Google expands AI Search ads globally as core ad growth slows
TechCrunch Lauren Forristal ● Covered by 2 sources
Google is putting ads into its AI Search worldwide. It needs new revenue because search ad growth is slowing.
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, Lauren Forristal — read the original for the full story.
Summary, retelling and take written by AI under human oversight; images are AI-generated illustrations. How we work · Report an error
Google is pushing ads into its AI-powered Search products outside the U.S., turning generative AI into a new sales pitch just as the old one cools off. Alphabet said Wednesday that revenue hit $127.6 billion in the third quarter, up 25% from a year earlier, but the market still punished the stock: shares fell 8% after the results came out.
The problem is plain enough. Google Search revenue rose 12% year over year, yet that was slower than 17% in the previous quarter and 19% before that. So Google is leaning harder on AI Mode, where Philipp Schindler said the company is scaling “high-quality ads” to more users and queries and, for the first time, taking that monetization plan global.
That means ads in AI mode are now heading into international markets, alongside multi-turn ads and AI mode in the U.S. Google says early tests are encouraging. Sponsored product listings in AI Mode are seeing click-through rates comparable to organic listings, and user research suggests people see the ads as relevant.
The company has been laying the groundwork for this for months. In May, it announced Gemini-powered ad formats that can answer questions conversationally and slot sponsored recommendations into AI-generated responses. Now it is trying to turn that into something bigger, as Sundar Pichai says Search queries are growing at their fastest year-over-year pace in five years, with AI Mode searches running three times longer on average and one in five of them using voice, images, or documents.
There is a clear message here: Google wants the AI layer to pay for itself. Google Services brought in $96.3 billion, up 11% year over year, while Google Cloud jumped 103% to $30.7 billion. But the pressure sits on Search, because that is still the business that has to prove AI can make money, not just headlines.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
Google is doing the sensible thing here: if AI is going to sit on top of Search, it may as well carry ads too. The neat trick is that the company now has to prove those ads feel useful, not merely unavoidable — a much harder sell than another shiny demo. The real sport in AI is still monetization, and this is where the bill comes due.
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