MANILA — YouTube has launched a creators partnership program, which allows brands to discover and work more easily with creators on the platform.
In a media roundtable ahead of the YouTube Works Awards Philippines 2026, Google Philippines Country Manager Prep Palacios said the new program allows brands to discover and collaborate with creators within Google Ads.
"It's a tool wherein they can search for creators who can work for them. Tapos, they (creators) can actually directly talk to the brand," Palacios said.
The executive also said the Creators Partnership program lets brands work with influence marketing agencies YouTube has partnered with.
"They manage the creators, so brands can also work with them if brands don't want to coordinate directly with the creators," she said.
Video commerce now makes up 20 pct of all e-commerce in Southeast Asia: YouTube
Lazada, YouTube Shopping collab drives sales uptick in 12.12 sale
YouTube vs other platforms
Palacios said YouTube is a good platform for advertisers because of its huge viewership — virtually every online Filipino adult in the Philippines is on YouTube, she said.
"And they're not just watching on their mobile phones. They're gathering around the biggest screen in the house...19 million Filipinos today are watching YouTube on connected TV," she said.
"Filipinos come to YouTube to connect with culture, and once they're here, they're very leaned in, and so what that does is it translates [into] more attention for ads," she explained.
"In fact, 81 percent of Filipino viewers say that YouTube creators make trustworthy content about products and brands that they want to purchase, and this is outperforming other online platforms," she noted.
Palacios said the program will also allow users to monitor the performance of their ads on the platform.
"So the tool will allow them to analyze the effectiveness of their partnership with the creators. For example, they want to analyze also the actual asset of the creator--is it effective, etc. So they can definitely use the tool for that," she said.
Nine in 10 online Filipinos use YouTube: Google
The YouTube Works Awards Philippines 2026 honors the best ad campaigns that used YouTube to drive brand awareness and sales. Getting the top plum this year is GLoan, with its ad campaign for free health insurance.
Jollibee was also honored for its Christmas campaign with multiformat storytelling, while Colgate Total won for its ad featuring content creator Davao Conyo and Dr. Vicki Belo.