YouTube has introduced new YouTube Shorts advertising updates ahead of the holiday campaign period. The changes focus on engagement tools, branded content options, and expanded Shorts ad placements across devices, according to recent Google Ads support and YouTube blog posts.
Key details on YouTube Shorts updates
YouTube positions these Shorts updates as support for brands that want stronger performance during the holiday shopping season. The company says the features are designed to increase interaction, simplify creator collaborations, and help advertisers reach viewers across screens. Within the announcement, YouTube highlights Creator Ads on Shorts as a key format for brand campaigns.
- YouTube has enabled comments on eligible Shorts ads, mirroring the experience of organic Shorts.
- Shorts creators in branded content campaigns can follow YouTube's guidance on how to link to your brand's website for branded content, giving viewers a direct path from Shorts to a brand's site.
- YouTube has launched Shorts ads on mobile web, extending short-form video ad coverage across more devices. According to the company, these short-form video ads can now reach viewers on TV, web, desktop, and the YouTube mobile app.
To support campaign development and creative testing, Google directs advertisers to its short-form video advertising creative tips on Think with Google.
YouTube cites new Kantar research on YouTube Creator Ads on Shorts to quantify reported brand impact. The 2025 US Context Lab meta analysis, commissioned by Google, evaluated 20 brand campaigns across ten major advertiser categories in the United States. Among 5,802 participants aged 18 to 49 on mobile devices (2,954 control respondents and 2,848 exposed respondents), Creator Ads on Shorts drove an average 8.8% lift in purchase intent and delivered 2.9 times higher consumer intent to spend compared with Kantar benchmarks for YouTube competitors. The analysis used control and exposed groups and was assessed at a 95% confidence level.
Categories in the study included apps, automotive, multiple retail segments, financial services, food and restaurants, government and advocacy, home services, home and personal care, media and entertainment, and telecommunications.
Background context
YouTube Shorts is the platform's vertical, short-form video format, introduced globally in 2021 after early tests beginning in 2020. Shorts supports vertical videos of up to 60 seconds, with views contributing to a channel's overall YouTube watch time metrics.
YouTube has steadily expanded advertising across Shorts, including in-feed formats and tools that let brands run creator content as ads. YouTube Creator Ads let brands turn eligible creator videos into paid placements, subject to creator permission and platform policies.
Kantar is an independent research firm that conducts advertising effectiveness studies for media platforms and advertisers worldwide.
YouTube accompanied the Shorts announcement with a holiday-themed creative asset featuring the Shorts logo surrounded by blue and white snowflakes. The image is hosted on Google's servers.
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