YouTube Brandcast 2025: 3 Product Updates Your Business Needs To Know About

Earlier this year, YouTube’s CEO revealed a huge shift in viewing habits: more YouTube viewers use TV to watch content, rather than mobile. With this knowledge in mind, YouTube executives took to the Brandcast stage to introduce a new ecommerce TV format.

With Shoppable CTV, brands advertising on YouTube now have the chance to showcase products during ad breaks. From their TV screens, viewers can look through items with their remote control and make purchases by:

1. Scanning a QR code with their smartphones
2. Or by holding down the on-screen “Send to phone” button

This leaves viewers with an engaging shopping experience seamlessly integrated with YouTube’s TV app.

• Why this product update matters: With audiences flocking to their TV screens to watch YouTube content, it makes sense for businesses to go where the viewers are. If you want to acquire new customers online and secure additional sales, this could be a smart route to go down.

Peak Points, a new ad product powered by Google Gemini AI, is another YouTube update that businesses need to check out if advertising on the platform.

The AI tool helps businesses strategically place their YouTube ads, identifying the moments in video content when viewers are most engaged. Once the most engaging video segments are identified, Peak Points will place ads directly after them without interrupting any key, emotionally-charged scenes.

• Why this product update matters: The placement of your ads can make or break customer engagement, so this tool can help you showcase promotional content without taking away from the user experience. It could even optimize your conversion rates since you’re engaging with viewers at the perfect moment.

👀 This isn’t the only ad feature YouTube has released this year. Discover previous YouTube Ads upgrades from 2025 now.

At Brandcast 2025, YouTube also announced its Cultural Moments Sponsorship package. For significant cultural events – like Black Friday, the awards season, or the Super Bowl – advertisers can purchase ad sponsorship packages to increase brand awareness during the most talked-about moments of the year.

• Why this product update matters: Need a better way to tap into events from your 2025 marketing calendar? YouTube’s Cultural Moments package could be a solution. By placing your brand at the heart of these cultural milestones, you stand a better chance of capturing the attention of these engaged audiences.

As a business, it can get exhausting trying to manage your advertising and marketing strategies all at once. However, thanks to YouTube’s commitment to innovation and the new features released at Brandcast, it’s possible to find solutions that’ll make promoting your brand and captivating new audiences much easier. 

Of course, I expect YouTube (and other social platforms) will be introducing more features throughout the rest of 2025. We’ll be updating our news page when they’re released, so keep your eyes peeled!