There have always been issues with YouTube’s advertising program. Oftentimes, YouTube would play favorites, gather up all the most brand-friendly channels and advertise on them. However, YouTube is planning to replace the current Google Preferred Ad Program with a new program it’s calling YouTube Select.
According to YouTube’s vice president of ad production management, Vishal Sharma, YouTube Select is “a reimagination and unification of solutions like Google Preferred and prime packs.”
What are prime packs?
Prime packs are collections of channels that all rotate around a particularly popular theme. Up until now, YouTube has sold ads with prime packs for brands that were looking to market to a specific audience on the platform. So, a makeup company would buy ads on a beauty prime pack. That way they’ll reach people looking for beauty products.
YouTube Select will instead blend prime packs with Google Preferred where advertisers will be offered content lineups. These lineups feature creators and videos that have been approved as YouTube to be brand-safe. According to Shamra, content lineups will be “tailored to globally and locally relevant needs like beauty & fashion, entertainment, technology, sports, and everything in between.”
Who will be approved for YouTube Select?
There is a YouTube Select landing page where there are examples of creators who will be featured in the program. YouTubers like MrBeast, Marques Brownlee, James Charles and Markiplier are all headlining examples. Each one is heading different lineups. So, for instance, MrBeast heads Entertainment & Pop Culture while Markiplier heads Gaming.
Sharma noted that YouTube Select will offer “emerging lineups” to showcase “up and coming or niche channels.” He also noted advertisers will gain access to more advanced brand suitability controls. As an example, there will be an option that allows them to have ads on videos that have been verified as ad-friendly by both a machine classifier and a human staffer.
It it isn’t clear however if YouTube creators currently in Google Preferred will be transferred directly into YouTube Select. We will just have to wait for YouTube to release more information later down the line.
Image courtesy: Google