Why it matters:
- YouTube is the No. 1 U.S. streaming service, hitting a record high of 13.4% of total TV viewing in July, according to Nielsen.
- Globally, viewers streamed over 1 billion hours of YouTube content daily in 2024.
- Against that backdrop, YouTube has introduced AI-powered tools that help businesses plan ad campaigns based on their objectives, from maximizing brand awareness to boosting conversion rates, whether they’re engaging viewers on a mobile phone or a widescreen TV.
Online streaming and social media platform YouTube has emerged as the overwhelmingly dominant media company in terms of TV viewership, capturing 13.4% of total television viewing time in July, and outpacing Disney, Netflix, NBC Universal, Paramount, and Fox by wide margins, according to Nielsen.
“YouTube is the new TV,” the platform proclaimed in a blog post earlier this year, noting that “for more and more people, watching TV means watching YouTube,” whose content ranges from live events and long-form entertainment to short videos and podcasts.
For businesses from startups to giant brands, that means it’s increasingly important to engage with YouTube viewers when and where they are watching.
Now, YouTube is leveraging the artificial intelligence (AI) investments of its parent company, Google, to give businesses advertising tools that match their messages to relevant “peak moments” in YouTube videos when consumers are most engaged, which can boost both brand recall and conversion rates.
It’s also launched AI tools that make it easier to tailor an ad message for use on multiple YouTube formats, either for viewing on a phone screen or a widescreen TV or converted into a six-second, 15-second, or 30-second ad.
“We spend a lot of time thinking about the trends that are happening on YouTube and what audiences – specifically the audiences any particular brand cares about – are spending their time on YouTube, which creators they’re watching, what content really turns them on, and advising them why that might be,” Kevin Babcock, Head of Creative Partnerships for Google's Creative Works, told CO—.
YouTube is also offering ad packages that allow companies to tie their messaging to cultural moments like sports championships or Black Friday. At its annual Brandcast event in May, YouTube announced a number of new content and ad offerings, including an expanded partnership with the NFL.
[Read more: 5 Consumer Trends Shaping Spending Patterns in 2025]
YouTube exec on the four critical ways to engage consumers via media content: searching, shopping, streaming, and scrolling
When brands think about reaching consumers today, they need to consider the four primary ways people engage with media content today – searching, shopping, streaming, and scrolling, Babcock said.
The YouTube Creative Works team focuses on “how do we think about helping brands intersect with the audiences they care about in those four key moments,” he said.
We spend a lot of time thinking about the trends that are happening on YouTube and what audiences – specifically the audiences any particular brand cares about – are spending their time on YouTube.Kevin Babcock, Head of Creative Partnerships for Google's Creative Works
“Consumers are interacting with up to 130 mobile touchpoints a day,” Babcock said. With so much competition for consumer attention, “we have to figure out how do we introduce our message in a way that’s going to land?” he said.
YouTube has introduced AI-powered formats that help businesses plan ad campaigns based on their objectives. For brands that are trying to build wider awareness of a product or service, a format called video reach can be used to maximize impressions. The next level up would be video view campaigns, which are designed to reach consumers who will spend more time viewing the brand’s content.
“If it’s a video view campaign, it is optimizing toward the audiences who are more likely to watch 30 seconds or until the end of your ad,” Babcock said.
Then, to target consumers who are most likely to make a purchase, Demand Gen campaigns “are about converting consideration into purchase,” he said.
Peak Points, for example, is a new AI tool that identifies the most meaningful, or “peak,” moments within YouTube’s content to place a brand’s ad where audiences are the most engaged.
“For one subset of our audience, a six-second ad may be giving you the most returns from an awareness standpoint, but one other subset might really enjoy a 15-second or a 30-second ad,” Babcock said.
“The AI is going to be smart enough to figure out if I want to serve a six-second ad here and a 30-second over here. It’s going to do the hard work for us,” he said.
These AI-powered formats “streamline the [media] planning and buying process so you can think about your budget and your objectives and then lean into the products that matter for you,” Babcock said.
The end result, he said, “is a lot of much more effective ads.”
“Our brands today are moving almost exclusively into the AI-powered media space,” he said, “and they’re seeing returns up and down the board from that.”
[Read more: How AI is Leveling the Beauty Industry Playing Field for Small Brands]
Tapping AI to create ads for multiple formats: ‘Gone are the days when you could just edit a 15-second TV ad and just put it on YouTube.’
AI tools are also making it easier for brands to create ads that work in multiple formats.
“Gone are the days when you could just edit a 15-second TV ad and just put it on YouTube,” Babcock said. Now, because content is being viewed on screens ranging from mobile phones to widescreen TVs, an ad needs to work in various horizontal as well as vertical formats.
AI now can put a single ad into different aspect ratios so it can work in both a vertical format and a widescreen horizontal format.
In a recent report, global marketing data and insights company Kantar said YouTube’s diversity of formats, from TikTok-like short-form videos to premium content and long-form entertainment to live sports, is responsive to consumers’ changing viewing habits.
“Consumers today expect more control over the content they engage with and want to feel that their time is well spent,” Rachelle Minnis, Chief Media Solutions Officer at Kantar, told CO—. “As new formats emerge, advertising must evolve to match the mindset and expectations of viewers in those environments,” Minnis said.
“YouTube’s move to help advertisers tailor creative across Shorts, Premium, and TV is a smart step,” Minnis said. “It aligns with how people consume content,” she said.
Kantar’s BrandZ index, which calculates a brand’s value using a combination of factors, shows that YouTube has grown its brand value by 431% since 2017.
“The higher a brand’s value, the more leverage it has to command a premium, whether through pricing or ad revenue,” Minnis said.
Going forward, the challenge for YouTube, Minnis said, is the same as for other streaming and content providers: to keep viewers engaged.
“The phrase ‘Content is king’ will always be true and continuing to evolve not only the content, but the delivery method will help platforms compete beyond reach,” she said.
“YouTube already reaches millions of consumers – their opportunity is to have it all, the reach, and the customer loyalty that comes from evolving their strategy.”
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