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Think about the last time you bought something that mattered. A laptop. A new pair of running shoes. A stroller. A splurge. Before you hit that ‘buy now’ button, chances are you turned to YouTube. Not to scroll aimlessly. But to validate your choice.
In a world of ambient shopping, where consumers are constantly toggling between curiosity and consumption, YouTube stands out as a place where people actively seek out product reviews, routines, tutorials, and trusted voices. They give their time, and in return, gain confidence.
So how can brands leverage YouTube creators to meet audiences in these high-intent moments?
We recently hosted a conversation with Taylor Rodriguez, Traackr’s Global VP of Customer Experience, Brittany Spade, Marketing Lead for Shopping at YouTube, YouTube creator Erica Louie, and Nikky Martinez, Associate Influencer Manager at Neutrogena. The discussion unpacked why YouTube is uniquely suited to convert viewers into buyers, and how Traackr helps brands harness that potential by pairing the right creators with the right strategies.
TikTok Is Saturated. YouTube Is the White Space.
A prime opportunity exists for brands on YouTube. While other platforms are saturated, YouTube offers a high-impact environment with almost 10X less clutter from paid posts on average from January to July 2025 than TikTok.
“YouTube remains a prime opportunity to break through the noise and capture audience attention,” explained Taylor Rodriguez, Traackr’s Global VP of Customer Experience.
On YouTube, Time Equals Trust
Last year alone, viewers spent 35 billion hours watching shopping content on YouTube. That kind of time investment creates a depth of engagement few platforms can match. Traackr’s 2025 Influencer Marketing Impact Report echoed this behavior, revealing that YouTube ranked as the number one platform for consuming creator content amongst Millennial and Gen Z consumers, especially when it comes to product reviews and research.
Few embody YouTube’s power to build trust better than Erica Louie. Over the past 14 years, she’s grown a community that has followed her through career changes, personal milestones, and motherhood. Her content doesn’t just engage—it resonates.
“YouTube gives you the opportunity where there’s an audience ready to sit here and consume minutes, hours, days of your content. Storytelling creates such a deep emotional bond.”
From Creator Trust to Brand Belief
78% of viewers in the United States agree that YouTube has the most trusted creators for product recommendations. For brands, the question is straightforward: how do you turn creator trust into brand trust?
At Traackr, we see the brands that win on YouTube taking a disciplined approach: they don’t chase reach, they chase brand and creator alignment. Neutrogena is a case in point. Their influencer strategy starts with creators who already use and love their products, ensuring credibility is built in from day one.
As Nikki Martinez from Neutrogena explained, “When selecting creators, the first thing we look for is that they genuinely love our products and already reflect the community we serve. Creator vetting is critical.” This natural alignment ensures the content lands with credibility.
3 Ways Traackr Helps Brands Win on YouTube
In the first half of 2025, YouTube saw the highest lift in attention (measured by VIT, Traackr’s weighted index of views, engagements, and the quality of brand mentions) across both the beauty and fashion industries. The platform isn’t just underutilized—it’s outperforming.
Here’s how the most strategic brands are unlocking that growth with Traackr:
1. Reach with precision, not guesswork.
Winning brands don’t leave creator discovery to chance. They use data to identify creators with real influence in the right categories, geographies, and communities. With Traackr’s advanced discovery filters, you can zero in on creators who match your exact criteria, from audience interests and languages to growth trends and engagement quality. Already found a top performer? Use Traackr’s lookalike recommendations to scale what works and accelerate your impact (without sacrificing alignment).
2. Love it, or leave it.
The most impactful partnerships come from creators who genuinely love your brand and reflect your audience. With Traackr, you can go beyond surface metrics to filter creators by audience growth trends, brand safety filters, and past organic brand mentions. So you can be confident the trust is real.
3. Compete with clarity.
With Traackr’s benchmarking tools, you can compare your influencer strategy against competitors, spot blind spots, and seize white space. Instead of operating in a vacuum, you’re making informed moves based on real market context.
Optimize for Trust, Measure for Impact
Brittany Spade from YouTube laid it out clearly, “Getting started with YouTube creators doesn’t require a massive production budget. It takes the right partner, the right plan, and the ability to measure what matters.”
That’s exactly where Traackr comes in. From precision discovery and content performance tracking to competitive benchmarking, Traackr gives brands the tools to act decisively.
Because in today’s creator economy, the brands that win aren’t just those that get seen—they’re the ones that get believed.
Watch the full conversation with Taylor, Brittany, Erica and Nikky here.