YouTube introduces branded content platform, podcasts in India

YouTube on Thursday introduced BrandConnect in India, a sponsored content platform that will connect creators, brands, and agencies in India for direct collaborations.

"This will help brands execute their branded content campaigns more seamlessly by identifying the right mix and profile of creators to work with, while creators will have a new avenue to be discovered and earn more from their content," YouTube parent, Google, said in a blog post.

The newly launched platform will join other monetisation tools or 'fan funding products' available for content creators on YouTube, such as Channel Memberships and Super Chat during live streams.

With Super Chat, viewers can pay to highlight their messages during a live stream for a specified duration, determined by the amount paid. In Channel Membership, users can subscribe to their favourite channel for paid memberships, getting access to exclusive content.

In December 2022, YouTube saw a 10% year-over-year increase in channels that earned a majority of revenue from fan funding products.

"Estimates by Oxford Economics show that over 700,000 creators and partners in India have found their financial anchor in YouTube, receiving income linked to their YouTube presence," Google said.

"We expanded eligibility for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) to include Shorts creators and rolled out ad revenue sharing for Shorts," it added. YouTube has introduced Collab, a new creation tool for Shorts similar to reels on Instagram, allowing creators to record side-by-side Shorts with other YouTube videos.

Additional features include a Q&A sticker for audience interaction, mobile-first vertical live experiences for live creators in Shorts, and streamlined creation with suggested effects from other Shorts.

The platform also enables saving Shorts to playlists for easy access and plans to test recomposition tools for transforming horizontal videos into Shorts.

Google also introduced podcasts for creators and artists to showcase their podcasts on YouTube and YouTube Music.

"We’ve begun rolling this out to all our listeners in India gradually. New features in YouTube Studio make it easier to publish podcasts, while Podcast shelves on the YouTube Music homepage will help improve discovery for listeners and increase engagement for creators," it said in the blog post.

With podcasts available for on-demand, offline, and background listening on YouTube Music in India, it unlocks the opportunity to earn more on the platform via ads and subscriptions, it said.