Helping creators connect with brands

Nine years ago, YouTube launched its Partner Program with the goal of helping creators earn advertising revenue while connecting their innovative content to audiences around the world. Every year, more and more brands are making YouTube essential to their marketing strategy. In fact, in the last year alone, the top 100 advertisers have increased their spend on YouTube video ads by 50 percent.

As brands continue to embrace the value of YouTube, they're also taking their investments one step further, partnering with creators on branded content opportunities such as product placements, promotions and sponsorships. As we look to the future, we want even more creators and brands to come together and realize the benefits of these creative collaborations.

Today, we're excited to announce that Google has acquired FameBit -- a technology platform company that helps creators and brands find and work with each other through sponsorships and paid promotion. We believe that Google's relationship with brands and YouTube's partnerships with creators, combined with FameBit's technology and expertise, will help increase the number of branded content opportunities available, bringing even more revenue into the online video community.

Creators will always have the choice in how they work with brands, and there are many great companies who provide this service today. This acquisition doesn't change that. Our hope is that FameBit's democratized marketplace will allow creators of all sizes to directly connect with brands, as well as provide a great technology solution for companies like MCNs and agencies to find matches for their creators and brand partners.

We look forward to seeing FameBit and the entire branded content space thrive as we continue to support the success and creativity of the creator community.

Ariel Bardin, Vice President, Product Management recently watched "New Yorkers Share their Story for a Dollar."