• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 29, 2016

An increasing amount of digital video content these days ends up on television, according to Jamie Byrne, director of YouTube Creators.

"Digiorno used their digitally created content that first ran on YouTube for television spots," he said. The Digiorno ads featuring prominent YouTube creators are intended to connect with Millennials.

YouTube star Rachel Levin created a set of videos in 2015 for the Truth anti-smoking campaign that initially ran on YouTube, one made it to television. Now, AT&T, Hasbro, and Canon, among other brands, are looking at taking original YouTube content and their creators to television as part of cross-channel strategies.

"Brands now see that the content creators and YouTube stars reach the millennial audience, so even if their parents don't recognize the talent, the kids do," Byrne said.

Finding the perfect talent that connects with a brand isn't easy. So YouTube has developed several programs to help brands find their match.

Once annually at VidCon, YouTube hosts a speed-dating program for brands to meet creators. This year, the company also launched an online version of the Brand Partner Program, a certification class to help advertising agency partners learn best practices.

Byrne said four or five years ago, only about one or two brands attended YouTube's Creators Lounge at VidCon. This year it jumped to more than 200 representatives from about 35 to 40 brands.

These days, the top 100 brands are producing more content for YouTube. A recent Pixability study estimates there are 3,000 brand channels -- up 27% from 2015 -- and 853,000 videos, up 39%, respectively.

"The top 100 advertisers on YouTube spent 40% more year-over-year," Byrne said, noting that investments are being made in content strategies and TrueView ads.

He said each day, 1,000 creators cross 1,000 subscribers. These creators are generating content that people choose to watch. In fact, so far this year, there have been 63.4 billion views, up 58% from 2015.