YouTube announced a new way for brands to connect with creators during this year’s Cannes Lions Festival. ‘Open Call’ is the new feature which allows brands to place broad requests for sponsored content from any creator who is part of the YouTube Partner Program. It is powered by YouTube BrandConnect, YouTube’s marketplace for brands to discover and partner with creators.
YouTube revealed it currently has 3 million creators in its YouTube Partner Program which it shares ad revenue with those who meet the criteria. For African creators, the expanded YouTube Partner Program is currently only available in the few following countries: Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda.
“With the thriving creator economy, we’re greatly investing in ways to help brands tap into the influence of YouTube creators. With our new Open Call feature, we are making it even easier for brands to identify and partner with the right creators that resonate with their audiences at scale,” the director of product management at YouTube Melissa Hsieh Nikolic said in a blog post.
Nikolic added that Open Call gives creators of all sizes the opportunity to pursue new relationships with brands and marketers can lean on the relevance and trust of YouTube creators to get more from their social strategy on YouTube.
Open Call aims to streamline creator hiring at scale. It is currently available for select advertisers, a broader rollout is expected in the coming months.
Open Call allows brands to post a creative brief detailing a campaign, creators can then create videos that match the project brief and submit to the brand. The brand then decides which videos to use in their campaigns followed by promoting the chosen creator videos as “partnership ads” in Google Ads and monitoring performance.
This follows YouTube’s May launch of its creator partnership hub where brands can search for creators who fit specific campaigns, find sponsored videos and see insights about the performance of linked videos.
