Inside YouTube’s 2024 upfront pitch to advertisers

YouTube is updating its YouTube Select program that packages top creators’ channels, adding creator takeovers and introducing a new AI-powered ad product.

More updates from upfront week:

• Agility and flexibility will be key for independent agencies to take on the holding companies as the upfront marketplace plays out over the next several weeks and months — especially as client expectations change as a result of a far more complex market.
• ICYMI: How upfront ad sellers’ ‘advanced audiences’ pitches have, um, advanced this year.

Additional coverage:

• Ad tech giant Colossus is in hot water amid accusations of duping advertisers into buying audiences they never intended to target. Shocked by the allegations, several of them are now scrutinizing their ad buys with the ad tech vendor to check if they’ve been misled.
• Streaming could change the NBA advertising landscape, say media experts.
• Publishers' Q1 earnings show some promise in the digital ad market. More in this Digiday+ Media Briefing.
• As the crowded digital landscape challenges marketers to stand out, B2B company Workday tests a B2C marketing strategy.
• This edition of the Digiday+ Research Briefing examines how advertisers are approaching spend in the upfront market, what metrics marketers use to gauge ad campaign success on streaming platforms, and how brands, retailers and agencies are investing in programmatic ads.