We also got to talk about and showcase that YouTube remains No.1 across screens. We showcased that, when you think about streaming, we were able to talk about having YouTube reaching over 150 million people in living room TVs in the U.S., individual people. So that was a great showcase of how often people view YouTube in the living room and how much reach and scale we have. And then finally we got to celebrate a lot of our advertisers and brands and showcase that YouTube delivers great ROI for them. Whether they’re looking for awareness or sales, YouTube delivers for them.
YouTube did have great talent, including Doja Cat. But it was on the WGA’s picketing schedule. Was it impacted by the writers strike at all?
No, we used all the creators that you find on YouTube from that perspective. Creators are today’s modern-day media moguls. They’re hard at work creating new and fresh content for their channels. And it’s really this generation’s directors, producers and writers. Everyone that we had planned to have was there and performed great and got an awesome reception from the market.
The Doja Cat performance was fantastic, but why was she the artist that made sense for YouTube?
Well, she was born on YouTube. She showcases what YouTube can do for creators and how YouTube can help build businesses. And she’s indicative that YouTube’s about great content. It’s about creating premium television, and it’s about great music. Whatever you want to experience on YouTube, you can find it. She’s just a great, emblematic symbol of that for us.
Sunday Ticket is coming to YouTube, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was there to help pitch marketers. Free Sunday Ticket for attendees was also a highlight. But how important is the NFL this upfront?
[Marketers] certainly loved that. That was a great moment I think for the market and for YouTube as well. The NFL is important to us because it showcases that we have all the content that people want. We have the original creator content. We have sports. We’re No.1 in sports, and just having the NFL there showcases that this is where everyone goes to watch. It’s a great partnership for us. Sunday Ticket is there. We have a lot of great original content that’s going to be created around it. And all of our buyers are eager to engage and have a full experience with the NFL—from watching games to having the creator economy around that thrive.
We will be there. That is the place where YouTube belongs.
—Sean Downey, president of sales at Google and YouTube, on YouTube returning to upfront week.
Brandcast had a new date and a new venue this year in Lincoln Center. How were those shifts and do you think you’ll stick with the spot in the future?
We loved it. It was a really great place to have our upfront. It was important for us from an experiential point of view to find a space that had a great theater because we put a lot of great content on. You see musicians like Jacob Collier and Doja Cat. And then we’d have a lot of our creators just showcasing their skills. We want to make sure we can host that well in a strong theater. And it was a great place for us to host and connect with clients before and after the show. And we loved it. We’re going to stay there I think, and we’re gonna make sure that we have a great production experience next year as well.