Sign in with Google 
At YouTube Festival 2026 in Sydney, the spotlight wasn’t just on the future of media, it was on the creators building it. YouTube creator and event host Lyanna Kea reflects on how creators are driving the next era of entertainment, why creator-led culture now commands the deepest audience connection, and how brands can translate that cultural relevance into measurable business growth.
Lyanna here — YouTube creator, professional Asian mum impersonator, and host of YouTube Festival 2026 in Sydney.
From the early days of filming comedy skits on an old phone with 20% battery to building a YouTube audience of 5.1 million and amassing 3.5 billion views, my creator journey has been a whirlwind. But it’s clear my story is just one piece of a much bigger shift.
So, in a very exciting first, YouTube handed the mic over to the ones driving this new era of entertainment: YouTube creators, of course. I had the honour of sharing the stage with Kevin from Glitch Productions, No. 1 Australian sport podcaster Dan Does Footy, and Sam from The Daily Aus to unpack what’s driving audience engagement and trust today.
Because when brands show up authentically alongside creators, that unmatched audience trust can translate into real commercial impact for you. So if you’re ready to level up your marketing on YouTube, here’s the play-by-play of everything you need to know about the trends defining the YouTube era.
Creators are driving a new era of entertainment
YouTube creators are the stars, studios, and CEOs defining the new era of video. There’s no gatekeepers, just passionate creators turning ideas into full-scale media businesses right here in Australia and New Zealand.
What started for me as a humble passion project has grown into three YouTube channels supported by a team of 16 people. We see this phenomenon across every vertical — from education, comedy, sport, music, entertainment and more. Take Eddie Woo’s 188 million views making high school maths engaging and actually fun, or Melbourne’s Never Too Small captivating 3.3 million design lovers.
These creators could have had their pick of platforms. So why YouTube? Because creators can cultivate a combination of reach, fandom, and deep audience connection traditional media simply can’t match.
Case in point: my friends at Glitch Productions, the homegrown indie animation studio that built a multimillion-dollar media empire on YouTube. Amassing 3 billion views, Glitch proved that creators don’t need broadcast gatekeepers to build global media empires.
Audiences return to creators like Glitch Productions to be entertained, and YouTube meets them wherever they are. In fact, 13.7 million Aussies are tuning in to watch their favourite creators on the biggest screen in the house: Connected TV (CTV).1
YouTube is at the epicentre of culture
Audiences today don’t just want to watch culture unfold, they want to be part of it. YouTube has become both the stage where these global and local cultural moments happen and the place where fans can dive into the universe of creator-led conversations that surround them.
Take the FIFA 2026 World Cup: YouTube content drew more than 1.7 billion unique global viewers. And by 2029, the Oscars will broadcast exclusively on YouTube, building on the 3 billion views of Oscars-related content on the platform in the past year.
From global cultural moments to local stories, creators are taking fans beyond the broadcast desk and straight into the action. Former AFL player Daniel Gorringe built Dan Does Footy into the country’s top sports podcast by swapping corporate media polish for raw, hilarious banter and by connecting with fans in all the ways they watch — from a 15-second short to a 60-minute deep-dive.
Beyond sport, Australia’s broader creator footprint is now officially locked into history. Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) recently inducted 10 homegrown YouTube creators into the world-first Creator Capsule. Seeing the work of these YouTube creators preserved for future generations proves that creator culture is national culture.
YouTube’s unmatched effectiveness
What makes YouTube so effective for brands is a powerful combination of scale, attention, and trust.
Yes, it starts with massive reach — YouTube reaches 96% of Australian adults across every screen.2 But the real magic? The audience mindset. People actively lean in to watch YouTube, making them more primed to engage with ads. According to a meta-analysis by research company Adelaide, YouTube ad placements rank No. 1 in attention across streaming, social, and linear TV in Australia.3
When combined with the genuine trust built by creators, you get an environment no traditional commercial break can replicate. 75% of Australian viewers agree that YouTube has the most trusted creators4 — and that trust is the secret sauce that accelerates consumer action. When a creator like Dan talks about your product, viewers are 13X more likely to search for your brand and 5X more likely to buy.5
Now with Google AI, that scale, attention and trust reaches a whole new level of effectiveness — and ultimately helps brands increase ROAS. By analysing billions of intent signals, tools like Demand Gen put your brand in front of high-intent audiences — driving an average 30% lift in conversions. Pretty impressive, huh?
Go bigger: There’s only one YouTube
As Mel Silva, Google’s VP and managing director for Australia and New Zealand, put it on stage: “There’s no more effective place to advertise than on YouTube, and now is the time to take advantage of that.”
And she’s right. From driving brand lift to direct sales, YouTube’s ad solutions keep evolving to deliver more for your brand. From more immersive Mastheads that pair your hero creative with a curated shelf of videos, to Shorts Ad Actions that make tracking and optimising for engagement even easier — the innovation spans every format.
And it leads straight to the checkout. YouTube is becoming even more shoppable, with products like dynamic Regional Pricing ensuring spend only goes toward items customers can actually buy and Checkout Links which will let viewers tap and purchase instantly. This seamless checkout is coming to the living room. You can literally lounge in your PJs and shop via Buy with Google Pay — two clicks and done.
Those are just a few of the innovations heading your way. You can go deeper and catch the full YouTube Festival 2026 show on Accelerate with Google. (I told you — no gatekeepers here!)
If hosting YouTube Festival taught me anything, it’s that creator culture and brand effectiveness are officially a package deal. The only question left: how big does your brand want to go?
See you on YouTube!
Social Module
Share