YouTube wants creators to send their videos to brands

Over on TikTok, more and more creators are choosing to make content about brands that sell products in the platform’s digital Shop, hoping for a slice of affiliate marketing earnings. YouTube doesn’t have an ecommerce hub on that scale, but it’s still promoting DIY connections between creators and brands with a new update to YouTube Studio.

Before now, if a creator in the YouTube Partner Program uploaded an organic, unsponsored video about a brand’s products (for example, a mukbanger eats a restaurant’s entire menu, a beauty creator tries out a new foundation, or an artist tries out a new software), the brand could reach out through YouTube Studio and ask to link the video to its own system in Google Ads. If the creator agreed to link it, the brand would be able to see the video’s performance in Google Ads, and would have license to use the content in future marketing.

With this new update, it’s not just brands approaching creators–creators can approach brands, too.

“We’re launching the ability for creators in YPP with more than 4,000 subscribers to send video linking requests for Shorts to advertisers via YouTube Studio,” a YouTube spokesperson said in the platform’s latest Creator Insider video.

YouTube is calling this “creator-initiated tagged content,” and says it will recommend participating creators’ videos to brands.

Creators don’t make money off these video linking requests, but this could be another way for them–especially newer creators who might not know how to reach out to brands themselves, or are having trouble getting emailed-swamped brands to respond to them–to make connections with companies that could sponsor them for future content.

And, while there’s no immediate-gratification affiliate marketing dollars coming in from posting a YouTube Short about a product or brand, creators may still be swayed toward making videos about brands they see embracing creator-led marketing. We see a scenario where a Shorts creator might choose one brand of cleaning product over another during their regular household shopping because they know that brand sponsors creators, and they hope that by making a video about it, they can get it to sponsor them, too.

This change is rolled out now to creators in the YouTube Partner Program. Here at Tubefilter, we’ll be using our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Reports to keep an eye out for any change in the brands that are paying for creator content.