YouTube concluded the 2025 Upfronts week by announcing new features and partnerships.
During its event, YouTube executives – including CEO Neal Mohan (pictured), chief business officer Mary Ellen Coe and Google’s president of Americas and global partners Sean Downey – took the stage to emphasize the influence of creators and demonstrate YouTube’s impact on culture.
“Today, YouTube has become the epicentre of culture,” Mohan emphasized. “And I don’t mean short-lived fads or a one-off hit show. I mean culture with a capital ‘C.'”
Several brands also came to the stage to support Mohan’s claims, starting with Volvo, which shared its success story. The automaker said it uses YouTube to enhance customer experiences, expand its audience, and tap into cultural trends, citing the platform as a key driver of brand awareness. Inspire Brands, parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts, also highlighted its success, particularly with Gen Z, achieving 78% positive sentiment through creator partnerships on YouTube Shorts during the last holiday season.
After highlighting its role as a hub that fosters cultural conversations, the streamer announced a new package, dubbed the Cultural Moments Sponsorship, that allows advertisers to activate around cultural moments such as Black Friday and awards season.
“This brings together a suite of solutions to put advertisers at the heart of moments they care about, like the PGA Championship or awards season with a high share of voice and brand integrations within content viewers love,” the company said.
The streaming service is also upgrading its connected TV (CTV) shopping experience with an interactive product feed, powered by Google Merchant Center. This feature allows viewers to shop directly from their TVs, building on existing offerings like QR codes and ship-to-phone functionality. In addition, the platform has revamped its masthead placement on CTV homepages, giving brands a more dramatic and comprehensive canvas for their ads. According to the company’s internal data, its CTV campaigns reach over 50 million users monthly.
As a Google-owned company, YouTube stated that generative AI remains a priority for the business, particularly in its advertising division. Mohan also introduced Peak Points, a new technology that uses Google Gemini to detect and match advertising to contextually relevant “peak moments” inside popular YouTube content and during periods when viewers are most likely to interact.
On the partnerships side, YouTube is doubling down on sports, particularly after users watched over 350 million hours of official NFL content on the platform last year. Building on this, the company announced an expanded partnership with the NFL to stream the league’s first Friday game of the 2025-2026 season, which will take place in São Paulo, Brazil. This will be the first time the platform will live stream NFL games, all of which will be available on NFL’s YouTube channel for free.
The renewed partnership with the NFL also includes a multi-year agreement for the annual Super Bowl flag football game, which features creators and artists. The platform already partnered with the NFL for the Super Bowl LIX flag football game, which received over six million live views.
