YouTube has announced a series of initiatives aimed at attracting more dollars of television ads on its brandcast platform, its annual event for advertisers. In particular, the Google video service expands its relationship with the NFL and plans to broadcast exclusively the first NFL game of the 2025-2026 season. It is also preparing to try a new way for creators to reach the audience watching YouTube on television through easily organized and bingable television shows.
The latter was announced for the first time on YouTube Made on YouTube last September, where CEO Neal Mohan explained that the creators who made the majority of their revenue on television screens increased more than 30% annually. A new feature offered for the selection of creators in the pilot program will allow them to organize their content in seasons and episodes – just like a “real” TV show.
In addition to the new efforts on “Shoppable TV” and tools that allow advertisers to target important cultural moments such as the Awards Era or the PGA Championship, for example, the company once again sends a message to advertisers that it is not just an online video service, it is actually the new way.
As part of the NFL agreement, YouTube says it will play exclusively Friday’s first game hosted in Sao Paulo, Brazil in a global audience. This marks the first time youtube has served as a live broadcaster for NFL, he notes. (In the US, the game will be available to YouTube TV subscribers.) The company noted that users were watching over 350 million hours of NFL content on the platform last year, according to its internal data and had drawn more than 6 million live views when it put the NFL football game. His expanded NFL deal will see that he will continue this flag football game in the coming years.
For the creators, the YouTube stadium focuses on bringing their content to the living room.
Hundreds of creators will be part of the original pilot, which is expected to start in the US this summer, which will allow them to organize their content into a viewing experience designed for the big screen. Creators like Michelle Khare’s challenge and the good mythical morning with Rhett & Link will use the new tools to convert their content into “seasons” and “episodes” to make their content more bingeable on television.
The company also launches ways to shop from YouTube with QR codes and other phone shipping features and will look at the Gemini AI to match the popular, related content ads.
During the brandcast, YouTube presented various cases of brands such as Volvo, Inspire Brands (Dunkin ‘), Hilton and State Farm, which used advertisers to reach their audience. Also reminded the merchants that youtube was No. 1 in the US Flow Clock Time For more than two years, placing it in front of Netflix, Disney and Prime Video from March 2025. The company also had its most recent focus on podcasts, where it now sees over 1 billion monthly active podcast users.
