In that vein, the company last month unveiled a newly reimagined product, Creator Partnerships, that aims to address this problem in the best way YouTube knows how: through brand sponsorships. The product, an upgraded version of an initiative previously known as BrandConnect, entails both a clearly defined ad-buying framework, as well as a far more abstract set of benefits that YouTube now offers its most coveted creators.
For example, on Tuesday night the company invited a handful of press to mingle with several members of its executive team and a chosen group of top talent, including Trevor Noah, Adam Faze, Cleo Abram, Julian Shapiro-Barnum, Johnny Harris, and Kareem Rahma.
The timing was illustrative, as that very morning a wave of coverage centered on Rahma, the host of SubwayTakes and Keep the Meter Running, had just broken. On my feed alone, articles from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Deadline, Cultured Mag, and Feed Me plugged the affable host, whose viral series have featured guests ranging from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas.
Compelling as Rahma is, such a coordinated campaign suggested the involvement of a more sophisticated PR apparatus. Google, as Faze conceded to me over cocktails, had lent a hand in securing the coverage.
That the YouTube parent company saw fit to involve itself in the promotion of a lone creator marks a noteworthy inflection point. YouTube does not fund or finance any of these creators’ projects, Harris and Abram told me, but it tries to help in just about any other way that it can.
The most apparent instance of this support comes through its brand matchmaking. YouTube will not pay its creators directly, but it is more than happy to connect them with advertisers who will. Such efforts have been integral in helping these creators tap into budgets far more substantial than the meager returns they see from Google AdSense.
But such matchmaking is just the beginning. The company is on hand to help its top creators navigate any issue they might have, providing a kind of white glove support that the average YouTuber could only dream of. Press, marketing, and technical support are just the outward signs of this favor—the backing of Google is powerful in ways that go beyond the balance sheet.
