforms in ROI comparisons.
New AI tools for marketers
Google outlined several upcoming tools that aim to simplify campaign management and improve performance using AI. These include new ways to generate ads, find audiences, and fine-tune campaigns without needing as much manual input.
- Ads in AI Overviews: These are summaries that appear above standard search results. Google is now expanding ad slots in these summaries to desktops and mobile devices in selected English-speaking markets, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia later this year.
- Asset Studio: A new Google Ads workspace that uses generative AI to help marketers create many versions of ad visuals and videos using models like Imagen and Veo.
- AI Max for Search: This tool uses Gemini models to generate headlines and match ads to searches without depending on long lists of keywords. Shopee ran a five-week test with it in Southeast Asia and saw conversions double, along with a 49% increase in ROI.
- In Malaysia, telco Maxis used AI Max for Search to find new postpaid customers. The tool picked up on long-tail and multilingual queries that traditional keyword targeting had missed—including Chinese-language searches. Aileen Soo, Head of Discovery at Maxis, said the tool helped them match or beat their regular click-through rates with very little manual setup.
- AI Mode: A new setting in Google Search that supports longer, more complex queries using multimodal input. It allows follow-up questions and provides links to the web. Google plans to begin testing ads within AI Mode in the US soon.
- YouTube Creator Partnerships Hub: A tool inside Google Ads that helps brands find YouTube creators to work with. Marketers can search by category or trend and view engagement and audience insights before reaching out. The tool is already available in Singapore and Indonesia, with other markets to follow.
- Agentic AI features: These are built into Google Ads and Analytics to help automate tasks like writing keywords, adjusting creative assets, or generating reports. The system learns from existing landing pages and performance data to offer suggestions or handle basic campaign management.
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