YouTube unveiled a series of initiatives aimed at attracting more TV advertising dollars to its platform during Brandcast, an annual Upfront conference for advertisers. Google’s YouTube video service plans to stream exclusively the NFL’s first game on a Friday in the season 2025-2026. The service is also planning to test a way to help creators reach an audience who watch YouTube via TV by creating easily organized TV series that can be binged.
Last September at YouTube Made On YouTube, CEO Neal Mohan announced that the number of creators who make their majority of revenue from TV screens had increased by more than 30 percent year-overyear. A new feature being offered to select creators in the pilot program will allow them to organize their content into seasons and episodes — just like a “real” Television show
The new initiatives around “shoppable TV” With tools to target cultural moments such as awards season and The PGA Championship for example, the company sends a clear message to advertisers: it is not only an online video service. It’s the new way that people watch. “TV.”
As part of its NFL deal, YouTube says it will exclusively stream the first Friday game hosted in São Paulo, Brazil, to a worldwide audience. YouTube notes that this is the first time it has broadcast a NFL game live. In the U.S. the game is only available for YouTube TV subscribers. According to internal company data, users watched more than 350 million hours last year of NFL content. The streaming NFL Super Bowl LIX Flag Football Game attracted over 6,000,000 live views. As part of its expanded agreement with the NFL, it will stream that Flag Football match over several years.
YouTube’s pitch for creators focuses on getting their content in the living rooms.
The initial pilot will launch this summer in the U.S. and will include hundreds of creators who will have the opportunity to arrange their content to fit a large-screen experience. Creators like Michelle Khare’s Challenge Accepted The following are some examples of how to get started: Good Mythical Morning with Rhett & Link will use the new tools to turn their content into “seasons” and “episodes,” To make TV more addictive.
Gemini AI is used by the company to determine which ads are most relevant to content.
YouTube’s Brandcast featured case studies on brands including Volvo, Inspire Brands(Dunkin’), Hilton and State Farm who have successfully used the advertiser’s tools of YouTube to reach out to their audience. This also reminded the marketers that YouTube was a great tool to reach their audiences. No. 1 in streaming watch time in the U.S. It has been in the top three for over two years. This puts it above Netflix, Disney and Prime Video by March 2025. This company has also highlighted its focus in recent years on podcasts. They now have over 1 billion users of podcasts.
