YouTube has announced the rebranding of BrandConnect, its creator-brand sponsorship tool, as Creator Partnerships, a revamped platform backed by Google’s Gemini AI models designed to streamline influencer discovery and campaign management for advertisers.

The platform will use Gemini to analyze billions of data points, including brand mentions and subscriber growth, to match advertisers with relevant YouTube creators. In Google Ads or Display & Video 360, users can submit natural-language queries to generate creator shortlists.

“You can say, ‘Find me U.S. tech creators reviewing sports gear with high Gen Z retention,’ and our AI will surface creators who match, and will include insights about their channel, their audience, sample videos, and more,” Melissa Nikolic, Director of Product Management for YouTube Creator Ads, said in a statement.

Advertisers can filter results to a shortlist and contact multiple creators simultaneously. In the coming months, YouTube plans to allow advertisers to input a full campaign brief, with Gemini recommending creators based on campaign goals.

Centralized Measurement and Integration

Creator Partnerships integrates with YouTube Studio, Google Ads, and DV360 into a single hub. The platform also features unified measurement, combining paid ad and organic creator content performance data into one deduplicated reporting workflow.

YouTube is also making Creator Partnerships available via API to marketing agencies and SaaS platforms. Tim Sovay, Chief Business Development and Partnerships Officer at CreatorIQ, stated that the API will give advertisers “trusted, first-party insights that help unlock deep creator audience understanding within their existing workflows.”

Additional Features

YouTube announced several complementary tools alongside the rebrand.

Insights Finder will receive a new report enabling brands to search for creators and learn about their audiences. Partnership Ads through BrandConnect are coming to DV360. 

“It’s historically been challenging for advertisers to find the right creator to work with and then scale their efforts globally,” Nikolic stated.

Source: ADWEEK

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