Though it doesn’t have the usual slate of regular series to tout at the Upfronts, YouTube showcased a sizzling one-off to promote the NFL’s first Friday game coming to the streamer and new products for driving ad engagement. A new tool called Peak Points leverages Google Gemini to serve ads to viewers when the AI finds them most receptive. Masthead on CTV reimagines the YouTube homepage as “an edge-to-edge canvas for ads,” while Cultural Moments Sponsorships involves selling placements “with a high share of voice and brand integrations within content.”

Called “Kickoff Weekend,” the NFL tie-in will let viewers live-stream — with no fee or subscription required — the September 5 game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil. In a Brandcast wrap, YouTube calls it “a first-of-its-kind experience” for global sports fans.

YouTube said that last year users “watched over 350 million hours of NFL content on the platform,” racking up more than 6 million live views for NFL’s Super Bowl LIX Flag Football Game,” TechCrunch writes.

YouTube’s Upfront was about “sending a message to advertisers that it’s not just an online video service, it’s actually the new way people watch ‘TV,’” TechCrunch emphasized. CEO Neal Mohan said last September that the number of creators making the majority of their revenue from TV screens was up more than 30 percent.

Leveraging that, YouTube is “preparing to pilot a new way for creators to reach the audience that watches YouTube on TV through easily organized and bingeable TV shows,” TechCrunch adds.

“Shoppable CTV” that lets viewers “browse and engage with products directly from the big screen,” per YouTube, and Cultural Sponsorships for tentpole TV events, like the PGA Championship, Academy Awards or Emmys sees the streamer “monetizing the zeitgeist,” as Variety puts it (lumping “Black Friday post-Thanksgiving shopping” in among those other cultural touchstones).

CNBC focused its Brandcast reporting on Peak Points, wherein Gemini “identifies times when videos receive elevated levels of viewer attention and packages ads to be placed after those moments,” identified by having the model “analyze video elements such as frames and transcripts.” The program is currently piloting for a potential rollout later this year.

While it doesn’t have conventional shows with which to tantalize advertisers, “YouTube touts scale others can’t match,” says Variety, writing how it materialized its influence by hosting a parade of superstars, including Lady Gaga with her “rollicking five-song performance,” Mr. Beast and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.