Nielsen Study Confirms Google’s AI-powered Ad Solutions Drive Higher ROI

Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and analytics, in collaboration with Google, has released a new study analyzing the effectiveness of AI-driven advertising solutions across digital platforms. The study, which examined over 50,000 brand campaigns and more than 1 million performance campaigns in the U.S. from July 2022 to June 2024, found that Google’s AI-powered ad solutions deliver superior results compared to traditional, manually optimized campaigns.

The study aimed to measure the impact of AI-driven ad solutions across YouTube, Search, and Performance Max campaigns. It focused on evaluating how automated AI-powered tools compare to traditional, manually optimized campaigns in improving advertising outcomes. Nielsen leveraged a mix of Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) and sales attribution techniques to assess the real-world performance of these AI solutions across multiple industries and campaign objectives.

The study analyzed five key AI-powered advertising solutions that help brands optimize their campaigns: 

• Video Reach Campaigns (VRC) leverage AI to maximize reach by combining multiple ad formats and optimizing for efficient reach, non-skippable reach, or target frequency. 
• Video View Campaigns (VVC) drive increased consideration by using AI to improve ad placement, delivering more views at a lower cost. 
• Demand Gen campaigns use AI-driven, multi-format ads across YouTube and other visual surfaces to generate demand, enhance performance, and deliver strong ROI, making them ideal for social advertisers. 
• Performance Max enables advertisers to achieve more conversions and value across all Google channels by optimizing campaign performance in real-time through AI. 
• Broad Match expands keyword reach beyond exact and phrase match by using AI to target additional, relevant queries, allowing brands to attract high-intent customers and improve overall conversions.

Key Findings

The research assessed AI-driven ad solutions across YouTube, Search, and Performance Max campaigns, revealing that automation and AI-powered tools consistently outperform manual campaign strategies.

• YouTube AI-powered video campaigns delivered 17% higher ROAS than manually optimized campaigns, improving audience targeting and engagement.
• Combining Video Reach Campaigns (VRC) with Video View Campaigns (VVC) led to a 23% increase in sales effectiveness compared to VRC alone.
• AI-powered Demand Gen campaigns integrated with Search and Performance Max showed a 10% increase in ROAS and a 12% boost in sales effectiveness.
• Performance Max campaigns outperformed standalone Search, achieving 8% higher ROAS and a 10% increase in sales effectiveness through automated creative optimization and audience targeting.
• Broad Match in Search, powered by AI, resulted in a 15% higher ROAS and a 10% increase in sales effectiveness, enhancing keyword reach and intent-based targeting.

Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) is a statistical analysis technique used to measure the impact of various marketing activities on business outcomes, such as sales and ROAS. By analyzing historical data from multiple channels, Nielsen isolates the effect of each marketing element while controlling for external factors like seasonality and economic shifts. With this approach, Nielsen can identify the most effective strategies, optimize budget allocation and better understand how different marketing efforts work together to drive success.

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