Google launches new AI marketing tools to supercharge business growth in SEA
The announcement reaffirms Google's commitment to equipping marketers in Southeast Asia with tools that meet today's consumer behaviours: visual, voice-driven, and increasingly complex.
Southeast Asians turn to Google and YouTube not just to find information, but to explore, discover, and decide. With over 5 trillion searches annually and more than 1 billion daily shopping journeys, Google Search is rapidly evolving into an intelligent, multimodal assistant—powered by AI tools like Google Lens, Circle to Search, AI Overviews, and the new AI Mode.
YouTube, the region's #1 video platform, continues to be a powerhouse for brand discovery and business impact. It reaches more daily users across all generations than any other video platform and, importantly, delivers over 2X ROI compared to linear TV in key markets like Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. YouTube also outperforms platforms like Meta and TikTok in ROI, thanks to its trusted creators and broad audience reach.
A New Generation of AI Tools for Marketers
Google's latest innovations span the entire marketing funnel—from creative production to predictive performance—bringing smarter, more personalised tools to marketers across Southeast Asia.
Sapna Chadha, Vice President of Google Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier, said, 'As consumer journeys grow more complex and marketers face growing demands, our new AI tools offer speed, precision, and scale. These innovations allow businesses—big or small—to predict trends, reach the right audiences, and unlock performance with less manual effort.'
Highlights from Google Marketing Live SEA:
Ads in AI Overviews
AI Overviews is now the world's most used generative AI product, with 1.5 billion users worldwide. It helps answer complex queries through concise summaries and follow-up suggestions. Now, Google is introducing Ads in AI Overviews, offering brands the ability to appear in these smart summaries—right at the moment of curiosity and consideration.
Later this year, Ads in AI Overviews will launch in English in Malaysia, along with Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. This will give local businesses new high-impact ad placements integrated into users' search experiences.
Asset Studio
This new feature in Google Ads uses generative AI to help marketers instantly create and customize visuals and videos using Google's advanced models like Imagen and Veo. It enables infinite creative variation, letting brands adapt content for different audiences and platforms with ease—speeding up campaign production and testing.
AI Max for Search
AI Max is a breakthrough tool that replaces manual keyword targeting with smart, intent-based matching. By analyzing your website and ads using Google's Gemini models, AI Max automatically generates high-performing headlines and matches ads to long-tail, voice, or image-based searches.
Malaysian telco Maxis piloted AI Max for Search to great success—reaching new customers through multilingual searches, including Chinese, and delivering ads that aligned precisely with user intent.
'We love how AI Max for Search expanded our Search reach with long-tail and multi-language terms, matching or beating our manual keyword click-through rate – all with just a checkbox,' said Aileen Soo, Head of Discovery at Maxis.
Regional brands are also seeing success—e-commerce giant Shopee reported 2X conversions and 49% higher ROI during a five-week trial across Southeast Asia.
AI Mode
Google's most advanced search experience yet, AI Mode, supports deeper reasoning, multimodal input, and follow-up interaction. Users are asking longer, more complex questions, and Google will soon test integrating ads within AI Mode responses in the U.S.—offering marketers even more high-quality touchpoints.
YouTube Creator Partnerships Hub
Brands can now use this new AI-powered tool to easily discover and collaborate with YouTube creators based on keyword, topic, or trend. The Hub includes audience analytics and lets marketers turn creator content into measurable ads. Already live in Singapore and Indonesia, the Hub will soon expand to more Southeast Asian markets.
Agentic AI in Google Ads & Analytics
Google is also adding agentic capabilities—smart assistants that work with marketers, not just for them. In Google Ads, Agentic AI can suggest real-time optimizations, generate creatives, and manage campaigns based on performance data. In Google Analytics, it provides smarter, instant insights—saving teams time and surfacing opportunities faster.
Powering Malaysia's Digital Growth
The rollout of Ads in AI Overviews in Malaysia later this year will be a key milestone, opening new pathways for local businesses to connect with potential customers at the most valuable moment: the start of the decision journey. Combined with other innovations like AI Max for Search, Asset Studio, and the YouTube Creator Partnerships Hub, these tools position Malaysian marketers to grow in a smarter, more agile way.
As AI transforms how people search, shop, and discover, Google is leading the charge—turning cutting-edge models into accessible, impactful tools for business success across Southeast Asia.
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