04 July 2025

Google Marketing Live 2025: AI Max, PMax transparency and YouTube ad upgrades explained

In summary

• Google unveiled a new suite of AI-powered ad tools, led by the launch of AI Max, alongside enhancements to YouTube, Demand Gen, and Performance Max.
• Google is reshaping the full-funnel ad experience to be AI-led and integrated across Search, YouTube and media buying, with greater automation and less reliance on manual targeting.
• So, what should you do? Align your data and media strategies with Google’s AI ecosystem. Leverage first-party signals, welcome modelled measurement, and prepare for a future where traditional keyword control is phased out.

Google’s message is clear: AI is ready, now it’s your move

At Google Marketing Live in Sydney, AI wasn’t framed as “the future”, it was positioned as the infrastructure now powering everything in Google’s ecosystem. From campaign planning to asset generation, targeting and attribution, the updates are built to automate complexity and optimise toward attractive performance results.

Google is aiming to cover every moment in the funnel, stream, scroll, search, shop, and now, even the AI-generated answer box. But unlocking the opportunity means rethinking how teams collaborate across media, data and creative.

You’ve heard of PMax and Demand Gen. Now meet AI Max

The hero announcement of GML was AI Max, a new campaign type that expands Google’s AI suite alongside Performance Max and Demand Gen.

AI Max is built to adapt to the way users now search, with broad, vague, conversational prompts. By integrating elements of legacy products like Dynamic Search Ads and automated assets, and layering in generative AI, it dynamically generates ad copy and expands targeting to match less specific search intent.

Internally, AI Max is seen as part of Google’s longer-term move to shift advertisers away from manual, keyword-based search strategies. While the product overlaps with existing features in PMax, it reflects a broader trend, that Google is building an ecosystem that optimises across the full funnel with minimal manual input.

AI Max may not feel like a game-changer yet, but it is designed to remove more of the heavy lifting and streamline the path from impression to conversion, especially for brands that don’t have mature or sophisticated search setups.

Interestingly, AI Max also signals what’s next for the interface itself. Ads will soon appear within Google’s AI Overviews, meaning we’re entering a phase where Google’s AI not only surfaces answers, but proactively recommends products. As AI Overviews become more embedded in the user journey, so too will shopping and ad content, with campaign types like AI Max ready to fill that space.

YouTube and Demand Gen move into the mid-funnel

YouTube is evolving into a mid-funnel performance driver, with new tools like product feeds, shoppable overlays, and AI-powered CTAs now integrated into Shorts and In-Stream formats.

Meanwhile, Demand Gen campaigns, now running across YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail, are proving their conversion power. According to Google, advertisers using both video and image assets saw a 20% lift in conversions, while Commonwealth Bank reported a 9x improvement in CPC performance compared to traditional social.

What’s important here is not just individual performance lifts, but the strategic repositioning: Google now offers a full suite of products that collectively span the entire user journey. Demand Gen plays the upper/mid-funnel role; PMax remains the conversion engine at the bottom; and AI Max expands coverage across broader search intent.

This integrated approach offers marketers a more cohesive alternative to traditionally fragmented media strategies, where social and search are siloed, and measurement is difficult to unify.

Performance Max gets more transparent… finally

Over 90 improvements have been made to Performance Max in the past year, including:

• Asset-level reporting

• Real-time previews

• Headline and image generation using GenAI

• Smart Bidding tools to uncover high-performing, underused categories

These updates aim to bridge a key gap: advertisers have long embraced PMax for results, but struggled with transparency and reporting.

Internally at Louder, it’s clear that many advertisers don’t mind the “black box” if performance holds up. But for clients with stricter attribution needs, particularly those using third-party measurement, lack of control has been a consistent friction point.

The transparency updates aren’t just about visibility, they’re about unlocking richer data for strategy decisions across the full funnel. It’s a move that helps advertisers better connect campaign outcomes with broader business goals.

First-party data and modelled measurement are table stakes

As cookies continue to deprecate, Google is embedding privacy-compliant, first-party solutions into every product. This includes:

• Customer Match and GA4 audience syncing

• Enhanced Conversions and Consent Mode

• A new Accessible Measurement suite launching by the end of 2025

Smart Bidding now incorporates first-party signals to improve conversion predictions, with Google reporting an 18% lift for advertisers testing new categories with this method.

This shift underlines a bigger theme: data strategy is no longer separate from media performance. To get the best out of AI-driven products like PMax and AI Max, businesses need a strong first-party foundation, and the infrastructure to support it.

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