Google’s Creator Partnerships Hub: Redefining Brand-Creator Collaborations

In an era of influencer-driven marketing, Google’s Creator Partnerships Hub emerges as a bold new solution for advertisers.

Unveiled in 2025, this hub is a centralised interface within Google Ads designed to connect brands with YouTube creators in a seamless, data-driven way.

Busy CMOs and marketing managers can leverage the hub to deepen existing creator connections, discover new influencer partners, and integrate authentic creator-made content into their ad campaigns – all while viewing paid and organic performance side by side.

The result is a one-stop environment that promises to streamline brand-creator collaborations and drive stronger results from the trust and reach that creators command.

What the Creator Partnerships Hub Is

The Creator Partnerships Hub is essentially Google’s built-in influencer marketing platform inside Google Ads. It serves as a central hub for working with YouTube creators, letting brands identify and manage creator content directly within their advertising workflow. In practical terms, the hub surfaces YouTube videos where creators mention or feature your brand, and it enables you to partner with those creators to amplify that content as ads. Google describes it as a “one-stop solution” that simplifies finding, evaluating, and collaborating with creators to achieve marketing goals.

Importantly, this isn’t a standalone app or external marketplace – it lives right inside Google Ads. The feature (currently in beta for select advertisers) appears under the Tools menu as “Creator partnerships”.

Here, brands can tap into YouTube’s massive creator ecosystem (over 3 million monetising channels) without leaving the ad platform. By bridging the gap between organic creator content and paid advertising, the Creator Partnerships Hub allows marketers to harness the credibility and creative voices of YouTube influencers in a scalable, measurable way.

For example, a brand can take a popular YouTuber’s review or unboxing video about its product and directly run it as a promotional ad – combining the creator’s authenticity with Google’s advertising reach. The hub’s introduction reflects Google’s recognition that influencer content is no longer ancillary; it’s becoming an essential part of the performance marketing mix.

Why It Was Launched and What Problems It Solves

Google launched the Creator Partnerships Hub to solve several pain points that brands have long faced with influencer marketing. Traditionally, collaborating with creators has been fragmented and time-consuming – finding the right influencers, negotiating deals, distributing content, and measuring impact often required manual effort and third-party agencies. This hub directly addresses those issues by centralising discovery, collaboration, and measurement on one platform ppc.land. As YouTube’s product team noted, these tools are “everything you need to find and partner with the right creators in your ad campaigns, then measure the outcomes you’re driving together”.

Some key challenges that the Creator Partnerships Hub aims to solve include:

• Discovery of Relevant Creators: With millions of YouTube creators, identifying those who align with your brand and audience can be daunting. The hub’s search and suggestion features (powered by YouTube’s new Insights Finder) let marketers quickly find creators by topic, demographic fit, and even see who’s already talking about their brand linkedin.com. This AI-powered creator search saves time and ensures a better brand-creator fit.

• Managing Sponsored Content: Before, if a YouTuber made a sponsored video for a brand, turning that organic content into an ad required several offline steps. Now, the hub streamlines this by allowing brands to request linking of a creator’s video to their Google Ads account with one click. This automates permissions for using the video in campaigns and unlocks audience data, eliminating back-and-forth bureaucracy.

• Unified Measurement and ROI Tracking: A major headache in influencer marketing has been measuring impact – organic video views and engagements sat on YouTube, while ad metrics were separate. The Creator Partnerships Hub solves this by providing combined paid and organic reporting for linked creator videos. Marketers can finally see, within Google Ads, how a creator’s content performs as an ad alongside its natural performance. This transparency helps demonstrate ROI. Google cites research that YouTube delivers 23% higher ROI than traditional social media channels and that 98% of viewers trust YouTube creator recommendations over other social platforms – the hub is designed to capitalize on these advantages with solid data.

• Scaling and Efficiency: For brands working with multiple influencers, keeping track of relationships and content usage can strain resources. By building the workflow into Google Ads, the hub makes it easier to scale up creator collaborations without adding headcount. It also introduces new APIs so that influencer agencies and marketing platforms can integrate creator data into their tools, hinting at an ecosystem that supports efficient collaboration management.

In short, Google’s motivation for launching the Creator Partnerships Hub is rooted in the growing importance of influencer marketing. Advertising spend has been steadily shifting toward creator-led content, because consumers respond to authenticity and peer-style recommendations. YouTube is leaning into this trend – at its NewFronts event, YouTube’s executives highlighted that trust in creators drives purchase decisions and that brands like L’Oréal doubled ROI by embracing creator campaigns. The new hub positions YouTube (and Google Ads) as the central place to facilitate these high-trust, high-ROI collaborations, solving the friction that previously kept some brands (especially smaller ones) from fully tapping into creator partnerships.

How It Works Inside the Google Ads Ecosystem

Google Ads – Creator Partnerships Hub interface. The hub lets advertisers search for YouTube creators (e.g. by topic “Pet channels”) with filters for audience insights, and see potential partners’ performance data. From here, brands can request to link a creator’s video or channel for use in their campaigns.

Inside Google Ads, the Creator Partnerships Hub functions as a toolkit that guides brands through the full lifecycle of a creator collaboration, tightly integrated with campaign setup and reporting. Here’s how it works:

• Sponsored Video Suggestions: The hub’s dashboard will automatically suggest YouTube videos that feature your brand or products in a sponsored context. For instance, if a tech vlogger reviewed your new gadget (and tagged it as #sponsored or indicated a paid partnership), that video might appear in your hub. Brands can watch these video previews, assess the content, and if it’s a good fit, take action directly.

• Creator Search & Discovery: Beyond passive suggestions, advertisers can actively search for creators using the integrated Insights Finder. This tool allows conversational queries and filtering by criteria like topic, channel size, or audience demographics. In practice, a marketer could search for “UK gaming creators, age 18-34 audience” and the hub would surface matching creator profiles complete with engagement metrics and audience stats. This helps find the “perfect match” creators whose audience aligns with your target. It essentially turns YouTube’s vast data into a searchable influencer database inside Google Ads.

• Video Linking and Approval: Once a brand identifies a creator video they want to use, they can send a link request to the creator through the platform. This linking process is crucial – by linking a video, the creator grants permission for their content to be used in ads and shares the video’s performance data with the brand’s Google Ads account. The hub makes this as simple as clicking a “Link video” button next to the suggested content (there’s even a “Link All” option to request all suggested videos in bulk). When the creator accepts the request on their end, the video becomes available for the brand to integrate into campaigns. Google isn’t brokering the deal or payment – brands still handle any sponsorship agreements privately – but the platform facilitates the technical connection. The benefit is twofold: the brand can now run the creator’s video as an ad without it getting flagged or blocked, and they gain access to valuable metrics like organic view counts and audience engagement for that video support.google.com.

• Partnership Ads Integration: With videos linked, advertisers can seamlessly promote this creator content via “Partnership Ads”, a new ad format powered by YouTube BrandConnect. In campaign creation, you simply use the YouTube video URL as your ad creative – the hub ensures it’s legally and technically cleared for use. These Partnership Ads can run across most campaign types (Demand Gen, Video Action, Video Reach, etc.) and in various placements, including YouTube Shorts and in-feed videos support.google.com. In certain formats like Shorts In-Feed ads, a co-branded layout is applied, showing both the creator’s name and the brand, which reinforces the collaboration to viewers. Early results are promising: Google has indicated that partnership ads in the Shorts feed can drive up to 20% higher conversions compared to standard ads with traditional brand creative. The authenticity of a creator’s voice makes the ad feel more like trusted content, boosting effectiveness.

• Unified Performance Reporting: One of the hub’s most powerful aspects is the ability to view organic and paid performance data together. In Google Ads, linked creator videos show metrics such as organic views, watch time, likes, and comments alongside the usual ad KPIs like impressions, click-through rate, and conversions. This gives a holistic view of how the content is resonating. Advertisers can even create audience segments (remarketing lists) of users who watched the creator’s video, then retarget them or find lookalike audiences – bridging the gap between an influencer’s fan community and the brand’s own customer base. Standard lift measurement tools (e.g. brand lift surveys) are integrated as well, so marketers can directly attribute sales or brand awareness impact to these creator-fueled ads. All of this is done within the familiar Google Ads interface, simplifying the workflow for busy teams.

Notably, the Creator Partnerships Hub is not a static one-way street. It supports two-way collaboration signals: creators in the YouTube Partner Program can tag videos with paid partnership labels (like #ad or the “Includes paid promotion” flag), which helps their content get suggested to brands. In the future, creators will even be able to proactively send collaboration requests to brands via the hub – for example, a creator could tag a brand they’d love to work with, essentially pitching themselves. This indicates Google’s intent to evolve the hub into a full-fledged collaboration marketplace where both parties can initiate partnerships.

Benefits for Brands of All Sizes

One of Google’s key goals with the Creator Partnerships Hub is to democratise influencer marketing, making it fruitful for large and small brands alike. By integrating creator campaigns into the Google Ads ecosystem, the hub offers several compelling benefits:

• Authenticity at Scale: Creator-made content often carries an authenticity that polished brand ads struggle to match. Viewers trust creators’ recommendations – nearly 98% of audiences prefer creator endorsements on YouTube over those on other platforms. By injecting this credible, relatable content into your ad campaigns, your brand messaging comes from a trusted voice. This can bolster engagement and ad performance, as genuine storytelling resonates more than overt sales pitches.

• Expanded Reach to New Audiences: Every creator has their own community of followers. Partnering with them allows a brand to reach niche and engaged audiences that might be difficult to target with standard ads. For example, a small outdoor apparel brand could collaborate (via the hub) with a hiking vlogger, instantly connecting with thousands of adventure enthusiasts who trust that creator. Even large brands benefit by tapping into pockets of audience interest they might otherwise miss. This approach can expose your product to receptive viewers who weren’t already in your marketing funnel.

• Unified Insights and ROI Clarity: The hub’s combined reporting of organic and paid metrics means advertisers can finally quantify the full impact of creator collaborations. You see the uplift in views and engagement that a creator’s organic post generated, alongside the incremental reach and conversions driven by running it as an ad. This holistic view helps justify influencer marketing spend to the C-suite with hard data. It also lets you optimise campaigns in-flight – for instance, if the organic view-through rate of a video is high but ad CTR is low, you can adjust targeting or creative accordingly. The days of guesswork in influencer ROI are fading.

• Efficiency and Consistency: The Creator Partnerships Hub streamlines what used to be a multi-platform juggling act. Small brands with lean teams can use it to handle influencer partnerships without hiring expensive agencies – the platform surfaces creators and manages tech integration for them. Large brands benefit from having a standardized process: your media team can manage influencer content just as easily as a Google Ads campaign. This consistency reduces friction and error. All sizes of advertisers also save on production costs by repurposing creator content that’s already made and proven to engage, rather than always developing ads from scratch.

• Co-Branded Creative and Control: With partnership ads, brands get the best of both worlds – the creator’s style and credibility, plus the brand’s messaging and targeting savvy. The co-branding format (especially in YouTube Shorts and in-feed ads) subtly signals the collaboration, which can enhance brand recall while still feeling organic. Brands of any size can maintain control over where and when the creator’s content appears (through Google’s campaign settings) and ensure it aligns with their objectives. This integration of creator content into the brand’s own media mix means even a modest campaign can leverage influencer magic in a very targeted, controllable way.

• Level Playing Field in the Creator Economy: By providing access to creator partnerships within Google Ads, Google is effectively lowering the barrier to entry. Smaller advertisers who might have been outpaced by big-budget competitors in securing influencer deals can now identify enthusiastic micro-creators who already love their brand and quickly team up. Meanwhile, big advertisers can manage a large portfolio of creator relationships without the overhead bloat. The hub empowers brands of all sizes to be proactive and smart in how they engage with the creator economy – whether that’s a local UK startup finding a YouTuber in its niche, or a global brand scaling dozens of creator-led campaigns with unified oversight.

In essence, the Creator Partnerships Hub turns what used to be an exclusive or cumbersome tactic into an accessible, efficient strategy for any brand willing to embrace authentic content. It amplifies the voices of creators in a way that supports brand objectives, which can be a game-changer for marketing teams looking to boost performance and trust simultaneously.

Expert and Industry Reactions

The introduction of the Creator Partnerships Hub has generated significant buzz among marketers, creators, and industry observers. Early reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, with many experts heralding it as a transformative step for influencer marketing on YouTube:

• “VERY excited to see the impact this will have for Creators and Brands,” wrote Tyler Allen, COO of a major YouTube channel, highlighting that the hub lets brands find who’s already creating content about them, search for ideal new creators, run sponsored videos as ads, and see paid vs. organic results side by side. This all-in-one capability has professionals like him optimistic about closer brand-creator alignment.

• “Love seeing creators finally get a ‘receipt reader’ built into Google Ads. This could be a game-changer for turning organic brand love into paper-up brand deals,” noted Brittany Ratelle, an attorney and strategist in the creator economy. By “receipt reader,” she’s referring to the transparency of performance data – the hub essentially prints out the receipt for how a sponsored video performs, which helps both creators and brands prove ROI. Ratelle and others point out that smart creators welcome this transparency because it arms them with data to pitch win-win partnerships to brands.

• Industry publications have described the Creator Partnerships Hub as “taking influencer marketing to the next level” and “revolutionizing brand-creator collaborations on YouTube”. The term “game-changer” appears frequently in analysis, reflecting a consensus that Google’s move will significantly impact marketing strategies. Commentators have noted that by solving transparency and scalability issues – such as the ability to search creators by keywords and see performance metrics upfront – Google is addressing one of the biggest historical challenges in influencer marketing quasa.io.

• Major brands have also lent credibility through their case studies (as we’ll see next). At YouTube’s NewFront event, the Chief Digital Officer of L’Oréal USA shared impressive results from creator collaborations, implicitly endorsing the approach. Such endorsements from industry leaders further validate the hub’s potential.

Overall, the sentiment is that Google’s Creator Partnerships Hub is arriving at just the right time. Marketers have been craving better integration of influencer content with performance media, and creators have wanted easier ways to connect with advertisers – now the bridge is being built.

There is some healthy scepticism in the air (as with any new platform) about how it will play out in practice, but the early use cases and expert opinions suggest a strong value proposition. As one marketing blogger quipped, “If we in the creator economy don’t build it, the majors will” – implying that Google’s entry may dominate this space if it executes well, so it’s worth paying attention.

Dan Trotter’s Perspective

Dan Trotter, co-founder of PPC Geeks and a veteran in pay-per-click advertising, views the Creator Partnerships Hub as a timely innovation that aligns with the evolving landscape of online marketing. Having advised numerous brands on their Google Ads and social strategies, Dan has witnessed firsthand the growing influence of YouTube creators on consumer behaviour. In his perspective, this new hub is more than just a feature update – it’s a reflection of a broader shift where creative storytelling and performance marketing are converging.

From Dan’s point of view, one of the most powerful aspects of the Creator Partnerships Hub is how it marries authenticity with accountability. “For years, we’ve known that people trust genuine creator content, but it was hard to directly connect that to our campaign KPIs,” Dan explains. Tools like the hub change that equation. Now a CMO can invest in influencer collaborations with the same confidence and clarity as a search or display campaign because the outcomes are trackable within Google Ads. Dan often cites Google’s own findings – such as YouTube delivering 23% higher ROI than generic social media campaigns – to underscore why incorporating creators can supercharge marketing results. “When nearly all your customers trust a YouTuber’s recommendation more than an ad, you’d better find a way to be in that conversation,” he adds, referencing the statistic that 98% of viewers trust YouTube creators over other platforms.

Dan also notes that the hub levels up the creative possibilities for brands. In discussions with PPC Geeks’ clients, he highlights how even smaller brands can now punch above their weight by leveraging creator-made videos. Imagine a scenario, he says, where a startup’s product gets organically featured by a niche YouTube reviewer. Previously, that might have been a happy accident with limited reach. But with the Creator Partnerships Hub, the startup can recognize that opportunity, amplify the video as an ad, and suddenly reach millions – all while maintaining the credible tone of the review. From Dan’s perspective, this effectively turns earned media into paid media in a fluid way, something performance marketers have long dreamt of.

However, Dan is quick to advise that success with the Creator Partnerships Hub will depend on strategy and execution. Simply having the tool isn’t a magic bullet – brands will need to choose creator partnerships wisely. He suggests advertisers focus on alignment: “It’s not just about picking the influencer with the biggest following; it’s about the right cultural fit and audience overlap,” Dan says. The hub provides data on audience demographics and engagement, which can guide these decisions, but marketers must interpret that data intelligently. He encourages brands to work closely with their influencer marketing teams (or agencies) to ensure any partnership has authenticity and clear mutual value, rather than treating creators as just another ad placement. In Dan Trotter’s view, the Creator Partnerships Hub is a powerful enabler, but the human element – creativity, trust, and strategic thinking – remains key. Used correctly, he believes this approach can deliver outstanding ROI and brand lift, as evidenced by early case studies, and could become a standard part of the performance marketing playbook moving forward.

Real-World Use Cases and Examples

While the Creator Partnerships Hub is new, some early adopters and pilot campaigns have already demonstrated its potential. Here are a few real-world examples that show how brands are leveraging creator partnerships through Google’s tools:

• Toyota x Zach King – Boosting Brand Lift: Toyota tested YouTube’s creator collaboration features to promote its new electric vehicle, the BZ4X. They partnered with Zach King, a popular creator known for his magical video edits, effectively giving him a “creator takeover” of the campaign. Toyota secured 100% share-of-voice on Zach’s channel during the promotion (meaning Zach’s content was heavily themed around Toyota) and also ran Partnership Ads featuring his sponsored video. The results were striking: Toyota saw a 14-point lift in brand recommendation for the car, and when they paired the creator content with ads via the hub, it yielded an additional 2-point lift in brand recommendation on top of the organic impact. This demonstrates how a co-branded approach (creator content + paid amplification) can measurably move the needle on brand metrics.

• L’Oréal (CeraVe) – Driving ROI and Search Interest: L’Oréal USA has been a big proponent of creator partnerships, and their Chief Digital & Marketing Officer shared that the company doubled its ROI on YouTube over two years by leaning into creator-driven campaigns. One example highlighted was a collaboration between L’Oréal’s CeraVe skincare brand and dermatologist YouTuber Dr. Shereene Idriss. Using YouTube’s creator tools, CeraVe worked with Dr. Idriss to produce content around the brand’s Hydrating Facial Cleanser. By linking that video to their campaigns via the hub and running it as an ad, they achieved a 74% increase in search lift for the product and a 12% lift in search activity for the overall CeraVe brand. These figures suggest that creator content not only drove immediate engagement but also sparked significant interest and consideration, as evidenced by more people searching for the brand online. It’s a powerful testament to how authentic educational content (in this case, a doctor’s endorsement) amplified through paid promotion can yield both performance and brand-building results.

These examples underscore the versatility of the Creator Partnerships Hub. Whether it’s a global automaker aiming for a broad brand lift or a skincare line targeting specific product searches, partnering with creators has proven effective. By integrating those partnerships into Google’s ad delivery and measurement, brands achieved incremental gains that likely wouldn’t have been possible through either organic influencer content or paid ads alone. The “hybrid” strategy is what makes these results noteworthy. It’s still early days, but as more case studies roll out, expect to see a pattern: brands that thoughtfully combine creator authenticity with Google’s advertising muscle can reap significant rewards.

Implementation Considerations for Advertisers

For advertisers eager to tap into the Creator Partnerships Hub, there are several practical considerations to ensure a smooth and effective implementation. Here are some key points to keep in mind as you plan your approach:

• Availability and Access: As of mid-2025, the Creator Partnerships Hub is in beta, rolled out on an invite-only basis to select advertisers in over 20 markets. If you don’t see it in your Google Ads account yet, reach out to your Google Ads representative or account manager to express interest. Being an early adopter might require meeting certain eligibility criteria (e.g. having an active YouTube Ads history or being part of a pilot program). Google is likely to expand access over time, so stay tuned for announcements if you can’t get in immediately.

• Account Setup – Linkages and Signals: To make the most of the hub, ensure your Google Ads account is properly set up with all relevant linkages. Connect your brand’s YouTube channel to your Google Ads account (if you have one) and verify that your account name and business information accurately reflect your brand. The hub uses signals like account names, YouTube channel links, and even your Merchant Center data to match you with relevant creator content. If your brand has multiple Google Ads accounts under a manager (MCC), ensure they’re structured logically, as the system might look at your entire hierarchy for context. On the creator side, encourage any influencers you work with to properly label their sponsored videos (using YouTube’s paid promotion disclosure and hashtags like #ad) – this increases the chance that their content will be detected and suggested in your hub feed.

• Legal and Rights Management: While the Creator Partnerships Hub automates the technical aspects of linking and using a creator’s video, it does not replace the need for a proper business agreement with the creator. You as the advertiser are responsible for securing rights to use the content in ads. This typically means having a written contract or sponsorship agreement that covers how the creator is compensated and what you’re allowed to do with their content (duration of use, platforms, etc.). The hub will prompt the creator to accept the linking request, but that click is not a legal contract – it’s more of a workflow permission. Make sure your legal team or agency aligns the paperwork in parallel. Also note that in some formats, users who click a partnership ad might end up on the creator’s YouTube channel or video page (not your website). This is generally positive (since engaged viewers often want to explore the creator), but be aware of that behavior when setting campaign expectations.

• Choosing and Vetting Creator Partners: Leverage the data provided in the hub to select creators that fit your brand values and campaign goals. Look at their audience demographics, engagement rates, and past content. The hub’s interface will show things like a creator’s average views, content themes, and even badges if they have prior partnership experience. Use this information to vet creators as you would any media placement: check for brand safety (does their content align with your standards?), relevance (is their audience your target?), and performance indicators (do they keep viewers engaged?). It’s tempting to go purely by subscriber count, but factors like engagement and audience sentiment are more telling. Start with a pilot collaboration with one or two creators, evaluate results, and then scale up. And remember, creators are not just ad inventory – they’re people. A quick personal outreach or conversation about the campaign can go a long way in making the partnership successful and ensuring the creator is enthusiastic about the collaboration.

• Campaign Integration and Optimization: When adding creator videos to your campaigns, treat them as unique creative assets. Test different approaches: a creator’s video might perform best as-is in a Demand Gen campaign (native feel in feeds), whereas for a Video Action campaign you might supplement it with call-to-action extensions since the content is more narrative. Monitor the combined analytics – if the organic performance is strong but the ad isn’t, check if the targeting is appropriate or if the format is right. The hub allows real-time insights, so use them to optimize. Also consider using the audience segment capabilities: for example, create a retargeting list of users who watched the creator’s video (since these viewers showed interest) and then hit them with a follow-up ad or a special offer. This kind of sequential strategy can boost conversion rates by nurturing the interest sparked by the creator’s endorsement.

• Cross-Platform and Measurement Strategy: Currently, the Creator Partnerships Hub is focused on YouTube. If your campaign spans multiple social platforms, you’ll need to coordinate those efforts separately. However, the insights you gain (which themes or personalities drive lift for your brand) can inform your broader influencer strategy on Instagram, TikTok, etc. In terms of measurement, take advantage of Google’s integrated reports but also consider third-party verification for key metrics if available. Google’s dual role as both the platform and the performance tracker has raised some questions about measurement independence. For mission-critical campaigns, you might run a brand lift study or use an independent analytics tool to corroborate results. That said, Google’s data will likely be accurate and rich – just ensure you interpret it in the context of your overall marketing mix.

• Future Developments and Training: Keep an eye on updates. Google is actively enhancing these creator-focused tools (for instance, rolling out third-party sales lift measurement for Shorts, new API capabilities, etc., as hinted in announcements). Ensure your team is trained on using the hub – Google’s support center has articles on Creator Partnerships and Partnership Ads. Running an internal workshop or lunch-and-learn for your marketing team can help integrate this new workflow into regular operations. The more comfortable your team is with the tool, the more value you’ll extract from it.

• Maintain Authenticity: Finally, remember that at the heart of this, success comes from genuine content. Even though we’re plugging creator videos into ads, the content should still feel real and relatable. Work with creators to craft messages that are truthful and engaging rather than overly scripted ad copy. The Creator Partnerships Hub is a powerful conduit, but the creative magic still relies on the humans behind it. As advertisers, give creators the creative freedom they need – their authenticity is the asset you’re leveraging. When a partnership is done right, the audience won’t feel the friction between an “ad” and a “video”; it will all just feel like a trusted recommendation, and that is ultimately the gold standard that drives results.

By considering these implementation tips, brands can effectively navigate the Creator Partnerships Hub and integrate it into their marketing strategy. Early adopters who approach this thoughtfully have the opportunity to leap ahead in the race for consumer attention – combining the art of influencer engagement with the science of Google’s ad platform. As with any new tool, there’s a learning curve, but the payoff in richer storytelling and higher ROI makes it well worth exploring for forward-thinking advertisers

Top 10 Takeaways From the Creator Partnerships Hub

The Creator Partnerships Hub marks a bold step forward for brand-creator collaborations on YouTube. Launched at Google Marketing Live 2025, this new feature gives UK brand owners, CMOs, and digital marketing managers a powerful toolkit to integrate influencer partnerships directly into Google Ads. Below we’ve distilled the most important points – here are the top 10 takeaways from the Creator Partnerships Hub and why they matter for your marketing strategy:

1. Centralised in Google Ads: The Creator Partnerships Hub is built right into Google Ads as a one-stop interface for influencer marketing. You can discover creators, manage partnerships, and run sponsored content campaigns all from one central dashboard – no need for separate platforms.

2. Advanced creator discovery tools: Finding the perfect YouTube creator is easier than ever. The hub’s new search is powered by Google’s Insights Finder (beta), allowing you to search with conversational queries and filter by niche, audience demographics, engagement rates, and more. This means you can quickly identify creators whose audience closely matches your target market.

3. Seamless video linking & integration: The hub streamlines how you turn organic creator content into ads. It highlights videos where creators mention or tag your brand and lets you request to link those videos to your Google Ads campaigns. A new API also makes it simple to manage multiple creator video links at scale, so integrating authentic creator content into your ads is hassle-free.

4. Partnership Ads amplify authenticity: With Partnership Ads (via BrandConnect), you can boost a creator’s YouTube video as an advert directly from their channel – retaining the creator’s voice and style for authenticity. This co-branded approach resonates strongly with audiences and is proven to drive up to 20% higher conversions on Shorts compared to traditional ads. It’s a powerful way to add trust and creative flair to your campaigns.

5. Comprehensive performance analytics: The Creator Partnerships Hub offers robust analytics to measure both organic and paid performance of creator content. You can track impressions, clicks, conversions, engagement and more in real time. All the data is integrated into familiar Google Ads reports, so you get clear ROI insights for your influencer collaborations just as you would for your other ads.

6. Enhanced audience targeting: Turning creator collaborations into actionable audience data is a key benefit. The hub lets you build audience segments from viewers who engaged with a creator’s sponsored content and then create lookalike audiences. In practice, this means you can retarget people who watched your influencer ads and find new potential customers who share similar interests – boosting reach and relevance.

7. Creators can initiate partnerships: Collaboration is now a two-way street. Creators themselves can tag your brand in their videos and send partnership requests through the Hub. You’ll see creator profiles (with badges showing their past partnership experience) and previews of their work, making it easier to evaluate incoming pitches. This proactive feature opens the door to creative proposals from creators who are fans of your brand.

8. Solves influencer marketing pain points: Google’s Creator Partnerships Hub tackles common headaches in influencer marketing. By centralising discovery, communication, and reporting, it saves time and removes guesswork. You can even view creators’ pricing and performance metrics side by side, addressing the lack of transparency and scalability that has long plagued influencer campaigns. In short, it brings structure and efficiency to a traditionally tricky process.

9. Proven results in early use: Brands are already seeing the impact of these tools. For example, MAC Cosmetics used YouTube Shorts creators in a campaign and achieved a 2.5× higher view-through rate and 66% lower cost-per-view compared to ads with only branded content. This real-world case shows how leveraging creator authenticity through the Hub can dramatically improve campaign performance.

10. Future-ready and available now: The Creator Partnerships Hub isn’t just a new feature – it’s part of Google’s strategic push towards creator-driven advertising. The hub will integrate with broader marketing platforms (like an expansion into DV360 for multi-channel campaigns) and capitalise on booming formats such as YouTube Shorts. Importantly, it’s already live in 20+ markets including the UK, so forward-thinking brands can start using it today to gain an edge.

As a next step, why not explore how your own campaigns could benefit? Consider taking advantage of PPC Geeks’ free Google Ads audit – a no-obligation check-up that will identify opportunities to improve your results. Ready to achieve bold results? Get in touch with us to request your free PPC audit or book a consultation, and let’s supercharge your marketing strategy together!

FAQs About the Creator Partnerships Hub

Still have questions? We’ve got you. Below are answers to the most common questions brand owners and digital marketers are asking about the Creator Partnerships Hub – helping you decide if it’s right for your next campaign.

❓ What is the Creator Partnerships Hub?

The Creator Partnerships Hub is a new feature inside Google Ads that allows brands to discover and collaborate with YouTube creators. It streamlines the influencer process by letting you search for creators, request to link their videos, and run that content as paid ads – all within the Google Ads platform.

❓ Is the Creator Partnerships Hub available in the UK?

Yes, as of 2025, the Hub is available to advertisers in over 20 countries, including the UK. If you don’t yet see it in your Google Ads account, speak to your Google rep or partner agency to request early access or join the rollout.

❓ How do I find YouTube creators through the Hub?

You can search using filters such as creator niche, audience size, engagement level, location, and demographics. Google’s Insights Finder also helps identify creators already mentioning your brand, giving you a head start on relevant partnerships.

❓ Can I use a creator’s video in my ad campaign?

Yes – but only after the creator accepts a request to link the video to your Google Ads account. Once linked, you can run their video as a Partnership Ad and track performance metrics in your dashboard.

❓ What kind of performance data will I get?

You’ll be able to view both organic and paid metrics for linked creator content. This includes views, clicks, conversions, engagement stats, and audience segments for retargeting – all inside Google Ads.

❓ Is this tool suitable for SMEs or just big brands?

The Creator Partnerships Hub is built for brands of all sizes. Smaller businesses can use it to discover micro-influencers and build cost-effective, authentic campaigns. Larger advertisers can scale creator partnerships efficiently without adding complexity.

❓ What are Partnership Ads?

Partnership Ads are a special ad format that lets you promote a creator’s YouTube video as an ad. These ads retain the creator’s voice and branding, while also showing your brand’s name in a co-branded layout – ideal for building trust and engagement.

❓ Do I need to negotiate contracts with creators separately?

Yes. While the Creator Partnerships Hub facilitates the linking and tracking of content, legal agreements and payments are still handled outside the platform. You’ll need to agree terms with the creator before using their video in a campaign.

❓ What types of campaigns can use creator content?

Linked creator videos can be used across most video campaign types, including Demand Gen, Video Action, and YouTube Shorts In-Feed Ads. They’re especially effective in awareness and engagement-focused campaigns.

❓ Can PPC Geeks help me use the Creator Partnerships Hub?

Absolutely. At PPC Geeks, we help brands like yours unlock the full potential of Google Ads – including influencer strategy, campaign integration, and performance optimisation. Request a free audit today and we’ll show you how to get started with creator campaigns that actually convert.