Major YouTube creators aim to draw ad dollars away from TV during Upfronts

The news: Major YouTube creators including MrBeast will partake in an invite-only event in New York on March 27 to draw marketing dollars from traditional TV to creator-driven digital content, per The Hollywood Reporter.

• The event, known as the “Spotter Showcase” and produced by creator-focused firm Spotter alongside YouTubers Colin & Samir, will see creators “share their content calendars, formats, tentpole series, audience data, and upcoming ideas,” letting brands buy in early, per Spotter.
• Creators confirmed to attend include Ryan Trahan, Jordan Matter, Dude Perfect, Rebecca Zamolo, and Kinigra Deon, with Colin & Samir leading conversations. Combined, the lineup had more than 77 billion minutes watched in the US by adults ages 18 to 49 in 2024 alone.

Over 150 CMOs of major brands will be in attendance.

Zooming out: YouTube’s influence on the ad landscape is significant and still growing. The platform leads in time spent with TV in the US, accounting for 10.4%, per Nielsen.

The Spotter Showcase aims to capitalize on this and convince brands to invest in places where modern consumers are most likely to connect with meaningful content.

• “To capture cultural moments and audience engagement, brands must align with creators—who now command the largest and most engaged audiences across digital platforms,” Spotter president Nic Paul said.
• The event is “about deep consumer attention and fostering authentic collaborations that give brands access to the unrivaled scale, trust, and engagement of creator audiences,” per Aaron DeBevoise, CEO and founder of Spotter.

Our take: The Spotter Showcase could be a key event to shift the advertising landscape further toward the ever-growing creator economy where platforms like YouTube are critical touchpoints.

Brands attending the showcase may see that advertising alongside creators with consistent viewership and loyal audiences is a significant opportunity to expand reach across several target demographics—and potentially get a higher ROI than traditional platform advertising by building strategic relationships with content creators.