YouTube Ads Now Contain A Salesperson Who Will Follow You Out Of The Video

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—For years, the worst thing a YouTube ad could do was refuse to be skipped for five seconds. Now it can answer follow-up questions.

Google is bringing Business Agent, an AI assistant that talks to shoppers in a retailer's voice, into YouTube ads as a beta for eligible U.S. retailers. The tool first appeared in Google Search in January with partners including Lowe's and Reebok. Viewers can ask an ad about sizes, shipping or returns, which is more than most people have asked a salesperson since the mall food court closed.

Media buyers said the change ends a long era of one-way advertising. "Television talked at you. Social media talked about you. This talks with you, and it does not have anywhere else to be," said Lars Pemberton-Hayes, a principal at the agency Reach & Frequency & Sons.

Early viewers described the experience as familiar. One man watching a tutorial about a leaky faucet said a hardware ad appeared, asked what size the pipe was, recommended a wrench and, when he tried to return to the video, asked whether he was "still thinking about the pipe."

5 sec

Before you could skip an ad, historically

0

Follow-up questions an ad used to ask

1

ZIP code requested per conversation, minimum

Source: The Daily SKU Ad Desk, which watched 40 ads so you would not have to

"I skipped the ad. The ad did not skip me."

The checkout side is moving too. Merchants can now let shoppers carry a cart from a Google AI conversation to their own checkout, which analysts said means a shopper can go from watching a cat video to owning a cat tree without ever forming an opinion about cat trees.

Agencies are advising brands to train their agents carefully. A fictional mattress company in one agency's test answered every question with "Have you considered sleeping?", which testers called on-brand but unhelpful on the topic of returns.

The ad, asked for comment, said it would be happy to help with that and asked for a ZIP code.