Waze Ads merges with Google Ads

In 2013, Google bought the GPS application with a clear ambition: gradually integrating it with its mapping services. Today, this ambition is becoming more concrete: Chris Philips, VP and GM of Google Geo has announced the merger of Waze Ads with Google Ads.

This means the end of Waze’s in-house advertising system, which Google’s technology will replace. The end will be gradual: existing campaigns will be able to run until 31 August. After that, they will cease to be broadcast.

In the meantime, Waze Ads will be replaced by Performance Max for shop objectives during this transition (PMax). This type of Google Ads campaign uses AI to maximise results.

The Waze application preserved?

The Google takeover could have been the death knell for Waze, a direct competitor of Google Maps. However, this is not the direction Google is taking.

The GPS application has more than 140 million active users and a sufficiently committed community to dissuade Google from saying goodbye to it. In the wake of the announcement, a Google spokesperson stated that the company “remains deeply committed to the growth of the Waze brand, its application and its thriving community of volunteers and users”.

The synergies between Waze and Google are accelerating, as evidenced by the end of Waze Ads, but the application should continue.