Highlights from tonight’s YouTube Brandcast event: What’s next for Google Preferred

Tonight, YouTube hosted our fifth annual Brandcast in New York, our digital Newfronts event, where we showcase the best of YouTube to advertisers and agencies. With a little help from Big Bird, the Whip Nae Nae, and Sia, we showed that YouTube is where the world chooses to watch: on mobile alone, we now reach more 18-49 year-olds in the U.S. than any broadcast or cable TV network.¹

As a result, our influence is greater than ever. In fact, nearly 60 percent of YouTube subscribers say they’d follow a YouTube creator’s advice on what to buy over that of their favorite TV or movie star. And the influence of YouTube stars continues to grow—last year, 6 in 10 of the most influential celebrities among teens were YouTubers, and this year that number jumped to 8 in 10.

To help brands capture some of this momentum, we have a premium content offering called Google Preferred that features creators like Lilly Singh, sWooZie and Laura Vitale. Organized into 13 lineup categories—including Comedy, Music, and Food & Recipes—Google Preferred is easy to buy and gives advertisers access to the most-loved and most-watched content on YouTube. In fact, Google Preferred reaches more people in the U.S. on mobile than all full episode players combined.² And, we announced at Brandcast that Google Preferred just got better. Here’s how:

1. More Can’t-Miss Moments With Google Preferred Breakout Videos

Pop culture moments like the Harlem Shake and Let It Go are as unexpected as they are popular. While Google Preferred gives brands access to established creator channels, our new Breakout Videos offering lets them advertise on emerging content—the hottest and fastest-rising videos on YouTube. With the launch of Google Preferred Breakout Videos in the U.S., brands can be there alongside the next breakout star.

2. More Ease and Relevance with Programmatic Guaranteed for Google Preferred

To make it even easier to be there in the moment viewers are watching, upfront buyers will soon be able to execute their Google Preferred—and Breakout Videos—buy programmatically through DoubleClick Bid Manager. This means all video campaigns (including TrueView, Google Preferred, and cross-exchange) can be managed in one place.

3. More Sports Fans With NBA Highlights on Google Preferred

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also took to the Brandcast stage to announce that NBA inventory is now part of Google Preferred. Top NBA highlights will surface in Google Search and on YouTube, offering brands access to the NBA’s loyal fan base across screens. In addition, the NBA will soon launch two new VR series on YouTube that give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at team arenas and their favorite players.

4. More Great Results for Brands

With new additions like Breakout Videos, Programmatic Guaranteed, and NBA highlights, Google Preferred will keep delivering massive reach, and strong results for brands.

Already this year, among the Google Preferred campaigns we measured, 75 percent drove lifts in consideration³ and 61 percent drove lifts in favorability.⁴ Google Preferred is driving results later in the consumer journey, too: it raised purchase intent in two-thirds of campaigns.⁵

Results like these have encouraged nearly twice the number of brands in the U.S. to take advantage of Google Preferred in the last year.⁶

Chime in with your Google Preferred questions and comments on #Brandcast, and check out six questions every brand should consider after Brandcast. We’ll post even more content after the show on the Brandcast website.

Kate Stanford, Head of Global Advertiser Marketing at YouTube, recently watched "Imagine the Possibilities."

¹Google-commissioned Nielsen study U.S., December 2015. Audience Reach among Persons 18-49 for YouTube (mobile only) and 124 individual U.S. cable and broadcast networks (television only).

²Google/Millward Brown Digital Google Preferred Mobile Clickstream Analysis US, October 2015 (Full episode players on mobile browser or app include: Netflix, HBO, Hulu, NBC, Fox, CBS, ABC, sourced from the 20,000 person Mobile Compete Clickstream Panel).

³Google Preferred Brand Lift Meta Analysis, 2015 and Q1 2016. Results for 242 US Google Preferred Consideration Studies.

⁴Google Preferred Brand Lift Meta Analysis, 2015 and Q1 2016. Results for 44 US Google Preferred Favorability Studies.

⁵Google Preferred Brand Lift Meta Analysis, 2015 and Q1 2016. Results for 80 US Google Preferred Purchase Intent studies.

⁶Google data, US, Q1 2016 vs Q1 2015.

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