Google has introduced a suite of new shopping and advertising solutions designed to help brands tap into Southeast Asia’s fast growing video commerce market and strengthen partnerships with content creators. The announcement was made at Google Marketing Live Southeast Asia in Singapore, one of the region’s largest gatherings of marketers, brands and advertisers.
The new solutions build on the growing adoption of Google’s AI powered Search features and YouTube’s creator ecosystem, giving businesses more ways to connect with consumers and drive purchases. According to Google, users across Southeast Asia who use AI Overviews or AI Mode report making decisions faster and with greater confidence through Search. Eighty two percent said Search’s AI features help them make decisions more quickly, while 80 percent said they feel more confident in their choices. Among Gen Z users, 86 percent said the AI powered experience helps reduce decision fatigue.
As Search usage reaches new highs, Google is combining the strengths of Search with YouTube’s extensive creator network to help brands reach high intent shoppers while enabling more seamless shopping experiences directly from video content.
Southeast Asia has become one of the world’s fastest growing markets for video commerce, with the sector expanding fivefold between 2022 and 2025. Video commerce now accounts for 25 percent of the region’s total e commerce gross merchandise value, reflecting the increasing influence of creator driven shopping experiences.
A major contributor to this growth has been YouTube Shopping’s Affiliate Program, which allows creators to tag products directly within videos, Shorts and live streams so viewers can purchase products without leaving the platform. Since its launch two years ago, more than six million videos across Southeast Asia have featured shoppable product tags. More than half of eligible creators have joined the programme, while total creator payouts have increased by more than 105 percent year on year.
Google also highlighted research showing that consumers increasingly rely on YouTube creators for product recommendations before making purchasing decisions. Independent surveys across Southeast Asia found that viewers place greater trust in YouTube creators than creators on other platforms, including TikTok and Meta.
To help businesses capitalise on this growing trend, Google introduced three new advertising solutions designed to connect product discovery with completed purchases.
The Commerce Media Suite aims to reduce the friction between viewing an advertisement and completing a purchase. Brands with marketplace storefronts can direct shoppers from YouTube advertisements straight to checkout pages while using real time shopping signals, such as search activity and shopping cart behaviour, to deliver more relevant advertisements. Google is currently piloting the solution with Shopee, with early results showing strong performance. During initial testing, Maybelline recorded a 7.4 percent increase in revenue while achieving a strong return on advertising spend.
Google also announced Creator Partnerships Boost, previously known as Partnership Ads. The feature allows brands to amplify a creator’s existing YouTube content by promoting it as paid advertising through the creator’s own channel. This enables brands to extend the reach of creator content well beyond organic audiences while helping creators generate higher engagement.
Completing the new lineup is Affiliate Partnerships Boost, a pilot programme that allows marketplaces and retailers to promote high performing affiliate videos as paid advertisements. The solution gives brands greater exposure for their products while creating additional commission earning opportunities for creators when advertisements result in successful sales. Southeast Asia is among the first regions globally to pilot the feature in collaboration with Shopee.
With these latest innovations, Google is expanding the connection between AI powered Search, YouTube’s trusted creator community and online shopping, giving businesses across Southeast Asia new ways to engage consumers as video commerce continues to reshape the region’s digital economy.
