YouTube is reusing its NewFront pitch from last year.
The social video network will continue its Google Preferred strategy of marketing creators, AdAge first reported. Last year, around 100 parent-level brands in the U.S., 30 of which were YouTube first-timers, bought enough of the 14 available categories that Google Preferred nearly sold out by October.
In addition, YouTube will once again let advertisers purchase guaranteed placements on the top 5% of YouTube channels in exchange for upfront spend commitment.
YouTube will showcase the second year of the program at the Google Brandcast event in New York on April 29.
The company is making a few changes to the Google Preferred program. The consolidation of music categories has decreased the number of content categories advertisers can buy from 14 to 12. The video-sharing website will also expand Google Preferred to at least 10 new markets by the end of 2015. YouTube declined to report the amount of money it is requiring advertisers to spend for Google Preferred this year.
In Google Preferred campaigns, YouTube says it has seen an 80% increase in ad recall and a 17% increase in brand awareness.
