YouTube Creator Partnerships is a Google Ads tool that allows brands to find YouTube creators, manage their partnerships, and link sponsored videos to their advertising account. Since June 2026, its core features have been available to all active Google Ads accounts in countries within the YouTube Partner Program, including France.
For advertisers, this marks the end of influencer marketing managed in separate files, disconnected from campaign data. This guide details how the tool works, eligibility criteria, steps to get started, and the limitations of the beta phase.
What is YouTube Creator Partnerships?
YouTube Creator Partnerships is a platform for managing collaborations between brands and creators, from discovery to sponsored content. For advertisers, it is accessible via the Tools menu in Google Ads, alongside campaigns. For creators, it appears in the Revenue tab of YouTube Studio in regions where the service is active.
From BrandConnect to YouTube Creator Partnerships
YouTube unveiled the tool during its NewFronts on March 23, 2026, as a new version of BrandConnect, which was previously reserved for advertisers managed by Google sales teams. Since June 2026, the overview, creator search, and lists have been open to all active accounts in eligible countries. A dedicated API also exists, currently reserved for a select group of partners.
How it differs from Partnership Ads
Partnership Ads, renamed creator partnerships boost, are used to promote a creator's video as an ad. Their operation is detailed in our article on YouTube Partnership Ads.
YouTube Creator Partnerships operates upstream and around this format: it is used to identify creators, organize collaborations, and link videos to your account. The boost is just one of the possible actions once the video has been linked.
Who can use YouTube Creator Partnerships?
For advertisers
Any active Google Ads account registered in a country where the YouTube Partner Program is available has access to the overview, creator search, and lists. Previous requirements regarding spending thresholds and management by a Google sales team no longer apply.
Certain tabs, such as Video Discovery ads, still depend on individual account eligibility. Outside of covered countries, none of these features are accessible.
For creators
To appear in the tool and be contacted via YouTube Studio, a creator must meet five conditions:
- be at least 18 years old;
- be part of the YouTube Partner Program and be eligible for ad revenue sharing;
- have a channel in one of the 24 covered countries and regions, including France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States;
- have no active Community Guidelines strikes;
- comply with YouTube's monetization policies.
YouTube does not set a subscriber threshold for the tool. Enabling information sharing on a channel makes a creator more visible to brands.
How does the tool work in Google Ads?
In Google Ads, YouTube Creator Partnerships is organized into five tabs. Their visibility depends on your account's eligibility.
Find creators
Creator search is powered by Gemini and covers over 3 million channels in the YouTube Partner Program. A search by name returns the target channel as well as related channels, such as the same creator, collaborations, or cross-mentions.
Audience and performance filters exclude creators who do not share their detailed statistics. According to YouTube, creators who share this information appear in search results 60% more often on average (U.S. data, October to December 2025).
Link sponsored videos
Linking connects a creator's video to your Google Ads account. The simplest method is creator-initiated linking: they add your brand as a partner in YouTube Studio, indicate the paid promotion, and then publish. The request is then automatically accepted, requiring no action on your part.
Brands can also send a linking request for an existing video. The creator remains free to accept it. If they accept, you gain access to the video's metrics and can use it in your campaigns.
Measure organic and paid views
The Metrics tab aggregates organic and paid performance for all linked creator videos. This allows you to compare multiple collaborations on a common basis, rather than relying on screenshots provided by creators.
This measurement can be supplemented by Brand Lift, Search Lift, and Conversion Lift studies. Our guide on the Google Ads Brand Lift Survey explains how to interpret them.
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How do I get started with YouTube Creator Partnerships?
The initial steps help the tool recognize your brand, as video detection relies on signals from your Google Ads account.
- Rename your Google Ads account to your exact brand name.
- Link your brand's YouTube channel and your Merchant Center account to Google Ads.
- Open YouTube Creator Partnerships from the Tools menu, then browse the overview to identify videos that already mention you.
- Start a creator search and group relevant profiles into lists.
- Contact the selected creators and include the right to boost the video in the contract, as well as its disclosure as a paid product placement, a signal the tool uses to link it to your brand.
- Track association requests in the Management tab, then analyze the results in the Metrics tab.
Boosting creator videos: which campaigns should you use?
Once the video is associated, the creator partnerships boost format distributes it as an ad on Shorts and in-stream. It can be activated in three types of campaigns: Demand Gen, Video Reach, and Video View.
- Demand Gen: to generate consideration and conversions on Shorts and in feeds. See our article on the Demand Gen campaign on Google Ads.
- Video Reach: to maximize video reach at the best cost. The format is detailed in our article on the Video Reach Campaign.
- Video View: to get engaged views. See our article on Video Views campaigns.
The gain measured by Google is tangible: from January 2025 to January 2026, advertisers who promoted creator videos on Shorts achieved an average 30% lift in conversions. One more reason to negotiate the right to boost right from the contract stage.
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Best practices and tool limitations
YouTube Creator Partnerships is still in open beta. Google notes that the tool does not display all of a brand's sponsored videos, only examples, and that video analysis may be incomplete for some accounts.
A few best practices can help you avoid unpleasant surprises:
- negotiate boosting rights directly in the contract, as creators are not obligated to share their videos with the brand;
- verify that the paid promotion is properly declared in YouTube Studio, which is a requirement for association and a transparency obligation;
- evaluate a creator based on their detailed statistics when shared, rather than relying solely on their subscriber count;
- measure over time, because according to Agentio (cited by YouTube), 40% of a video's views occur more than a month after it is published.
Not all features announced at the NewFronts are available yet: bulk requests and audience-based suggestions are listed as upcoming. Up-to-date details can be found in the Google Ads documentation on YouTube Creator Partnerships.
How datashake supports you with YouTube Ads
datashake is a digital acceleration group launched in 2019 by two former employees of Google's European headquarters. The agency has supported over 1,000 advertisers and managed more than €500M in media investment, with a team of over 100 experts.
On YouTube, our teams datashake SEA bridge the gap between creator marketing and campaigns: selecting creators based on data, including boosting clauses in contracts, associating videos, and activating them via Demand Gen, Video Reach, or Video View. The fundamentals of this lever are in our complete guide to YouTube Ads.
FAQ
What is the difference between BrandConnect and YouTube Creator Partnerships?
YouTube Creator Partnerships is the new version of BrandConnect, announced in March 2026. Since June 2026, the tool is no longer reserved for large advertisers.
Is YouTube Creator Partnerships available in France?
Yes. France is among the countries where the YouTube Partner Program is active. French Google Ads accounts therefore have access to creator search, and eligible French creators can be featured on the platform.
Does the creator have to approve the association of their video?
Yes, when the request comes from the brand: the creator remains free to accept or decline it. When the creator adds the brand as a partner in YouTube Studio, the association is automatically accepted on the Google Ads side.
Can you boost a creator's video without their consent?
No. Boosting requires the video to be linked to your account, and linking it constitutes authorization to promote the video in your campaigns.
Which campaigns should I use to promote a creator's video?
The creator partnerships boost format works with Demand Gen, Video Reach, and Video View campaigns, with delivery on Shorts and in-stream.
