At the highly anticipated Google Marketing Live 2025 (GML), Google unveiled a suite of powerful AI-driven advertising tools designed to help businesses in Nigeria and across Sub-Saharan Africa scale their online presence and drive measurable growth.
With the digital economy rapidly expanding in the region, Google’s latest innovations aim to empower local entrepreneurs, brands, and marketers to connect more effectively with customers through smarter, AI-powered solutions.
“In Sub-Saharan Africa, the digital landscape is experiencing explosive growth. Digital presence and AI adoption are no longer optional—they’re essential for success,” said Olumide Balogun, Director, West Africa, Google. “These announcements reinforce our commitment to helping Nigeria’s vibrant business community unlock new opportunities and achieve their growth goals.”
Key AI Innovations from Google Marketing Live 2025
- Ads in AI Overviews Now Expanding to Nigeria
One of the most exciting updates is the integration of ads into AI Overviews, which are AI-generated summaries at the top of Google Search results. Already proven successful in countries like the U.S. and India—where they’ve led to over 10% increased usage—these AI Overviews will now support Search and Shopping ads in Nigeria later in 2025.
This expansion gives Nigerian businesses a fresh way to reach potential customers right where they search. As AI adoption grows locally, with 70% of Nigeria’s online population using generative AI, this feature is set to transform digital advertising in the region. - Introducing AI-Powered Marketing Assistants
Google is rolling out AI assistants to simplify digital marketing tasks across its platforms:
– Marketing Advisor in Chrome: Offers real-time, step-by-step support for setting up and managing campaigns.
– Coming soon to Google Ads and Google Analytics, these tools will help marketers focus more on strategy and creativity, while the AI handles the technical setup and performance analysis. - Creative Tools for Next-Level Content Creation
To support content marketing efforts, Google is launching visual storytelling tools that require minimal technical skills:
– Image-to-Video Transformation: Turn still images into short, engaging videos using Google’s latest Veo model.
AI Outpainting: Expand your video content beyond the original frame, ensuring it seamlessly fits all screen sizes and platforms.
– Asset Studio: A new creative workspace in Google Ads where brands can access tools to generate compelling images, showcase products, and streamline ad creative production. - Smarter Ad Performance Tracking
To help businesses measure what truly works, Google is improving ad performance analysis through:
– Incrementality Testing: Understand which ads drive conversions and add value.
– Data Manager: A privacy-focused platform for managing customer data from multiple sources, key for brands navigating today’s data regulations.
What This Means for Nigerian Businesses
With AI adoption growing and more consumers turning to online search and e-commerce, these tools are tailored for Nigerian entrepreneurs, SMEs, and digital marketers looking to scale operations and enhance visibility. Whether you’re running an online store, launching a campaign, or building a brand, these innovations make it easier to do more—with less effort and more precision.
