Google said on November 13, 2026 that Display & Video 360, its enterprise platform for buying programmatic and YouTube advertising, "will soon support shared codes for brand partner access." The code is a unique link that a YouTube creator generates and passes to an advertiser, attaching the creator's video to the advertiser's account without a manual channel search or an approval round. The announcement runs to three sentences and gives no launch date. It points to a longer help page, "Link YouTube creator videos to your Display & Video 360 account," which sets out how linking works today, who controls a link once it exists, and what an advertiser gains - and accepts - when a creator's video sits inside its account.

In Short

Google plans to let YouTube creators send advertisers a code that links a sponsored video straight into a Display & Video 360 account, instead of the advertiser searching for the video and waiting for the creator to approve a request. The change concerns brands and agencies that pay creators for sponsored videos and buy YouTube ads through Google's enterprise platform, because a linked video can be run as a paid ad and its viewers can feed remarketing lists. No date has been set, and the current rules stay in place: managing links requires administrative access, securing the rights to use the video remains the advertiser's job, and a link started by a creator can only be removed by that creator.

What the November 13 announcement says

The notice sits in the Display & Video 360 Help Center under Announcements, titled "Brand partner access shared codes" and marked "Last updated: November 13, 2026." Its full text reads: "Display & Video 360 will soon support shared codes for brand partner access, simplifying how advertisers link YouTube creator videos for boosting campaigns. Instead of navigating manual channel searches and approval workflows, advertisers can use a unique link generated by creators to automatically link video assets to their account. This streamlines the setup process and helps advertisers launch Creator partnerships boost campaigns faster."

That is all of it. There is no launch date, no list of markets, no indication of where in the interface a code would be entered, and no statement on whether a link created through a code could later be removed by the advertiser. The help page the announcement links to carries no update date and does not mention codes at all. It documents two routes that already exist.

The code itself is not new on the YouTube side. According to YouTube's help page for creators on sharing brand partner access, creators in the YouTube Partner Program can generate a unique code, in the form of a clickable link, for a sponsored video once it has been uploaded, send it to a brand partner, and delete it later to cut off access. The code works while the video is public or unlisted, according to that page. Google presented the mechanism at Made on YouTube on September 23 as a one-click code that creators could share so that a brand could view the video's performance and run paid media behind it using creator partnerships boost. Seven weeks later, Display & Video 360 still describes support for the same mechanism in the future tense.

Once the code arrives, a creator's video will be able to reach a Display & Video 360 advertiser by three routes. Two are documented and live; the third exists only in the November 13 notice.

Route Started by Where it lands in Display & Video 360 Approval Who can remove the link Status
Link request Advertiser, from the "YouTube creator videos" panel Pending tab, then Access shared tab Creator clicks Link in YouTube Studio Advertiser can withdraw a pending request or remove a shared link Live
Creator-initiated brand partner access Creator, after marking a video as a paid product placement and naming the brand's YouTube channel Received tab Automatic Only the creator, in YouTube Studio Live
Shared code Creator, who generates a unique link and sends it to the advertiser Not stated Automatic linking, according to the announcement Not stated Announced November 13, 2026 as coming "soon"

The difference between the first two routes is a question of who holds the switch. In a link request, the advertiser asks and the creator decides. In a creator-initiated link, the creator decides and the advertiser receives - with no step to accept and, according to the help page, no way to undo it. The shared code, as described, belongs to the second family: the creator generates the link, and the advertiser uses it to complete the connection. The announcement frames the gain in time saved, not in a change of who controls the relationship.

Every documented path runs through Advertiser settings and Data manager (Linked accounts), the area of Display & Video 360 where external accounts are connected. Inside it, the "YouTube creator videos" panel "shows linked YouTube videos and permissions you have been granted, as well as your pending link requests," according to Google. The panel does not exist for an advertiser until a first request has gone out. "The 'YouTube creator videos' panel can only be accessed once you have submitted a YouTube video link request," the page states.

Administrative access is a precondition. "To link, hide, or unhide a YouTube video to your Display & Video 360 advertiser, you need to have administrative access, otherwise you won't be able to manage it," according to the help page, which notes that access levels can be checked under User management in the upper right corner of the interface.

According to Google, a link request takes six steps:

  1. The advertiser is opened in Display & Video 360.
  2. Advertiser settings is expanded from the left menu, and Data manager (Linked accounts) is selected.
  3. On the Linked accounts tab, the pencil icon in the "YouTube creator videos" section is selected.
  4. Request new creator video is selected.
  5. In the "Videos" field, a creator video is found by search or by pasting a YouTube URL.
  6. The video is selected from the results, followed by Request access.

Not every video qualifies. "The video must be either unlisted or public to link. Private videos can't be used for the linking process, as ads can't run against them," according to the page.

What happens next sits on the creator's side. "The owner and channel manager of the YouTube creator account will receive both an email with a request to link the video with a Display & Video 360 account, and a push notification in YouTube Studio to accept the link request," the page says. "In YouTube Studio, the YouTube creator can click Link to confirm ad use and data sharing." The page twice recommends contacting the channel owner first; in its words, it is "recommended to engage with the channel owner before sending the link request to ensure it's accepted" - an acknowledgement that a cold request can simply go unanswered. That waiting period is what the shared code is meant to remove.

Withdrawing a request and removing an approved link follow the same first three steps. For a withdrawal, the advertiser opens the Pending tab, selects the requests and chooses Withdraw request. For removal, the Access shared tab is opened, the links are selected, and Remove is chosen.

Tab in the "YouTube creator videos" panel What it holds Actions documented
Pending Link requests sent by the advertiser and not yet accepted Withdraw request
Access shared Videos the creator has approved for the advertiser Remove
Received Videos linked by creators through brand partner access Hide and Unhide, under the "Action" column; a "Show only videos with confirmed brand mentions" toggle

The second route starts with the creator's disclosure. "YouTube creators can also initiate Brand Partner Access when they mark any of their videos as a paid product placement. After doing so, they can indicate your YouTube channel as their brand partner," according to the help page. Display & Video 360 announced on April 20, 2026 that support for creator-initiated brand partner access would launch later that month, with creators adding an advertiser as a brand partner in YouTube Studio. A later entry in the Display & Video 360 announcements list, dated May 18, 2026, gave an estimated launch of May 2026.

No acceptance step exists on the advertiser's side. "Videos from YouTube creators are automatically accepted after the YouTube creator initiates the link," the page says. "You don't need to manually accept these requests as they are approved by design to streamline the process." The consent logic is spelled out in the same document: creators who name a brand partner "have accepted the same consent to promote their video as part of your ad campaigns as a Creator partnerships boost," according to Google.

The page is not entirely consistent on this point. Three numbered steps for managing creator links end with the instruction to "Go to the Received tab to review a list of all pending requests from creators" - language that implies a queue awaiting action, a few lines below the statement that nothing needs to be accepted.

The Received tab is also filtered by default. "To locate the most relevant videos, the list only shows videos where your brand is mentioned," the help page says. When a video that a creator says has been linked does not appear, the page points to turning the "Show only videos with confirmed brand mentions" toggle off and unhiding assets. It does not explain how a brand mention is confirmed. YouTube said in September that it was moving its governing policy to the term branded content and rolling out automated detection of undisclosed brand deals; nothing in the Display & Video 360 page connects the toggle to that system, and the page still uses the older phrase "paid product placement." YouTube's own creator help page refers to a "Paid promotion" label that is added once brand partner access is shared.

Video visibility works differently on this route. "The creator can initiate a link request for a video that is currently listed as 'Private' on YouTube, however, the request won't appear in Display & Video 360 until the creator makes the video 'Public'," according to the page.

Then there is the removal rule. "Once the creator video has been linked through creator initiated brand partner access, you cannot remove the link from the Display & Video 360 advertiser. To remove the linking, you will need to work with the creator to have them unlink the brand in YouTube studio," the page states. An advertiser can hide such a video from its list. It cannot detach it. On YouTube's side, according to the creator help page, creators can remove creator-initiated or brand-initiated brand partner access at any time, and deleting a code ends the access it granted. Control over the link, in other words, rests with the creator in both directions.

A linked creator video does not automatically appear where media buyers expect to find assets. "As creator videos are stored in the 'Received' tab, they may not immediately appear in your standard asset library view," according to the help page. It describes four steps for attaching one to YouTube & partners or Demand Gen line items:

  1. The buyer navigates to the ad creation step of the line item.
  2. In the "Video" field, the exact title of the creator's video is searched for, or the specific YouTube URL is pasted.
  3. The correct video is selected from the results and attached to the ad.
  4. Line item creation continues as usual.

The line items themselves carry other requirements. Since October 12, 2026, YouTube & partners line items in Display & Video 360 have required a business name and logo, with a disapproved name or logo taking the entire ad down with it.

What the advertiser gets, and what it does not

The help page states the benefit plainly. Linking gives the advertiser "access to insights like the YouTube view count of the linked YouTube video," and "insights into how the video is performing organically," and it "enables Creator partnerships boost formats," according to Google.

The limits come in a five-point Considerations section, quoted here in full because it defines what a link allows:

  • "You're responsible for securing sufficient rights to use the video as an ad. This may require you to have a separate agreement with the creator or other rights holders."
  • "Linking accounts doesn't give the YouTube channel owner control over the Display & Video 360 advertiser. In addition, linking accounts doesn't let the advertiser delete, or modify the linked videos on the YouTube channel. You can now limit the content on your YouTube channel to only be used in linked Display & Video 360 advertisers."
  • "Linking YouTube videos doesn't mean that these videos are exclusive to the linked Display & Video 360 advertiser. A YouTube video may be linked to multiple Display & Video 360 advertisers, including accounts owned by another advertiser."
  • "You can't link a video from a YouTube channel if you've already linked the YouTube channel to your Display & Video 360 advertiser."
  • "Approving a request grants consent for sharing metrics allows the video to be used as a creative in your ad campaigns. This will enable the creation of remarketing audiences based on the video's viewership."

Three of these carry weight beyond setup. The rights clause means a technical link is not a licence: the platform records consent to ad use and data sharing, but the commercial terms sit in whatever contract the parties signed, or did not sign. Disputes over brands running creator footage are not hypothetical. In October, a North Carolina creator sued True Nutra over 12 Meta ads that allegedly reused her videos without permission, claims that remain untested.

The non-exclusivity clause means the same creator video can sit in the accounts of several advertisers at once, competitors included. And the final clause turns a creator's audience into a targeting input: approval enables remarketing audiences built from the people who watched the video. The page does not say how long those audiences persist after a link is removed.

How Display & Video 360 reached this point

Google's creator advertising tools started in Google Ads. In August 2024, Google began letting advertisers run YouTube creator videos in Google Ads campaigns, through what was then called BrandConnect. It named the format Partnership Ads, the same term Meta uses for ads that run under a creator's name and are paid for by a brand.

Display & Video 360 followed this year. At its NewFront on March 23, 2026, Google said it was bringing a creator partnership boost to Display & Video 360, alongside other YouTube formats previously accessible only through Google Ads. A day later, YouTube Creator Partnerships replaced BrandConnect in seven markets - the United States, India, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia and Canada - merging brand-deal tools into a single platform inside YouTube Studio. Google's Display & Video 360 page on YouTube Creator Partnerships describes the product as being in open beta and rolling out to accounts and markets as they become eligible, with general features tied to locations where the YouTube Partner Program is active.

The advertiser-initiated workflow in Google Ads looked much like the one Display & Video 360 now documents. In April, PPC Land described it as a handshake that begins in Data Manager under Tools, with the creator accepting in YouTube Studio, and noted that linked videos could feed custom audience segments built from their viewers.

Google's performance claims for the format have moved over the same period. A creator playbook distributed on May 7 cited a 20% average conversion lift for creator partnerships boost on Demand Gen. On October 15, the figure promoted for the same January 2025 to January 2026 data window rose to 30%, and the 2026 holiday playbook repeated the 30% claim with no source note. Neither Display & Video 360 page cites any performance figure.

Why this matters for marketers

Display & Video 360 is Google's enterprise buying platform, used mainly by agencies and large advertisers that buy programmatic and YouTube media in one place. For those buyers, creator boosting arrived about 19 months after Partnership Ads reached Google Ads, and the shared code follows a creator-side mechanism that YouTube presented in September. The November 13 notice narrows one of the remaining gaps, though without a date.

The mechanics matter as much as the parity. Under the request route, an advertiser has to find the right video, send a request and wait for someone at the channel to act on an email or a YouTube Studio notification. Under the code route, as described, the creator initiates and the advertiser completes. For agencies that run many brand deals at once, the time between a sponsored upload and a paid boost is the practical cost the announcement targets. The balance of control documented on the help page stays where it was, with the creator.

The competitive context is Meta. In October, Meta claimed that advertisers whose campaigns included at least 30% partnership ads saw a 45% lower median cost per incremental purchase across 20 EMEA conversion lift studies, a figure from the company's own white paper. Google's equivalent claims, as the shift from 20% to 30% shows, have not been stable. Faster linking does not settle the measurement question; it only shortens the setup.

For creators, two points in the documentation carry consequences: a linked video is not exclusive to one advertiser, and approval allows remarketing audiences to be built from the video's viewers.

What the pages do not say

The November 13 announcement gives no launch date, no markets, no eligibility rules for the advertiser side and no description of where a code is entered or whether a code-based link can be removed by the advertiser. The help page carries no update date, does not yet mention codes, contradicts itself on whether creator links arrive as pending requests or pre-approved assets, and does not explain how a "confirmed brand mention" is determined or what happens to remarketing audiences after a link is removed.

Key facts

  • Announcement: "Brand partner access shared codes," Display & Video 360 Help, Announcements. Last updated: November 13, 2026. URL: https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/18944165
  • Help page: "Link YouTube creator videos to your Display & Video 360 account," Display & Video 360 Help. No update date shown. URL: https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/16759544
  • Status of shared codes: "will soon support"; no date given.
  • Feature names: brand partner access (also written Brand Partner Access); Creator partnerships boost; "YouTube creator videos" panel; Data manager (Linked accounts).
  • Panel tabs: Pending, Access shared, Received.
  • Controls named: Request new creator video, Request access, Withdraw request, Remove, Hide, Unhide, "Show only videos with confirmed brand mentions" toggle.
  • Permission required: administrative access to link, hide or unhide.
  • Eligible videos (advertiser requests): unlisted or public; private videos cannot be linked.
  • Creator-initiated requests on private videos: appear only once the video is made public.
  • Removal: creator-initiated links cannot be removed by the advertiser; the creator unlinks the brand in YouTube Studio.
  • Line item types named: YouTube & partners, Demand Gen.
  • Data use: approval enables remarketing audiences based on the video's viewership.
  • Earlier dates: creator-initiated brand partner access announced for Display & Video 360 on April 20, 2026; announcements list entry dated May 18, 2026 with an estimated May 2026 launch.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Google's Display & Video 360, advertisers and agencies that buy YouTube media through it, and YouTube creators who make sponsored videos for those advertisers.

What: An announcement that Display & Video 360 "will soon support shared codes for brand partner access," letting advertisers use a creator-generated link to attach a creator's video to their account automatically. The linked help page documents the two existing routes - advertiser requests and creator-initiated brand partner access - along with the rule that creator-initiated links cannot be removed by the advertiser, the requirement for administrative access, and consent terms that enable remarketing audiences built from a video's viewers.

When: The announcement was last updated on November 13, 2026. No launch date was given. The help page carries no date.

Where: The Display & Video 360 Help Center, in the advertiser's Data manager (Linked accounts) area and the "YouTube creator videos" panel, with the creator side handled in YouTube Studio.

Why: According to Google, the codes replace "manual channel searches and approval workflows" so that advertisers can launch Creator partnerships boost campaigns faster. The change brings Display & Video 360 closer to a creator-side code that YouTube presented in September.