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JT Tesfamariam is a content solutions lead at YouTube. With more than a decade of experience in the sport and music fields, he specialises in crafting brand partnerships for leading brands.
2026 is shaping up to be an extraordinary year. From sporting events like the Winter Olympics in February and the men’s World Cup in June, to music and film festivals like Coachella and the Cannes Film Festival, this year will command the attention of hundreds of millions of people across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
These moments represent a fantastic opportunity for brands to connect with fans at a time of peak audience engagement, putting them at the heart of the action.
My colleague Darren Russell heads up YouTube’s ad products team in EMEA. His advice for marketers is to craft a strategy that stretches across an event’s lifespan. He told me: “Don’t just think about where the crowd is now. Anticipate where the conversation will be heading next. Ideally, you want to span the excitement in the build-up, that energy and buzz during, and the lasting conversation afterwards.”
Brands looking to tap into cultural moments on YouTube have found success through AI-powered video campaigns like video reach campaigns, video view campaigns, YouTube Select lineups, and mastheads.
Now, brands have even more ways to connect with fans on YouTube. We’ve launched new YouTube Ads campaigns that allow brands to align with the right audiences at the right moments. Here are the details:
New campaign options on YouTube
Takeover Moments: This allows your brand to be front and centre during a key cultural event. A brand can choose to align with an event, capturing exclusive access to moment-related YouTube channels and landing their message with unparalleled visibility.
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A YouTube user will search for an event, or visit an event’s YouTube home page. When they click on a video, the brand’s ad will play.
Spotlight Moments: You can capitalise on the momentum around an event by securing a high share of voice across the YouTube Home Page, Watch Page, and even on moment-related Search results. Using AI-powered video Lineups, this option places your brand alongside the most relevant and popular content as it’s trending.
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A brand’s ad appears prominently within the search results for an event.
Creator Takeovers: This approach lets you tap into the power of trusted voices by gaining exclusive ownership of relevant creator channels. It’s a powerful way to leverage the influence of creators and reach their highly engaged audiences.
Watch the video
A brand’s ad appears before video content from a particular creator.
Inspiration from the field: How leading brands have won big moments
Many brands have already found success by integrating their campaigns with major cultural events on YouTube.
For example, the well-known U.K.-based financial services comparison website Go.Compare teamed up with the Welsh Rugby Union to produce a series of short films designed specifically for YouTube ahead of the Guinness Six Nations Championship. The videos showcased team warm-ups and challenges with the Welsh Rugby Union squad and the Go.Compare mascot.
Go.Compare’s marketing team wanted to truly own the Six Nations moment across YouTube, so they ran a takeover moment on the Six Nations YouTube channel. They used masthead ads on key match days and ran ads within a bespoke YouTube Select lineup to engage rugby fans. They also employed AI-powered video reach campaigns to extend their storytelling to a broader audience.
The results were phenomenal: The company saw a 21% increase in top-of-mind awareness,1 alongside positive gains in both consideration and favourability. The surge in awareness contributed to a 4.5X year-over-year increase in website visits and a 20% rise in searches for the brand.2
“Engaging with our audience and potential customers on this scale has been transformative,” said Paul Rogers, who led the work as marketing director at Go.Compare. “YouTube has now become a core part of our marketing strategy.”
Creators also see plenty of value in aligning with relevant brands for their channels. Jamie Spafford is co-founder of Sorted Food, a global YouTube channel about food. He says that some of the best brand collaborations the channel has done have included paid takeover elements.
He explains: “We did a YouTube Select Creator Takeover with SharkNinja, a home appliance brand, in which they bought the channel out for a month and were in charge of the creative. They got 100% share of voice and our community saw it as a sign of support for the channel.”
Examples like these show what’s possible when you deliver content at the right time, to the right audience, on the right platform where fans are converging.
Planning your 2026 strategy
With a calendar this full, the key is to start planning now. The brands that will win in 2026 are the ones that think beyond a single ad spot and consider how they can become a genuine part of the cultural fabric.
I believe the most successful strategies will be those that embrace the entire ecosystem of a cultural moment—before, during, and after the main event. By understanding where and how fans are engaging, you can ensure your brand isn’t just seen, but remembered.
