YouTube and Google are turning discovery into decision-making: Dan Taylor

People don’t just scroll anymore—they stream, search, and shop, often at the same time, observes Dan Taylor, Vice President, Google Ads, as he opens a conversation on the shape-shifting nature of consumer behaviour. 

At a global media roundtable attended by e4m, Taylor delved into how Google Search and YouTube are evolving to meet these fluid patterns with AI-powered precision, offering businesses unprecedented potential to connect, convert, and scale.

According to Taylor, the streaming revolution has entered its living room era, and YouTube is at the heart of it. “Around the world, people are watching over a billion hours of YouTube content on their televisions daily. In APAC, connected TV viewership has more than doubled over the last three to four years—and in countries like Taiwan, it’s tripled.”

India’s streaming habits reinforce this shift. In fact, 82% of YouTube connected TV (CTV) viewers in India prefer it over linear TV. More than half of YouTube CTV watch time in the country is spent on content 21 minutes or longer. Brand strategists are responding in kind. Take Kia India, for example. During the 2024 festive season, they implemented a QR-code feature in their CTV campaign for the Seltos SUV. The result? A 3.6x increase in OTP-verified conversion rates, bridging the upper and lower funnel via screen and scan.

Taylor, speaking to exchange4media, said, “The most interesting thing I’ve seen with generative AI and YouTube is how it’s empowering creators. Tools like Veo and YouTube Studio enhancements are helping them make content that’s not only more engaging but also more effective for brands.”

Taylor emphasized that YouTube Shorts, which brings short-form video from mobile to TV, is changing the game for brands aiming to spark discovery. Viewership on TV screens has more than doubled in the past year. In India, 72% of surveyed users said YouTube Shorts ads influenced their purchase decisions—twice as effective as rival platforms. Beauty brand Tira leveraged a Shorts-only video reach campaign that led to a remarkable 228% average relative search lift.

But it’s not all about passive viewership. Google Search remains the world’s most dynamic intent engine, clocking over 5 trillion searches a year. “Fifteen percent of searches we see daily are brand new,” Taylor shared. “What makes AI so exciting is that it’s enabling people to ask new types of questions—and get answers in new ways.”

The secret weapon behind this evolution is AI Overviews, Google’s conversational search feature powered by its Gemini model. Taylor revealed that over a billion users across 100+ countries interact with AI Overviews monthly. Users who engage with it search more, are more satisfied, and visit a wider diversity of websites. “We’re even seeing an increase in commercial queries, as AI helps people reach purchasing decisions more intuitively.”

The visual frontier is also expanding rapidly. With Google Lens, monthly visual search queries have reached 20 billion globally, with one in four showing commercial intent. “Circle to Search,” a feature in Lens that allows users to highlight or tap on objects without switching apps, allows advertisers to meet consumer curiosity instantly. Shopping ads appear alongside these visual queries, offering brands a seamless point of entry.

India-specific use cases further underscore AI’s commercial clout. Puma India deployed Google’s Performance Max to reach in-market non-converting users. The result: a 35% lower cost per sale and a 66% higher ROI compared to other paid channels. Meanwhile, Zepto transformed its video production cycle from weeks to hours using generative AI, achieving 11% more efficient installs at twice the scale.

AI’s creative agility was also instrumental for a leading streaming service that used YouTube Shorts and CTV formats across show launches. Analysis via Google’s Ads Data Hub revealed that exposure to both formats boosted conversion rates by 200%. In another campaign, a food delivery platform used Dynamic Search Ads with Smart Bidding to acquire new users at 26% lower cost.

With Gen Z leading the charge—89% of them use Google for their shopping needs—Google and YouTube are clearly positioned not just as platforms, but as pivotal guides in the digital customer journey. In fact, 87% of Indian consumers said they discovered a new brand, product or retailer via Google or YouTube.

As the roundtable drew to a close, Taylor offered a final insight: “We’re continuing to invest so that marketers can make more meaningful connections with consumers, and people can make more meaningful connections with the brands they care about.”