YouTube is TV now. Plan it like TV.
YouTube now draws more US TV time than any other streaming service. Most plans still treat it as a digital line item.
In Nielsen's June 2026 Gauge, YouTube accounted for 13.5% of all US TV viewing, up from 12.8% a year earlier. Streaming as a whole reached 48.5%. Netflix was 7.9%. Broadcast and cable were 19.8% and 19.5%. YouTube alone now draws more TV time than Netflix and Prime Video combined, yet it is still often planned by a different team, from a different budget, with different creative.
When I led YouTube's own creative and platform strategy at Monks, the lesson was simple: YouTube rewards brands that plan it like TV and build it like YouTube.
1. Put YouTube in the TV budget, not the digital one.
If your TV plan and your YouTube plan are bought by different people against different goals, you are double-counting reach and missing frequency. Plan reach and frequency across linear, streaming and YouTube together, then decide where each dollar works hardest.
2. Build for the living room and the phone.
A lot of YouTube viewing happens on TV screens, with sound on, and a lot happens on phones, in Shorts. One cut won't do both jobs. Brief a hero film for the big screen and a Shorts system for the feed, with the same idea in both.
3. Treat creators as a channel, not a stunt.
The work that moved fastest for us was creator work on Shorts, with paid media put behind the best performers. Pick creators the way you'd pick a show to sponsor: for the audience they already hold.
4. Measure it like TV.
Click-based metrics undercount a channel people watch from the couch. Use reach, attention and brand lift for the upper funnel, and run a geo or audience holdout to read sales.
What to do before your next upfront
- Re-cut your TV plan with YouTube inside it and compare reach at the same budget.
- Brief one idea in two formats: a living-room film and a Shorts series.
- Set a brand-lift and sales read before launch, not after.
Your audience already decided YouTube is TV. The plan just has to catch up.
Sources: MediaPost on Nielsen's June 2026 Gauge