Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the company has “very good ideas” for incorporating ads into its Gemini AI assistant in the coming days. While Gemini currently operates without ads, offering both free and paid subscription tiers, Pichai hinted at the possibility of ads being integrated into the product eventually. This statement, made during Alphabet’s investor call, suggests a potential shift in Google’s monetisation strategy for its Gemini AI assistant.
What Google CEO said about ads in Gemini
During Google’s earnings call, Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski asked Pichai about what people should consider the “future monetisation potential of Gemini” and whether the company envisions a possible “advertising component.”
Replying to Gawrelski, Pichai said: “We’ve had a strong momentum for Gemini on the app side, particularly through the second half of 2024.And some of it is, we’ve made it more easily accessible. We’ve brought it to, for example, with a dedicated app on iOS, which has been super positively received and definitely getting a lot of traction there. So, definitely driving organic growth by putting the product out, we just last week rolled out our 2.0 series of models.”
“I think that’s one of the most capable models you can access at the free tier. So, that’s definitely contributing as well. And so we are rapidly trading. We’ve had a couple of key innovations there. Gemini Live, I think, has been definitely a hit with users as well as advanced users of Gemini Deep Research. So, I think a combination of innovation continually trading on the product, and making it better is driving a lot of usage. And we’ll have a lot more to come as we go this year, and we’re obviously — have a partnership with Samsung,” Pichai added.
Talking about monetising Gemini, Pichai said: “On the monetisation side, obviously, for now, we are focused on a free tier and subscriptions. But obviously, as you’ve seen in Google over time, we always want to lead with user experience. And we do have very good ideas for native ad concepts, but you’ll see us lead with the user experience. But I do think we’re always committed to making the products work and reach billions of users at scale. Advertising has been a great aspect of that strategy. So, just like you’ve seen with YouTube, we’ll give people options over time. But for this year, I think you’ll see us be focused on the subscription direction.”