YouTube has found a long-term home for its Brandcast. The Google-affiliated platform will return to David Geffen Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center on May 15, 2024 to deliver its annual pitch to potential advertisers.
2024 will be the second year in a row that Brandcast takes place at Lincoln Center, and that trend is expected to continue into the future. YouTube has signed a three-year agreement that will make David Geffen Hall the home of the 2024, 2025, and 2026 Brandcast presentations.
YouTube’s 2023 Brandcast spiel highlighted the continued expansion of the creator economy across multiple formats and devices. The 2024 event is expected to have similar themes.
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“Everything creators love about YouTube also makes it a rich canvas for brands. Compared to other platforms and services, YouTube offers multiple formats for creative expression, a highly engaged audience compared to other streaming entertainment services, plus the insights to help you optimize your campaigns in real time,” reads a post from YouTube. “We’re excited to highlight even more creator stories, innovative new features, and award-winning advertising on YouTube again at Brandcast to inspire your next breakthrough campaign.”
In the past, Brandcast has been held at venues across New York City. COVID-19 pushed the event to a remote format until 2022, when YouTube made several changes to its yearly ad pitch. Most notably, the date of Brandcast shifted to align with the TV industry’s upfronts rather than the web industry’s NewFronts. (Though Brandcast is no longer part of NewFronts, YouTube still has a significant presence at the digital ad buying event series.)
The semi-permanent move to David Geffen Hall is another step in the evolution of Brandcast. And that’s not the only announcement coming out of YouTube’s ad division.
YouTube dials up a blitz (again)
By hosting an annual initiative called AdBlitz, YouTube positions itself as a definitive host platform for Super Bowl commercials. AdBlitz will return for Super Bowl LVIII in 2024. It will be the 18th year that Super Bowl ads are collected on a central YouTube hub.
AdBlitz doesn’t tend to vary too much from year to year, but 2024 will be different. The current NFL season is YouTube’s first as the official distributor of the NFL Sunday Ticket package. Through AdBlitz, YouTube will be able to dissect commercial trends while also promoting the service it spent a reported $2 billion per year to acquire.
If YouTube wants AdBlitz to double as an ad for its own football viewing experience, it will need to make sure it maintains a high-quality user experience. During Week 8 of the NFL season, several Sunday Ticket subscribers reported technical difficulties related to their gridiron streams.
