Dive Brief:
- WPP Media will receive access to more data on YouTube creators and content as part of an expanded partnership with the Google-owned video platform, according to a press release.
- Proprietary creator insights will be used to help WPP Media match clients with the right talent on YouTube and drive more measurable campaign outcomes. The offering is available across the agency’s marketing technology stack and through its dedicated influencer shop, The Goat Agency.
- WPP Media says the goal of the pact is to alleviate fragmentation in the creator economy while providing brands with media precision and scale. YouTube’s data will bolster WPP Open, the network’s artificial intelligence operating system, to aid with strategy planning and trend identification.
Dive Insight:
WPP Media is getting a direct line of sight into non-public YouTube creator data as influencer marketing booms. The partnership is meant to simplify choice in a fragmented creator economy, helping to pair clients with the right online talent and providing employees with insights into on-the-rise trends.
U.S. ad spending on the creator economy is forecast to reach $37 billion in 2025, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a 26% year-over-year increase. While influencers and creators have been popular among brands for some time, the adoption of true social-first strategies and dedicated social agencies of record is becoming more common. Meanwhile, more consumers are tuning into YouTube via living room screens, providing stiffer competition to traditional TV and streaming.
WPP Media is using the moment to shine a light on The Goat Agency, an influencer specialist shop parent WPP acquired in 2023. Goat is among the first global partners to directly integrate a new YouTube API for facilitating deals between brands and creators. The feature assesses factors like paid and organic metrics for matchmaking and delivery. With the integration, Goat aims to bring a greater level of precision to creator-led campaigns through a “single, transparent view of performance,” according to Global President Alex Burgess.
At the same time, the pact provides another stream of data for WPP Open, an AI operating system used across the larger WPP agency network. WPP has made Open a priority as AI-first capabilities become a bigger competitive advantage and as the ad-holding group looks to return to growth following a string of financial losses.
“Until now, brands lacked the tools to scale creator-led marketing with precision. By integrating exclusive YouTube data into our proprietary tech stack, we’re giving our clients the confidence to invest boldly, knowing every partnership is measurable, scalable, and aligned with their media strategy,” said Brian Lesser, CEO of WPP Media, in a press statement.
WPP expects like-for-like growth in revenue less pass-through costs, a method of measuring organic agency growth, to decline between 5.5% and 6% this year. WPP Media has been focused on enriching its social media offerings for clients. Earlier in December, the media-investment division partnered with Pinterest to bring the platform’s trends data to Open. WPP is the first agency with a bespoke Pinterest Trends API integration.
