YouTube has unveiled an Open Call to help brands find fresh creative voices and to give more creators a chance at sponsored projects. This tool lives within YouTube BrandConnect. It makes it possible for any qualified brand to post a project brief. Then any creator in the YouTube Partner Program can respond with a video that meets that brief. The brand can review all responses and pick the ones they want to use. After that, they can promote the creator’s content through partnership ads in Google Ads.
How Open Call Works
A brand starts by logging into its BrandConnect dashboard. There, it fills out a creative brief. The brief explains the product, the campaign goals, the style of video desired, and any must‑have elements. YouTube then shares that brief with creators in the Partner Program. Those creators can read the full details and decide whether to take part. If they do, they create a short video that responds to the brand’s need,s and they submit it for review.
Creators can only see the briefs and submit to the Open Call when they are part of the YouTube Partner Program. That program shares ad revenue with channels that have at least one thousand subscribers and four thousand hours of watch time in the past year.
Benefits for Brands
Open Call gives marketers access to over three million Partner Program creators without having to search manually or rely on personal introductions. All of the work happens inside YouTube. Brands get to see each video idea side by side before they commit. That cuts down on endless email chains and cuts the time needed to find a good match. Once a brand selects a creator video, it can be boosted as a partnership ad directly in Google Ads. Brands can target those ads by interest, demographics, or even by keywords to reach the right audience on YouTube and across Google’s ad network.
Opportunities for Creators
Smaller channels often find branded work hard to land. Open Call flips that script by placing discovery in the hands of creators. Rather than waiting for an invitation, creators can sift through Open Call posts and choose projects that fit their style and audience. They gain equal opportunity with larger channels, as each creator’s pitch is judged on its own merits. This shift can help emerging creators build a portfolio of brand partnerships and increase their revenue.
Integration with YouTube Ads and BrandConnect
Open Call is part of YouTube BrandConnect, which already matches brands with top creators for custom campaigns. BrandConnect also provides tools for campaign measurement and insights on reach and engagement. With Open Call, those features extend to a wider pool of channels. After a brand picks a creator video, it can use partnership ad formats in Google Ads. Those ads run before or alongside regular YouTube videos but carry a “paid partnership” label to keep transparency for viewers.
Availability and Future Plans
Open Call is rolling out to select advertisers first. YouTube plans to make it available to all brands in the coming months. Brands that already use BrandConnect will see Open Call in their dashboards. Creators will see the new opportunity in their Creator Studio under the Partner Program section.
Why This Matters
The branded video world is evolving quickly. Viewers love real voices better than smooth advertisements. Open Call provides brands with new means of leveraging such authenticity and provides a bigger number of creators with a platform. Having created a transparent and efficient process, YouTube wants to encourage the creation of further partnerships, both with global brands and with local ones.
Open Call reflects YouTube’s aim to bring advertisers and creators together at scale. It builds on years of BrandConnect work and the move toward partnership ads in Google Ads. For brands, it promises faster campaigns with creative variety. For creators, it means more chances to work with brands that fit their voice. With Open Call, YouTube makes every creator’s inbox a potential source of new opportunities.
