Google Marketing Live 2026: new ad formats built for AI Mode

Google Marketing Live 2026, held on 20 May, was dominated by one theme: advertising inside AI Mode, Google's Gemini-powered conversational search.

New AI Mode ad formats

Agency write-ups from the event describe two formats built specifically for AI Mode:

• Conversational Discovery Ads, which use Gemini to build ad creative in real time in response to the exact phrasing of a user's query.
• Highlighted Answers, a sponsored placement within AI Mode responses.

Reports say the placements are reached through broad match keywords, AI Max or Performance Max, not exact-match campaigns, and that early testing was limited to US advertisers on English-language queries.

Other launches

• Business Agent for Leads: real-time AI conversations inside ads.
• Ask Advisor: an AI marketing assistant inside Google Ads.
• Asset Studio: generative AI for faster creative production.

How we got here

Google first brought ads into AI Overviews in 2024 and announced ads in AI Mode at Marketing Live 2025, starting in the US and later expanding to more English-speaking markets. Unlike OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity, Google already had the advertiser base. The question in 2026 is how much of classic search inventory shifts into conversational answers.

What it means for marketers

If you want AI Mode inventory, you have to accept Google's automation: broad match, AI Max or PMax. Feed quality, structured data and strong landing pages become the levers, because Gemini is writing the ad around the query, not around your keyword list.

Details here come from agency coverage of the event; check Google's own Ads & Commerce blog for current eligibility and markets.