Google-owned video powerhouse YouTube reaches more mobile viewers ages 18-49 than the top 10 primetime TV shows combined, CEO Susan Wojcicki told advertisers during its digital content NewFront in New York Thursday.
“At a time when TV is losing audiences, YouTube is growing in every region, on every screen,” Wojcicki said, adding that the time people spend watching YouTube on TV screens doubled from 2014 to 2015.
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Google also said the number of advertisers participating in its Google Preferred offering, which lets brands buy ads around the top 5 percent of YouTube content, has almost doubled in the U.S.
To that end, YouTube announced an expansion of the service that will now let brands buy ads around “breakout videos” — packages featuring some of the fastest rising videos on the platform. The updated ad product is designed to help brands identify viral videos and emerging YouTube stars before they actually take off.
Marketers also will be able to access Google Preferred buys through DoubleClick Bid Manager to manage multiple video campaigns in one place, and can use their own data to target audiences.
YouTube’s growing prominence has been recently highlighted by Magna Global revealing its plan to shift about $250 million from its fall TV ad budgets into YouTube
At the event, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also announced all of the NBA’s footage on its YouTube channel will be available for advertisers through Google Preferred.
Silver was just one of the notable names on hand as around 2,700 people packed into New York’s Javits Center. YouTube included a group of 100 top YouTubers in the first few rows, and brought many digital stars on stage.
Hosted by YouTuber Lilly Singh, best known as ||Superwoman||, performances included Big Bird dancing to hip-hop to introduce a new Sesame Street channel for YouTube Kids, Silentó singing Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae), which was the number one YouTube music video in 2015, an after-dinner performance by singer-songwriter Sia, and Mindy McKnight of Cute Girls Hairstyle talking about how her YouTube channel is supporting her family of eight.
READ MORE: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Ad Age, LA Times
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