By Sam, Professional Journalist
San Francisco, July 10, 2025 — YouTube has introduced a new feature allowing creators in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) to share detailed channel and audience data with brands, aiming to enhance monetization opportunities through ads, sponsorships, and affiliate programs. Announced on July 8, 2025, this opt-in setting, accessible via YouTube Studio, enables creators to provide aggregated insights like subscriber counts, views, engagement metrics, and shopping performance to attract advertisers. This move, part of YouTube’s broader push to strengthen its Creator Partnerships Hub, comes alongside updates to combat AI-generated spam and celebrate long-term channel memberships. Below, we explore the feature’s mechanics, its implications for creators and brands, and its role in YouTube’s evolving influencer marketing ecosystem.

The New Data-Sharing Feature

YouTube’s channel insights sharing option, detailed in a YouTube Help post, allows YPP creators to share metrics such as total views, likes, comments, subscriber growth, audience demographics (age, gender, location), and YouTube Shopping affiliate program performance. Creators can toggle this setting in YouTube Studio under “Channel Advanced Settings” by checking a box to allow third-party advertisers, brands, and platforms to access these insights. The feature is off by default, ensuring creators maintain control over their data and can opt out at any time.

As shown in an example shared by VidIQ, the data includes high-level channel statistics and shopping promotion performance, helping brands assess whether a creator’s audience aligns with their target market. YouTube emphasizes that this streamlines discoverability, addressing a key challenge for advertisers who often lack access to comprehensive channel data. Unlike creator-initiated video linking, which shares video-specific performance for branded content, this feature focuses on channel-wide insights to foster new partnerships.

The initiative builds on YouTube’s Creator Partnerships Hub, revamped at SXSW 2025, and includes an upcoming API to integrate creator data with influencer agencies and SaaS platforms. Social Media Today reports that this API will further assist in influencer discovery, positioning YouTube as a leader in creator monetization. Posts on X, such as from @DougHewsonYT, highlight the feature’s potential: “Creators can share channel insights with brands via Google tools! Potential ad deals, brand partnerships, affiliate boosts.”

Impact on Creators and Brands

For creators, the feature offers a strategic advantage in securing high-revenue ads, brand deals, and shopping affiliate offers. YouTube, which pays creators 55% of net ad revenue on watch pages and 45% for Shorts, per YouTube Help, already leads TikTok and Meta in creator earnings. By sharing detailed analytics—previously limited to public metrics like subscriber counts—this feature enhances transparency, making it easier for brands to identify creators whose audiences match their goals. For instance, a brand targeting Gen Z gamers can use demographic data to partner with creators whose viewers align with that segment.

Brands benefit from improved decision-making, as the data provides insights into audience engagement and purchasing behavior. An eMarketer report cited by Tubefilter notes that over half of U.S. brands will partner with YouTube creators in 2025, reflecting the platform’s growing influence in marketing. The Creator Partnerships Hub’s Open Call feature, launched at Cannes Lions 2025, further streamlines this process by allowing brands to solicit sponsored content based on specific briefs, with data sharing enhancing match accuracy.

However, creators must weigh privacy concerns. While YouTube ensures the setting is opt-in, posts on X like @TheMarkCompany’s raise questions about data privacy: “More viewer data to share with brands… for better ads, bigger deals, and maybe less privacy.” Creators who previously consented to BrandConnect terms may already share some insights, but the new setting expands this to a broader range of metrics, per YouTube Help.

Broader Context: YouTube’s Monetization Push

YouTube’s data-sharing feature is part of a strategic effort to maintain its dominance as the top platform for creator monetization, especially amid competition from TikTok and Instagram. With 65.3 million creators and 570 million monthly active users as of June 2025, per Global Media Insight, YouTube’s scale is unmatched. The platform’s focus on long-form content, Shorts, and affiliate programs drives higher engagement, with 73% of U.S. adults using YouTube on mobile devices, compared to 37% for Instagram, per Dash Social.

The update coincides with YouTube’s crackdown on AI-generated content, such as fake movie trailers, which has been ineligible for monetization under YPP policies. Social Media Today notes that this “minor update” improves detection of mass-produced or repetitive content, prioritizing original creators. Additionally, YouTube introduced loyalty badges for channel memberships of six to ten years, celebrating long-term fan engagement, as reported on July 9, 2025.

Challenges and Considerations

While the feature promises increased earnings, creators may face challenges. The opt-in nature ensures control, but public data like channel names and subscriber counts remain visible even if the setting is off, per YouTube Help. Smaller creators may hesitate to share detailed analytics, fearing it could expose lower engagement rates. Brands, meanwhile, must navigate a crowded influencer market, with 114 million active channels, per Clipchamp, requiring precise data to identify the right partners.

The feature’s success depends on creator adoption. As Tubefilter notes, YouTube trails Instagram in influencer marketing sophistication, but updates like BrandConnect’s overhaul and the Insights Finder hub are closing the gap. The API’s development could further integrate YouTube data into third-party platforms, but its rollout timeline remains unclear.

Conclusion

YouTube’s new channel insights sharing feature, launched on July 8, 2025, empowers YPP creators to share performance data with brands, unlocking opportunities for ads, sponsorships, and affiliate deals. By enhancing transparency through YouTube Studio, the platform strengthens its Creator Partnerships Hub, positioning itself as the leader in creator monetization. While privacy concerns linger, the opt-in setting and upcoming API signal YouTube’s commitment to fostering creator-brand collaborations. As the platform continues to evolve, creators and brands alike can leverage these insights to build stronger, data-driven partnerships in 2025’s competitive digital landscape.

Sources: Social Media Today, YouTube Help, Tubefilter, Yahoo Finance, Global Media Insight, Dash Social