YouTube announced a range of ad updates at its 2026 Brandcast event, where the platform showcased its latest emerging opportunities for marketers.
The event, held in New York City on Wednesday, featured a range of celebrities and YouTube stars. YouTube highlighted its emerging talent, and discussed the potential for these online stars to engage with audiences.
YouTube said its creators have become “the new Hollywood,” and the platform is looking to boost their presence through a series of exclusive creator shows, featuring popular YouTubers including Kareem Rahma Alex Cooper and others.
The creator shows will include sponsorship opportunities and provide more ways for brands to connect. According to YouTube, this could be a valuable consideration.
“Creators aren’t just driving culture, they’re building trusted relationships with their fans,” YouTube said. “When creators talk about products on YouTube, viewers are 13 times more likely to search for the brand and 5 times more likely to buy.”
YouTube also announced Custom Sponsorships, which will use artificial intelligence to dynamically surface videos tailored to a brand’s desired moment. In addition, there will be a custom content shelf for Masthead ads, which will let marketers curate additional content alongside their main creative.
CTV is also getting an update, with YouTube viewers on TV sets getting the option to complete purchases directly on their CTV in two clicks using Google Pay.
YouTube also announced an Affiliate Partnerships Boost, which will allow brands to boost the organic content their products are already tagged in.
The platform’s AI creation elements are also getting an upgrade, with Multimodal Video Creation. This will enable marketers to use Google’s latest AI models, including Gemini, Nano Banana and Veo, to build their ad creative via text prompts.
Finally, YouTube announced that marketers will soon be able to integrate shopper data from Costco and Dollar General, in order to better measure the actual sales impact of their promotions.
“Costco Retail Media and Dollar General Media Network are collaborating with Display & Video 360 to help advertisers reach and activate Costco’s and Dollar General shopper audiences across YouTube and third-party inventory,” YouTube said in a press release. “And to close the loop, we’re also introducing SKU-level conversion reporting in Display & Video 360, so brands can see the precise impact of their YouTube and Display spend on Costco and Dollar General.”
That could provide valuable insight into the expanded impact of YouTube promotions, with specific sales data that can be linked to promotions.
These are some high-value YouTube ads additions, which could provide interesting considerations for brand partners moving forward.
