Google Discover Getting Video Ads As New Formats For Search And YouTube Shorts Arrive

Google Marketing Live is the company's annual advertising equivalent of I/O. Google announced several new shopping and advertising experiences for the 2022 edition, including Discover video ads, that end users can expect in the coming year.
SIA Team
May 24, 2022

Google has been testing ads on YouTube Shorts since last year, and the company announced today that it is “now gradually rolling that out to all advertisers around the world,” as well as how advertisers will be able to connect a product feed to campaigns for shoppable video ads.

A yellow “Ad” badge, a brief description, the advertiser’s name, and a large “Show Now” button will appear at the bottom. Another format shows a product carousel that can be slid through.

In addition to YouTube Shorts and TV, video ads will “soon” be available on Google Discover. They don’t appear to auto-play or start audio by default, as there is a start and unmute button. Hopefully, this advertising does not violate the existing option to disable “autoplay video previews” (Google app > Settings > General).

3D models of merchant products will also appear directly on Search, with Google claiming that “90 percent of Americans currently use, or would consider using, AR for shopping.”

Meanwhile, in the United States, Google Search will receive “new, highly visual Shopping ads” later this year. Users can swipe through images that are accompanied by various product details such as price and rating, which are marked in the top-left corner. 

Loyalty program information is one such description that could appear:

According to Google, users will be able to promote their loyalty benefits to potential customers in the United States when they shop on Google in the coming months. Loyalty programs represent a meaningful relationship between users and their customers, and they will soon be simple to integrate with Google Ads.