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Nobody ever accused the upfronts of being subtle. Last night, during YouTube’s Brandcast event at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, the platform gifted every attending advertiser a free year of NFL Sunday Ticket, a reminder that the platform reportedly spent about $2 billion on the annual rights.
The honeymoon phase seems to be going well. Onstage, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the Sunday Ticket package was “only the beginning” of the league’s relationship with the platform. YouTube will work with creators like MrBeast to contribute to behind-the-scenes content at NFL games.
Its deal with the NFL is part of YouTube’s plan to better compete with streaming giants; Amazon Prime and Apple+ have also inked live-sports deals over the past few years.
For Neal Mohan, who became YouTube’s CEO earlier this year after Susan Wojcicki left, it probably helped that he could tout America’s most popular sports league and “most-watched” streaming service: During the presentation, he noted that YouTube reached 150 million viewers in the US on CTV last year, at least according to Nielsen.
“Today, in a world where they can watch anything, the world watches YouTube,” Mohan told the audience. “We’re also seeing a seismic shift in the way people consume content—more and more viewers are turning to YouTube on the biggest screen in their homes.”
Aside from Goodell, others who appeared onstage included creators like Colin and Samir, Airrack, Michelle Khare, and Amelia Dimoldenberg of Chicken Shop Date fame, who emphasized the freedom comes with creating on the platform.
New ads, who dis? Because this was technically an upfront presentation (YouTube’s NewFronts pitch was a few weeks ago), the platform pitched inventory perhaps most appealing to traditional television buyers: Advertisers can now purchase 30-second non-skippable ads. They’ll only play on TV screens and can be bought through YouTube Select, the company’s premium inventory dedicated to its most-watched content, which the platform claims lands 70% of impressions on TV (as opposed to laptops or cellphones.)
“This format also seamlessly fits into what viewers already expect and experience on the big screen,” the company said in a press release. YouTube is also introducing pause ads for CTV.
AI time: It isn’t surprising that attendees heard “AI” about a dozen times. Just look at earnings calls. Mohan said that generative AI is at an “inflection point” and that YouTube is using AI to “get your ads in front of the right audiences, to improve measurement, or to flip creative to reach viewers wherever they’re watching.”
However, he noted how creators and video producers could use AI as well. “You can imagine that with just the click of a button, I could change my hair color or change my background to instantly transport myself from the desert to a forest. Google AI is accelerating creativity, and the possibilities extend beyond anything we can imagine today,” Mohan said.