Curious about Google Marketing Live? This article has everything you need to know. It offers a full overview of the event, including its history, keynotes, major announcements, and why it’s a must-watch for marketers every year.
What is Google Marketing Live?
Google Marketing Live is Google’s largest annual marketing event, serving as the company’s flagship showcase for its latest advertising innovations, product updates, and strategic direction in digital marketing.
Typically live-streamed globally, the event brings together marketers, advertisers, and business leaders to unveil new features, tools, and advancements across Google’s advertising inventory, including Search, YouTube, Performance Max, and more.
Google Marketing Live Recap
Looking for a recap of past GML events?
Each year, the event showcases how Google continues to develop its Ads and Commerce products to help businesses reach customers and achieve better results.
Here’s a list of past GML recaps:
- Google Marketing Live 2019 recap
- Google Marketing Livestream 2021 recap
- Google Marketing Live 2022 recap
- Google Marketing Live 2023 recap
- Google Marketing Live 2024 recap
- Google Marketing Live 2025 recap
Google Marketing Live History
Google Marketing Live was first held in 2013, marking the start of what would become Google’s flagship annual event for advertisers and marketing professionals.
Since then, it has evolved into a must-attend experience for marketers around the world, where the future of digital advertising is unveiled.
Here are the key themes and milestones by year.
2013–2016
The early years focused on introducing new ad formats, tools, and measurement solutions to help marketers reach audiences across Google’s expanding platforms.
Google Marketing Next 2017
Held on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in-person in San Francisco and streamed on DoubleClick’s blog, Google Marketing Next marked the final event under that name before it was rebranded to Google Marketing Live. The event introduced key innovations across Google AdWords, Analytics, and DoubleClick, emphasizing smarter tools for greater productivity and simpler measurement.
You can rewatch the 2017 Keynote here:
Google Marketing Live 2018
Held on July 10, 2018, both in person in Silicon Valley, San Jose, California and virtually, GML 2018 focused on performance and simplicity in advertising. Key announcements included enhancements to Hotel Campaigns, the launch of TrueView for action, Responsive Search Ads, Smart Shopping campaigns, Smart Bidding, Mobile Speed Score column, and more.
You can rewatch the 2018 Keynote here:
Google Marketing Live 2019
Held on May 14, 2019, in San Francisco and streamed online, GML introduced key updates aimed at helping businesses connect with customers and drive growth. Highlights included Discovery ads and Gallery ads for richer visuals, new local campaign features in Google Maps, and smarter tools in the Google Ads app. Shopping ads saw major improvements, including buy-online and pickup-in-store options. Advertisers also gained new audience and bidding tools, plus easy YouTube bumper ad creation with Bumper Machine.
📰 Read the official Google Marketing Live 2019 recap
Google Marketing Live 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the focus and there was no GML event in 2020. Instead, Google participated in the Advertising Week event held in October 2020, where it introduced several new features and innovations.
Google Marketing Livestream 2021
Held on May 27, 2021, GML was a fully virtual event due to COVID-19 restrictions and was temporarily renamed Google Marketing Livestream. The event focused on first-party data strategies and measurement, with major announcements including the expansion of Customer Match, enhanced conversions for leads, the launch of Performance Max campaigns, and new analytics features in Google Analytics.
You can rewatch the 2021 Keynote here:
Google Marketing Live 2022
It was held on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 9:00 am PT. The event centered on privacy and adapting to a cookieless future. Key launches included Enhanced Conversions, My Ad Center for user ad control, Performance Max updates, and new YouTube Shorts ad innovations.
You can rewatch the 2022 Keynote here:
Google Marketing Live 2023
GML 2023 was marked by the “Power of AI in Advertising.” Google introduced generative AI features for asset creation, expanded Performance Max capabilities, launched Merchant Center Next, and rolled out Product Studio for AI-powered image creation.
📰 Read the Google Marketing Live 2023 recap
You can rewatch the 2023 Keynote here:
Google Marketing Live 2024
Celebrating its 11th edition, GML 2024 was held in Mountain View with satellite events in Dublin, New York, and Los Angeles. The event was dominated by AI advancements, including the integration of Gemini 1.5 Pro models, virtual try-on for apparel ads, 3D product images, and AI-powered campaign optimization tools. The focus was on how AI can optimize campaign performance, automate creative development, and deliver highly personalized ad experiences.
📰 Read the Google Marketing Live 2024 recap
You can rewatch the 2024 Keynote here:
Google Marketing Live 2025
Broadcast from Mountain View with a regional stream from Dublin, GML 2025 Keynote event focused heavily on AI-powered tools that simplify campaign management, creative production, and measurement.
Key updates included AI Max for Search, new creative controls like Asset Studio, and proactive asset generation in Google Ads and Merchant Center. Google introduced the Power Pack as a recommended campaign mix, combining PMAX, Demand Gen, and AI Max. Measurement saw upgrades with open-source Meridian, broader incrementality testing, and new cross-channel tools in GA4. The event also emphasized deeper integrations between media and commerce, making YouTube and Search more shoppable and measurable.
For the first time this year, a live Q&A on the announced updates took place immediately after the live-streamed keynote session.
📰 Get all the key details on Google Marketing Live 2025
You can rewatch the 2025 Keynote here:
Unforgettable Moments from Google Marketing Live
Katy Perry’s Surprise Performance at GML 2019
Google Marketing Live isn’t just known for major product announcements. Back in 2019, attendees were treated to a surprise live performance by pop icon Katy Perry during the event.
Celebrities Speaking at GML 2021
In 2021, Alicia Keys took the stage as the founder of the cosmetics brand Keys Soulcare.
Emmanuel Acho, author and host known for his work in sports analysis, also gave a presentation during this event.
HopeScope Speaks at GML 2025
One of the standout moments of GML 2025 was the appearance of YouTube creator HopeScope, known for her viral hauls and 7 million subscribers on YouTube. She took the stage to walk through a real-time case using Google’s Creator Partnerships Hub, bringing a dose of influencer energy to the event.
Google Marketing Live remains one of the most important events of the year for marketers and advertisers. It’s definitely one to keep an eye on.