Amid search wars, Google touts YouTube, display inventory to advertisers

This holiday season, awareness and brand dollars are likely at the top of Google’s wishlist — at least that’s what it seems based on Google’s communication with ad partners as of late. For the past six months, the tech behemoth has increasingly recommended spend on non-search, upper funnel channels like YouTube, display and discovery ads, according to seven agency execs Digiday spoke with for this story.

The recommendation stems from two fronts: marketers are increasingly recognizing the importance of awareness media to drum up shopper interest. But Google is also eyeing changes on the horizon as more shoppers start their product searches on AI-powered chatbots like Google Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot.

“As consumer behavior continues to evolve and people ask new types of questions, search and discover information in new ways, our AI-powered campaigns, including Demand Gen, are helping advertisers capture these new opportunities,” said a Google spokesperson.

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