Dive Brief:

• YouTube boasted a dominant position in streaming at its Brandcast upfront presentation Wednesday evening while unveiling a smattering of ad tools, according to details shared with Marketing Dive.
• A new solution tailored to connected TV (CTV), called Video Reach Campaigns Non-Skips, serves non-skippable assets across an advertiser’s in-stream inventory and is optimized using parent company Google’s artificial intelligence (AI). YouTube also bowed a new take on branded QR codes to help businesses better link their CTV efforts to other channels to drive results. 
• A YouTube Select product that allows brands to take over the channels of top-performing creators is also expanding after debuting in pilot at the end of last year. On the content front, YouTube TV will begin broadcasting locally televised Friday night WNBA games as part of a pact between Google and Scripps Sports.

Dive Insight:

Amid an upfronts week that’s seen increased streaming competition, YouTube is claiming a position as top dog when it comes to engagement. The company cited Nielsen data that shows YouTube has stood as the most-watched streaming platform in the U.S. every month since February 2023. As of April, it was the second most-watched media distributor on TV.

YouTube TV, its CTV service, today commands more than 8 million paid subscribers, while YouTube Shorts, an answer to TikTok, saw CTV viewership double in 2023. YouTube TV has beefed up premium sports programming, nabbing NFL Sunday Ticket in 2022 and recently striking a deal to carry more WNBA games. 

Beyond broad viewership figures, YouTube emphasized its strengths with Gen Z, a cohort that marketers covet and one that has largely shunned traditional media. One in three people reached by NFL Lineups on YouTube were new to the league, according to platform data. 

As viewer habits shift from desktop and mobile devices to what YouTube calls living room screens, its ad strategy has followed suit. The Brandcast announcements threw a spotlight on CTV-specific ad formats, including non-skippable video campaigns that mirror how traditional commercials work and are built with Google AI. YouTube several years ago pushed Brandcast to the upfronts to chase more conventional TV advertising budgets.  

At the same time, YouTube is ramping up multichannel efforts through branded QR codes that link viewers out to other sites where they can learn more about an advertiser and its products. The QR codes put the brand’s logo front and center and feature a “send to phone” call to action.

Typical to Brandcast, a lot of the discussion centered on the creators who provide a steady stream of content to YouTube and keep users hooked. Internet personalities including Zach King, Shannon Sharpe and Cleo Abram made appearances on stage, as did performers like Billie Eilish and Finneas. YouTube announced it is making its creator takeover option on YouTube Select more widely available. YouTube Select, a premium advertiser program, is also now built around the top 1% of content on the platform after previously being focused on the top 5%.