YouTube is an anomaly in the early stages of TV: unlike other networks and streaming media, it does not provide a lot of new programming that can make Madison Avenue interested in buying ads.

Instead, YouTube touts that others can’t match. To highlight the platform's claim that it promotes culture, it has invited a bunch of personalities from this year's YouTube Brandcast Exfront presentation to attract crowds including Lady Gaga. Mrbeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson), the most important creator of YouTube; Brittany Broski; Sean Evans, host of “Hot People”; and game streaming Ishowspeed. Also on the scene: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell talks about the league's deal for the first free NFL game for YouTube next season.

As far as the zeitgeist of monetization is concerned, YouTube's biggest news Wednesday is the launch of a new sponsorship program for advertisers to buy for Oscars, Emmys, Emmys and other awards seasons, as well as the post-Black Friday bonus, Tektronix shopping and PGA champions.

It was the fourth year of YouTube's branded broadcasting that crashed TV expectations, and it was once again held at David Geffen Hall, New York City, in Lincoln Center. The Stadium Festival is the celebration of its 20th birthday this year by YouTube.

In other news, YouTube has also shown a new “immersive” header for connected TV ads, giving the brand an “movie” edge-to-edge canvas. It also announced a new ad format built using its Gemini AI model to identify and match context-related "peak moments" in a wide range of YouTube content, when audiences were most likely to attract.

See also: YouTube says it now hosts over 20 billion videos

Another new feature of YouTube is the ability to shop directly on connected TVs with interactive product feeds. The CTV Shopping Experience is powered by Google Business Center, allowing viewers to discover and purchase directly from their living room TVs. This builds on YouTube's current CTV e-commerce product, which includes QR code and sending phone functions.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan touted the introduction of previously announced features to enable creators to be organized by seasons on connected TV, similar to streaming platforms like Netflix. This way, fans like Michelle Khare's Challenge Casscept and Rhett & Link's Good Mythical Morning look up and watch new plots and binges - watch old episodes.

Former New England Patriots players Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski will be on stage with Goodell.

As announced on Tuesday, YouTube will exclusively stream the first NFL game of the 2025-26 season in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for free worldwide (except Canada and a few other countries). This is the first NFL game YouTube will play on the platform, which has been home to the league’s Sunday subscription package for Sunday’s box office in the past two seasons.

Prior to the Brandcast demo, YouTube produced a red carpet, "Rest Therapy," co-hosted by YouTube creators Haley Kalil and Julian Shapiro-Barnum. Other creators and talented talents on the carpet include Adam W, Casey Neistat, Hopescope and Jordan Howlett.

According to Nelson, YouTube has been ranked No. 1 in the streaming observation time of U.S. TV sets, lasting more than two years - as of March 2025, Prime video leads with Yetnflix, Disney Plus and Amazon. In the first quarter of 2025, TVS surpassed mobile devices to become the main device for YouTube viewing.

See also: YouTube 20: How Video Colossus launches creators' economy and moves from Hollywood enemies to friends