YouTube Expands NFL Pact, Unveils New Creator & Ad Initiatives

YouTube announced an expanded partnership with the NFL, new initiatives for content creators and brands and the expansion of its shoppable TV opportunities at BrandCast, its annual Upfront pitch to advertisers in New York.

YouTube will deliver an exclusive live stream of the September 5 matchup of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs. This marks the first exclusive NFL game to be streamed live and for free in its entirety on YouTube. A new deal has been sealed for the Super Bowl Flag Football Game featuring creators and artists. The Super Bowl LIX Flag Football Game drew over 6 million live views on YouTube.

YouTube’s new “cultural moments sponsorship” feature enables advertisers to tap into the zeitgeist on YouTube around major cultural moments like awards season, Black Friday or the PGA Championship.

For creators, new features will allow audiences to binge their shows directly on their TVs, with the viewing experience organized by seasons and episodes.

The shoppable TV experience is being expanded with the launch of an interactive product feed, and there’s a new ad format built with Gemini to identify and match ads with contextually relevant “peak moments” in popular YouTube content.

“Today, YouTube has become THE epicenter of culture,” said CEO Neal Mohan. “And I don’t mean short-lived fads or a one-off hit show. I mean culture with a capital ‘C.’ The place where day after day, year after year, the events, conversations and voices that define the moment break through. One of the biggest shifts we’re seeing is in how people watch YouTube. Last quarter in the U.S., people spent more time watching YouTube on their TVs than on any other device… And according to Nielsen, we’ve been the number one in streaming watch time in the U.S. for more than two years now. And since February, we’ve been number one in watch time across broadcast, cable and streaming in the U.S.”