It’s been nearly a decade since YouTube acquired the influencer marketing hub BrandConnect (originally known as FameBit), and the platform has endured a series of sweeping changes since 2016. With its latest BrandConnect update, YouTube is focusing on simplicity: It is adding new tools that are designed to streamline influencer marketing partnerships for both creators and brands.
YouTube summed up its BrandConnect improvement with a post on its Ads & Commerce blog. A new central hub lets advertisers manage all their creator partnerships, existing assets can be linked to Google Ads accounts, and BrandConnect can be integrated into Google Ads to provide measurement and other analytics.
“BrandConnect is a collection of tools and features which help brands connect with creators. In this new era of creator-led entertainment, people make decisions based on the advice of YouTube creators,” reads the blog post. “According to a survey conducted by Ipsos, surveyed online users are 98% more likely to trust the recommendations of creators on YouTube vs. those on other social sites/apps (on average).”
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The additions to BrandConnect show how YouTube’s understanding of its influencer marketing hub is evolving. When the-platform-formerly-known-as-FameBit adopted its current name in 2020, it offered both self-service and full-service suites. The latter option accounted for the bulk of BrandConnect sales, leading YouTube to sunset the self-service option.
Even as other platforms launched their own takes on influencer-brand matchmaking, shifting economic winds brought changes to BrandConnect. In 2023, amid Google layoffs that affected YouTube’s influencer marketing team, full-service matchmaking began to look a bit resource-intensive. The favored BrandConnect strategy pivoted back toward self-service partnerships, and the latest tools make the hub more inviting for bootstrapping users.
YouTube is supporting its ongoing BrandConnect push with a wave of new hires. Through job postings on LinkedIn, YouTube is hunting for Product Managers to add to the BrandConnect team.
Positions related to influencer marketing are also opening up on the Shorts side of YouTube. The Google-affiliated platform has brought sponsored content to its TikTok-like format by incorporating BrandConnect partnerships. Multiformat influencer campaigns seem to be a priority for YouTube; at the time of this post, the official BrandConnect website redirects to a landing page that explains how the marketplace can be integrated into Shorts.
Though favored strategies for influencer marketing come and go, the industry is still growing as a whole, with major companies like Publicis and Unilever making sizable investments in the space. YouTube is right at the epicenter of that boom, and resources like BrandConnect allow it to maintain its powerful position.
