Live From Cannes with Google's Sean Downey

Summary

Next in Media: Live From Cannes with Google's Sean Downey Release Date: June 17, 2025
Host: Mike Shields

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Introduction

In the June 17, 2025 episode of Next in Media, host Mike Shields sits down with Sean Downey, President of the Americas and Global Partners at Google, to discuss the evolving landscape of media, marketing, and advertising. Filmed live from the vibrant Google Beach in Cannes, this episode delves into how technology and data are revolutionizing brand and creator partnerships on YouTube.

YouTube's Role in Connecting Brands and Creators

Sean Downey begins by emphasizing YouTube's unique position in the digital ecosystem. "There's only one YouTube," Downey states at [03:00], highlighting the platform's vast reach where billions of fans engage daily. He underscores YouTube's ability to integrate discovery, influence, and purchase decisions seamlessly, making it an invaluable tool for brands seeking authentic connections with their audience.

Key Points:

• YouTube's unparalleled scale and daily active users.
• The platform's multifaceted role in entertainment, information, and commerce.
• The importance of authentic voice and creator relationships in brand messaging.

Technology's Role in Facilitating Brand-Creator Partnerships

Downey discusses the latest initiatives by Google to aid brands in identifying and partnering with the right creators. "We're trying to make connections," he explains at [01:21], referring to platforms like Brand Connect and the call feature. These tools are designed to help brands find creators that align with their values and campaign goals, facilitating real-time, scalable partnerships.

Notable Quote:

"We're trying to make connections... helping brands find creators that can amplify their brands." – Sean Downey [01:21]

The Importance of Authenticity in Advertising

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around the authenticity of advertising. Downey points out that consumers place immense trust in creators, with "98% of users trusting creators on YouTube more than any other platform and even more than the brand itself" ([04:16]). This trust translates into effective word-of-mouth recommendations, akin to personal endorsements from friends.

Key Points:

• Authentic recommendations vs. traditional advertising.
• The role of creators in building genuine brand narratives.
• Case study: Dove’s partnership with Michelle Carre to empower young women ([08:22]).

Notable Quote:

"It's less about the tech, but it's more about having the platform that creates those connections and those environments." – Sean Downey [09:37]

Leveraging AI for Advertising Campaigns

Downey elaborates on how AI-driven advertising optimizes brand campaigns by targeting the right audiences and enhancing engagement. He describes YouTube as a platform that supports full-funnel marketing strategies, enabling brands to influence consumers at various stages of their decision-making process ([12:21]).

Key Points:

• AI-based optimization for better campaign outcomes.
• Integrating short-form and long-form content to capture diverse consumer behaviors.
• Simplifying the advertising narrative for brands through comprehensive platform capabilities.

Evolving Advertising Strategies: Peak Points and Live Events

The discussion shifts to innovative advertising solutions like Peak Points, powered by Gemini, which allows brands to capitalize on trending moments in real-time. Downey illustrates this with an example from a Formula 1 race, where brands can leverage pivotal moments, such as a race lead change, to deliver timely and relevant advertisements ([13:10]).

Key Points:

• Real-time engagement with trending events.
• Custom ad units tailored to live events.
• Enhancing sponsorships through integrated content around major broadcasts.

Notable Quote:

"Peak points showcases engagement... that's what that technology is trying to replicate." – Sean Downey [12:55]

The Intersection of Shopping and Advertising on YouTube

In the realm of e-commerce, Downey highlights YouTube’s growing influence in the shopping journey. With "2/3 of shopping journeys start on either Google or YouTube" ([15:55]), the platform is becoming integral to consumer research and purchase decisions. YouTube is expanding its shoppable ad formats, allowing for seamless transitions from viewing to shopping.

Key Points:

• Integration of shoppable ad units within YouTube content.
• Flexibility in ad formats to cater to different stages of the consumer journey.
• Measuring shopping impact and conversion directly from YouTube interactions.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Downey affirming Google's commitment to fostering a thriving ecosystem where brands and creators can collaborate authentically and effectively. By leveraging advanced technologies and maintaining a focus on genuine connections, YouTube continues to lead the charge in transforming the media and advertising landscape.

Final Thoughts:

"More content with more integration creates more fans. We can still monetize that with really great advertising." – Sean Downey [05:38]

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This insightful conversation between Mike Shields and Sean Downey captures the dynamic changes in the media, marketing, and advertising industries, driven by technological advancements and data analytics. For brands and creators alike, understanding and leveraging these developments on platforms like YouTube is essential for driving meaningful engagement and achieving impactful results.

Transcript

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[Mike Shields]

Hi everybody. Welcome to Next in Media. I'm Mike Shields. We're here at the Google beach in Cannes. This is part of my multi part series with my partners at View Planner on the YouTube ecosystem. I'm here with Sean Downey. Sean, remind me of your title.

[Sean Downey]

Yeah. So I'm the president of the Americas and global partners, which basically means I run the ads business in the Americas.

[Mike Shields]

So excited to talk to you. Perfect timing. You guys had some news today. We probably should start there because it's interesting brands, you hear this all the time. There's so many creators we want to partner with the right ones. Where do I start? There's so many ways to do that. You are trying to help there talk about what you're doing.

[Sean Downey]

Well, we're trying to make connections. I think you're hitting the right key point, which is the power of YouTube and among many things is its power to connect creators and fans and brands together. Because you know, brands want to find a way to talk about their, their brands in an authentic way, in an authentic voice. And they're increasingly finding that that's done through the creator voice into the creator relationships. And of course that poses the number one question that they all have is how do I find the right traders for me? So some of the things that we talked about this morning were launching some of our platforms that help brands find creators that can help amplify their brands. So we talked about our brand Connect platform which is something that they can do to actually find those creators in real time, at scale and in particular I was really excited. We were talking about our call feature which you can start to understand how to put out the casting call basically to the creators with the brief that she wants. They can respond to that with the ideas and the shorts that they can.

[Mike Shields]

Come back to with an actual short of almost like a, you know, before we go any Further, let's. Let me show you what I can do kind of thing.

[Sean Downey]

Yeah. Which is really important.

[Mike Shields]

So it's. It's been interesting over the years. YouTube is 20. The brands have been trying to figure out creators on and off for years. And you've been. Google's role has kind of ebbed and flowed. Like, there were the McNs, then you guys had fame bit, and then you guys were different programs. Is it hard to figure out what role you want to play? Like, in terms of being a broker versus, you know, being a platform and just kind of staying on the way?

[Sean Downey]

Well, I think our role is pretty clear. We're creating an incredible environment. We've said it a million times, and I think it's always worth repeating once more. There's only one YouTube. And what's important about our platform that we've really come to recognize, it's where billions of fans come all every day to find information that helps their life. They're entertained, they find information, they make purchase decisions. They get influenced by their favorite traders. And they can do that through short form, they can do that through long form, they can do that on podcasts. And it really is the place that you can find discovery, influence, and purchase in one place. We think that's our best value proposition that we have for the marketplace. And increasingly, what we need to do better is make sure that the creators and the brands find each other. And we have this great surface where they can really have that authenticity come through, that voice come through. And it's really about just connecting the two of them and letting them have a great relationship and drive brand awareness, drive fan interaction and drive outcomes for them.

[Mike Shields]

You know, brands, depending on their strategy, they want to be timely. They want to, they want to. It's easy to look at who's got the most views or followers, right? But they want to. They want to know what's trending and latch on to creators that are popping now. That's something you're trying to help them do, right?

[Sean Downey]

Well, it's really important. I think you have to even back up one step, and you have to recognize how decisions get made. Right. And the most important stat that brands really understand right now is that consumers go places where there's trust, where they want recommendations. And 98% of users trust creators on YouTube more than any other platform and even more than the brand itself. So finding a way to put your voice in the creator's hands is really important, practically. What does that mean? It means you used to make recommendations. If you and I were Friends, we'd have a tech strength.

[Mike Shields]

I think we're friends.

[Sean Downey]

And I would say, hey Mike, try this, try this sunscreen here in Cannes because it's really important. It moisturizes your skin, it helps you. You're going to burn, not be burned, so you should really give it a go. And you would do it because you trusted me, right? And that's how people make recommendations. That's the same relationship a creator has with their fans, that there's products they've used, products that they trust, products that they could really give a friend oriented recommendation too because this is like their community. And that's a really different proposition than an advertising campaign. Right. So that's the premise that brands want to tap into because they need to find those voices that have the trust that can make that recommendation, that believe in their product. Right. So a little bit of his technology to connect, a little bit of his value proposition of the creator and the brand and a little bit of is about authentic messaging of that creator to highlight the brand.

[Mike Shields]

And how do you think about that? For the YouTube business, ad revenue is in a great trajectory, but a lot of that integration money doesn't really go to Google, right? Is that like, you know, the kind of thing where like, you know, lifts all boats? It's good for, it's good for Google, it's good for creators. Like how do you think about participating in that revenue stream or not?

[Sean Downey]

I mean it's great flywheel, it's good for everyone. Consumers get really great content, they get really great recommendations that they care about and that's important because ultimately we want people to enjoy the platform and get a lot of value out of it because they keep coming back and that creates more opportunity for us at the end of the day. More opportunity for brands.

[Mike Shields]

Right?

[Sean Downey]

Creators get really great revenue streams and partnerships. They have big businesses, they're the new Hollywood and they work really well with brands that can develop long term brand partnerships and that's great for their careers as well. So we enjoy that. It's great for brands because they find new and engaging ways to interact with customers. They can amplify that through more AI based advertising, which is important. And it's ultimately good for Google and YouTube because we have this burgeoning community that can interact, that can have the influence of how you make decisions. More content with more integration creates more, more fans. We can still monetize that with really great advertising. So I think it helps everyone.

[Mike Shields]

I saw you speak at the Luma event a couple months ago, part of their presentation is they were talking about while the creator economy is getting a lot of heat, it's under invested in it and the ad tech hasn't been able to, to do enough there. And there's, there's always hope where maybe you can automate that process more, bring more dollars in. Do you think it's ever going to be possible or is it always going to be very handcrafted in doing the best kind of authentic executions?

[Sean Downey]

Well, authentics hard to handcraft.

[Mike Shields]

Yeah.

[Sean Downey]

Right. So I think you want to do your best to match with somebody that speaks in your voice and have them learn your voice and start to put it out there. So it's a little bit, it's like the technology piece is about scaling the connections, which is why we are so focused on connecting brands and creators. And then a little bit is about allowing them to work with each other to create the right formats.

[Mike Shields]

And it's not fitting on the display app. It's really different.

[Sean Downey]

And then we get into the, the advertising aspect where we're using a lot of AI based advertising to put the right audience in front of the right brands and take advantage of that so they can get good outcomes. That's really the most important part. I think it's always good to just to understand like the ethos and why people really want to do it. Like in a story that I told at Lulu, which I think is a really good story, is it's less about statistics, it's less about technology and it's more about what is good look like and why are these brands moving in this direction. Right, right. And you can take really simple brands like let's take Unilever, they have Dove. Every brand has an ethos, Every brand has a goal that they're trying to accomplish. And for Dove, they ran a campaign that was really famous that people loved, which was empowering young women to feel like they could do things incredible like sports, athletics. And they wanted people to feel that and resonate Unilever with them and dub with them. Right. So how do you best do that? You could run an ad campaign or you could partner with a creator that exemplifies that.

[Mike Shields]

Yeah.

[Sean Downey]

And they partner with Michelle Carre.

[Mike Shields]

That's not, that's not as simple like you know, run tech stats.

[Sean Downey]

That's not a tech stat. So Michelle Carre is, she's got 5 million plus followers. She does all these crazy challenges, creates episodic content. She's got a black belt in 90 days, she's boxed, she's been a Navy Seal. She basically takes the ultimate challenge as a mid-20s young woman, she makes me feel bad about self. Right. She encourages you. She inspires you. I hope.

[Mike Shields]

I hope so.

[Sean Downey]

Right. And she partnered with Dove and she integrated their brand message in her voice and her content, and amazing things happen. You look through the comments in there and you start to see how parents would write back to her and say, michelle, thank you for making this content. I'm so inspired because I've been trying to tell my daughter she can do anything. You get content from the young women themselves. Like, thank you, Michelle, for making this content. You've inspired me to try something new. Even, you know, guys like us. Thank you, Michelle, for showing us that anything's possible. But you get those types of starting belief and you can't get that unless you have a really authentic way. So it's less about the tech, but it's more about having the platform that creates those connections and those environments. And that's what brands are seeking. Right. And what they ask me all the time and they ask for. YouTube is like, help me find more of those people that resonate.

[Mike Shields]

I don't know where to start. Where would I find the next person that's going to blow up like that?

[Sean Downey]

Yeah. Because Michelle is easy. It was easy to find. She's got a huge amount of followers. She's up for Emmys, like, so she's. She's the new Hollywood. She's more popular than some primetime shows. Yeah. She's easy to identify. You could do really big engagements with her like that. But can I find the next 20? Right, right. Can I find new communities in a.

[Mike Shields]

Particular category, a particular subject matter?

[Sean Downey]

Yeah. And that's what we want. And that's where technology comes in. It's just an enabler. I like to think about it. It's more like a jetpack to help you find the right story and get it out there. But then you can't, like, script it. Like, you have to allow the creator to start thinking authentically, talk about it in their voice, because remember, they're trusted by their community. They can't have message.

[Mike Shields]

Yeah, right.

[Sean Downey]

It has to show up.

[Mike Shields]

How have you found, you know, you guys over the years have made a lot of progress getting in front of the TV buying community, becoming, you know, legitimate in that space. It seems to me it's still super fragmented in terms of where this money can, you know, you got TV money, you got digital video money, influencer dollars. Is it getting simpler for you? Is the landscape still kind of challenging to corral all the things you're good at or is it ever evolving?

[Sean Downey]

You know, I think it's ever evolving. I think we have a really good value proposition for people. Like, people understand that YouTube is number one in streaming. It's been number one in streaming for two years in Rochester. It's the largest streaming platform. We have the most fresh content. People love it because if you turn on the screen in your living room or on your mobile phone or on your desktop, you find something relevant to you and it's super fresh. And people know how to invest in that and they know how to drive a lot of brand awareness. I think what we're learning to do really well is make sure that we showcase the value of that creator network to drive full funnel outcomes. Because when you are a brand, what you realize when you come to YouTube is that your consumer is basically doing four behaviors. They're searching for things, they're streaming, they're scrolling. People love shorts for that reason. And ultimately they're also shopping from those areas. And they're all happening at relatively the same time. And it's really hard to differentiate those. It's a really unpredictable customer journey.

[Mike Shields]

Yeah.

[Sean Downey]

And when we showcase that the typical purchase funnel is not linear and that you're trying to find a consumer that could be in any state of mind across those four behaviors, you need to leverage a platform that can do all those things at once. Right. And you need to leverage it in an authentic way that resonates with the platform. And they need to be able to amplify that at scale. Right. That's a really simple story because I can deliver really simplified AI based campaigns on short form all the way to long form. And I can put them with creators and I can drive that full funnel behavior that gives them the brand lift that they want.

[Mike Shields]

Right.

[Sean Downey]

What they've always thought when tv. That gives them the consideration that they want, that gives them the purchase behavior that they want and they can get that all in one place. And that's a simpler story to tell this year than it was five years ago. And that really resonates with brands because they're ultimately looking to just build that relationship and drive their outcomes.

[Mike Shields]

Couple of things I want to ask you about were your recent Brandcast event in New York. You there's a new product that you mentioned and forget the name of it. Where you can. Where brands can kind of tap into brands that want to get that like quick reach immediacy. They can tap into things that are trending even faster than they used to.

[Sean Downey]

Yeah. Peak points is what's powered by Gemini. I have no notes and peak points is because it showcases engagement. Right. Ultimately, a brand wants to message their brands. When people are paying attention again, they.

[Mike Shields]

Can go to big creators. But if they want to get, you know, 10 million people this week or whatever, they need to figure out how to do that.

[Sean Downey]

So let's, let's go through a story of what that could look like. Yeah. You're watching the F1 event and Lando Norris takes the lead and wins the race. That's a leaned in moment because it's at a critical moment in the, in the race. People are excited about it. That's a great opportunity for a brand to show up. Hilton's a great advertiser. They're a great sponsor, McLaren. They do a lot with integration with Lando. That would be great to identify that, hey, this is the race. Something exciting happened. People are tuned in at the next break. That would be a great time to show our Filton ads. Right. So you can take advantage of the excitement and the relevancy and most importantly, the leaned in nature of what our consumer is. And that's what that technology is trying to replicate.

[Mike Shields]

Got to ask you about what's going on. You know, you're for the, you've been, you've had Sunday ticket for a couple of years now. You've. You're doing this first NFL global broadcast. How's that? Are you going out to market with that for global advertisers? You're going to carve it up with a million different ways. Like what's going to be maybe a little different about it might not expect for that experience.

[Sean Downey]

Well, you're going to deal with that the way you do with any other live events. There's a set of advertisers that want to sponsor it. Yeah. We're going to give them ad units that fit within the context of the game. Those are pretty structured games. So that's, that's a pretty easy proposition. We, we actually have live is unpredictable. We have those advertisers identify. We'll have a standard thing. What we're really interested in is how that culture and that content come together and what is the content around it really look like? Yeah. Right. So we're start. We're starting to play with the stuff around the game like the podcast before the game.

[Mike Shields]

The NFL is very evolving all of a sudden. Right.

[Sean Downey]

And many of the advertisers that are going to advertise for that game are doing in game ad units and then they're doing stuff around the Game that might be custom content oriented, that might be creator access oriented. And we're trying to build like big sponsorship moments around that event. So you'll see the brand integrated in a different way all around YouTube because it's a 247 game, not a three hour game.

[Mike Shields]

Right, right.

[Sean Downey]

That's important. Then we'll play with some really great features hopefully on the broadcast. You know, watch it with a creator. It could be really interesting. So like imagine like having a different viewing experience versus a typical broadcast. Like I can see all those things are things that we'll start to test. But ultimately the NFL is still exciting to us because we can connect all the events around the game and advertisers love that and that's where our sponsorships go.

[Mike Shields]

And then last thing for me, you mentioned shopping. You're becoming a bigger player in shopping. There's so many product decisions that are made in YouTube. Do you see that happening mostly on non TV screens? Because there's a lot of excitement around the potential for shoppable tv. It's so early. Do you think that's. Is that something you're pushing or you see a lot of potential for?

[Sean Downey]

Yeah, I think it happens everywhere. Like it's important to consider that 2/3 of shopping journeys start on either Google or YouTube. Right, right. That's a really impressive number. So an advertiser needs to be in front of their consumer in every type of format. So that's why we're playing with all types of formats. That's why we're putting the codes on the in stream ads on select. Right. Because you could scan that and then you could shop right away. So transfer it to your phone. We're playing with more shoppable units and YouTube. We're measuring that type of shopping impact down the line. I think at every moment we want to, we want to consider that a consumer could be in a consideration mode or buying mode. Right. We're just trying to make all the formats and the targeting as flexible as possible so advertisers can take advantage of it. But it's a huge thing. Like people come to YouTube to make a decision. They research there. Yep. They get recommendations there and we know ultimately they convert there. And sometimes that's an ad unit and sometimes that's a measurement. Right.

[Mike Shields]

Just try to figure out what, what stage you're in at one moment is, is a trick. Sean, awesome stuff. Thank you for taking this time out. You know, can.

[Sean Downey]

Thank you. You.