AI and paid media are set to play a defining role in Black Friday shopping this year, as consumers increasingly use AI tools to research, compare and shortlist products before they ever visit a retailer’s website.
Black Friday has always been a battle for visibility. Ecommerce brands invest heavily in Search, Shopping, social media and marketplaces to reach consumers at the exact moment they’re ready to buy.
The traditional customer journey often starts with a generic search, followed by research, comparison and, eventually, a purchase. But AI is beginning to change that process.
I’m using AI increasingly when buying products, and I’m guessing you, and your customers, are too.
We can now ask AI assistants to recommend products, compare alternatives, summarize reviews and highlight the best places to buy in a single conversation.
Instead of spending hours researching across multiple websites, shoppers can move from discovery to consideration in a matter of minutes.
What happens to paid media when AI shapes demand?
Paid media isn’t becoming less important. In many cases, it’s becoming more important. While AI is helping consumers decide what to buy, paid media continues to influence where they buy it and whether they convert.
That raises an important question for brands.
If AI is influencing which products consumers discover, compare, and shortlist before Black Friday even begins, what happens to paid media?
AI may change how demand is created, but it doesn’t remove the need to capture it. In fact, as customer journeys become shorter and more streamlined, the moments that influence the final purchase decision become even more valuable.
AI may influence what consumers buy; paid media will continue to play a critical role in determining where they buy and whether they convert.
How is AI changing Black Friday shopping research?
AI is making product research faster by helping consumers compare products, reviews and recommendations in a single conversation before Black Friday begins.
Historically, Black Friday shoppers spent days or even weeks researching products.
They compared prices across multiple retailers, read reviews, watched YouTube videos and tracked discounts in the lead-up to promotional events. Brands had numerous opportunities to influence decision-making throughout the journey.
Today, AI can do much of that work for consumers.
For example, if I were looking for a new coffee machine, TV or pair of running shoes, I can now ask an AI assistant:
- Which products offer the best value?
- What are the highest-rated options?
- Which products meet specific requirements?
- Which deals are worth waiting for?
Within seconds, I can receive tailored recommendations and comparisons that would previously have taken a lot longer and been much more manual to do.
Consumers still want reassurance. They still want to make informed decisions. The difference is that AI is helping them reach those decisions faster.
As a result, many shoppers may arrive at Black Friday with a clearer idea of what they want to buy before they ever visit a retailer’s website or perform a traditional search.
Will AI reduce search demand during Black Friday?
No. AI is unlikely to remove search demand, but it is changing where consumers conduct research and the types of searches they perform before purchasing.
This shift is already visible in how people use AI-powered search experiences. According to Google’s AI Mode research, searches beginning with “which” grew 40% faster than AI Mode queries overall, highlighting the growing role of conversational search in product comparison and decision-making.
At the same time, AI-powered searches are becoming more detailed. Google’s research found that the average AI Mode query is three times longer than a traditional search query, giving consumers more opportunity to explain their needs, preferences and requirements in a single prompt.
Rather than using search engines to discover products for the first time, consumers may use them to validate purchasing decisions they’ve already begun forming elsewhere. This shift highlights how AI and paid media are changing the traditional customer journey.
This could lead to greater emphasis on:
- Branded searches
- Product-specific searches
- Comparison searches
- Discount-focused searches
- Availability and delivery searches
For advertisers, this represents an important shift. Search doesn’t disappear. It moves further down the funnel. At the same time, search experiences themselves are evolving.
As AI-generated search results and answers become more frequent and advertising begins appearing directly within those experiences, the distinction between traditional search and AI-assisted discovery may become increasingly fuzzy.
For advertisers, visibility within AI-powered search environments will eventually become just as important as visibility within the traditional search results we’re used to.
The opportunity is no longer just capturing broad discovery searches. It’s ensuring brands remain visible when consumers are actively comparing retailers, checking prices and deciding where to complete their purchase.
Why does paid media still matter in an AI-driven shopping journey?
Even when AI helps consumers decide what to buy, paid media remains essential for influencing where they buy and which retailer wins the sale. If AI helps consumers decide what to buy, paid media becomes increasingly important in helping them decide where to buy it.
Even after a product has been recommended by an AI assistant, consumers still need answers to important questions:
- Which retailer has the best price?
- Is the product currently in stock?
- How quickly can it be delivered?
- Are there any promotions available?
- Can I trust this retailer?
These are the moments where paid media continues to add value. Search, Shopping, Performance Max and paid social campaigns remain powerful tools for capturing intent and converting consideration into revenue.
As Google expands ads within AI-powered search experiences, including AI Overviews and AI Mode, paid media isn’t sitting outside the AI journey; it’s becoming part of it.
For advertisers, this creates an opportunity to remain visible as consumers move from AI-assisted research into product comparison and purchase decisions.
Understanding the relationship between AI and paid media will be critical for ecommerce brands this Black Friday, where competition is intense, and purchase windows are short.
Consumers may arrive with a preferred product already in mind, but the retailer that wins the sale is often the one that remains visible, relevant and competitive during the final decision-making stage.
Why are product feeds important for AI and paid media performance?
Product feeds are becoming a critical data source for both AI-powered shopping experiences and paid media campaigns.
Pre-AI Search, for many brands, product feeds have historically been viewed as a technical requirement for Shopping campaigns. I’d say that this mindset needs to change. And fast.
Product feeds are becoming the data foundation that powers visibility across a growing range of platforms and experiences.
The same product information can influence:
- Google Shopping visibility
- Performance Max performance
- Product recommendation engines
- AI-powered shopping experiences
As AI takes on a larger role in product discovery and comparison, the quality of that data becomes more important.
Detailed product titles, rich descriptions, accurate attributes, pricing information, stock availability and high-quality imagery all help platforms understand products more effectively. These are among the shopping attributes highlighted in Google’s US AI Mode report, reinforcing the value of clear, comprehensive product information. In an environment where AI is helping consumers compare options, poor product data doesn’t just impact campaign performance. It can limit discoverability altogether.
Product data is becoming a key link between AI and paid media performance.
For brands preparing for Black Friday, improving feed quality may be one of the highest-impact activities available. At Dig & Dig, we use feed optimization tools to help brands enhance their feeds for this reason.
The brands that make their products easiest to understand, compare and recommend will have a clear advantage.
Why is first-party data more important than ever?
As advertising platforms become more automated, first-party data helps AI systems identify high-value customers and improve campaign performance.
Smart Bidding, audience modelling, automated targeting and AI-powered optimization are now standard features across most major platforms. As more advertisers gain access to the same technology, differentiation comes from how you use it. This means feeding the systems good-quality data.
First-party customer data gives advertisers a deeper understanding of who their most valuable customers are and what drives long-term profitability.
CRM audiences, Customer Match segments and lifetime value modelling provide platforms with stronger signals, enabling optimization towards revenue and profitability rather than simply generating more sales.
As automation continues to evolve, the quality of the data being fed into platforms may become a bigger competitive advantage than the technology itself.
Will AI search make paid media strategy less important?
There’s a growing assumption that AI will eventually make paid media strategy less important. I believe the opposite is true. As platforms automate more tactical decisions, the strategic decisions become even more valuable.
AI can optimize bids, automate targeting and generate creative assets, but it still relies on advertisers to provide:
- Strong product data
- Meaningful audience signals
- Commercial objectives
- Effective creative direction
- Robust measurement frameworks
The businesses that succeed won’t simply be the ones using AI tools.
They’ll be the ones using them with a clear strategy.
Success with AI and paid media will depend on strategy rather than automation alone.
