VuePlanner integrates Sundogs to predict YouTube ad performance

VuePlanner integrated creative insights from Sundogs into its CreativeVue intelligence suite on November 25, 2025, adding pre-launch campaign performance prediction capabilities to the YouTube advertising platform.

The collaboration enhances AI-driven creative scoring within VuePlanner's planning and targeting infrastructure. Brands can forecast campaign outcomes and optimize advertisement creative for engagement on YouTube before launch, according to the announcement.

Measurement of more than 150 advertisement attributes is now available within the CreativeVue intelligence suite, according to the press release. The integration represents VuePlanner's second partnership in building its AI capabilities, following the company's existing relationship with junbi.ai for attention-based creative scoring technology.

"Giving advertisers access to more insights at the beginning of their campaigns leads to predictable outcomes and provides confidence for increased investment," stated Jeremy Stewart, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of VuePlanner. He noted that Sundogs provides depth in scoring video advertisement creative while painting a holistic picture of advertisement reception.

The addition complements VuePlanner's existing AI-based solutions with diagnostic scoring derived from Google's ABCD framework for YouTube creative effectiveness. YouTube's ABCD framework provides research-backed guidelines for Attract, Brand, Connect, and Direct principles that have demonstrated a 30% lift in short-term sales likelihood.

Sundogs' artificial intelligence evaluates creative attributes ranging from storytelling structure and pacing to emotion and sentiment. The system benchmarks advertisements against top-performing industry examples. With VuePlanner's contextual targeting capabilities, advertisers can forecast campaign outcomes and refine creative before launch.

"VuePlanner has already set the standard for precision in YouTube targeting – reaching the right audiences within the right context," stated Ben Jones, Co-Founder of Sundogs. The integration marks the first API partnership for Sundogs, enabling teams to transform creative insights into media decisions while bridging the gap between creative development, media investment, and performance.

The technical methodology relies on proprietary diagnostic technology capturing proven creative signals. These signals include narrative structure, emotions conveyed, people featured in the content, branding elements, audio components, product presentation, promotional claims, calls-to-action, execution quality, energy levels, and mechanical elements of production.

According to materials from Sundogs, the approach stems from ten years of research and experimentation in advertising at global scale. Rather than relying on what artificial intelligence systems detect visually, Sundogs trained algorithms to identify elements that matter for campaign performance.

The solution provides concrete scoring for attention capture, message comprehension, persuasion effectiveness, and action-driving capability. Each score includes precise editing recommendations designed to improve performance. Research from Sundogs demonstrates that more than 80% of creative guidance overlaps between TikTok and YouTube Shorts, suggesting similar principles apply across short-form video platforms.

The creative scoring system evaluates branding presence across multiple dimensions. Brand logos should appear in 85% of frames while brand see-say associations should occur in 10% of frames, according to Sundogs methodology. Combined brand and product see-say moments should reach 10% of frames. Audio mentions of the brand should occur at least once, while logos appearing on products should reach 20% of frames. Brand colors should dominate 40% of frames. The system also tracks mascot presence targeting 10% of frames and evaluates whether brand taglines or slogans appear.

For advertisers managing campaigns, the dashboard provides top-level scores and summaries while offering detailed analysis of specific elements requiring modification. Fine-tuning video advertisements for platform and objective through simple, implementable changes can generate performance gains exceeding 20%, according to Sundogs documentation.

The integration follows VuePlanner's position as a member of the YouTube Measurement Program. The company specializes in helping advertisers maximize impact and efficiency of YouTube campaigns through comprehensive planning and optimization services. VuePlanner works with brands and agencies to address YouTube video advertising opportunities around transparency and brand suitability.

YouTube advertising infrastructure has become increasingly central to digital marketing strategies. YouTube Shorts revenue per watch hour now matches traditional video in the United States, with short-form content achieving monetization parity. YouTube advertising revenues increased 15% year-over-year to $10.3 billion in the third quarter of 2025, driven primarily by direct response advertising followed by brand campaigns.

The creative intelligence sector has witnessed substantial growth throughout 2025 as platforms invest heavily in predictive capabilities. AI-powered creative tools have expanded across major advertising platforms, with Amazon, Meta, and Google all introducing automated creative generation and optimization systems.

Attention measurement methodologies provide the foundation for many creative scoring systems. The Media Rating Council and Interactive Advertising Bureau released comprehensive attention measurement guidelines in November 2025, establishing standardized frameworks for measuring attention across digital advertising formats.

The integration addresses structural challenges in video advertising production. Traditional creative testing requires substantial time and budget investments before campaigns launch. Predictive scoring enables advertisers to identify performance issues during development rather than after deployment.

VuePlanner's existing partnership with junbi.ai provides attention-based scoring technology, enabling brands and agencies to optimize advertisement creative for maximum impact and engagement. The combination of attention measurement and comprehensive creative diagnostics creates dual optimization pathways for advertisers.

Sundogs combines Cannes-winning creative insight with data science, according to company materials. The platform was founded by Ben Jones, formerly of Unskippable Labs at Google, and Jonathan Savitch, previously of Routehappy and ATPCO. The creative intelligence company uses artificial intelligence and human expertise to help brands create more effective video advertisements.

For YouTube advertising specifically, the integration enables advertisers to test video assets by platform and objective before running campaigns. The system scores advertisements against industry benchmarks while providing actionable insights with precise editing recommendations designed to improve effectiveness.

The collaboration reflects broader trends in advertising technology toward predictive optimization. Platform-specific attention metrics have emerged throughout 2025, with measurement providers developing custom solutions tailored to individual advertising environments rather than universal standards.

VuePlanner's CreativeVue suite now encompasses multiple artificial intelligence capabilities. The junbi.ai partnership provides attention-based optimization while the Sundogs integration delivers comprehensive creative diagnostics. Together, these tools enable advertisers to evaluate both whether audiences will pay attention to advertisements and whether creative execution will drive desired outcomes.

The announcement positions creative intelligence as essential infrastructure for campaign planning rather than optional enhancement. As YouTube advertising continues growing, with platforms like YouTube introducing specialized activation partner programs and expanding measurement capabilities, predictive creative scoring becomes increasingly valuable for advertisers managing substantial budgets.

YouTube's position as the leading streaming platform, ahead of Netflix, Disney, and Prime Video for over two years, makes creative optimization particularly important. With over two billion people scrolling through Shorts worldwide each month, creative quality directly impacts campaign effectiveness across both traditional and short-form video content.

The integration builds on VuePlanner's infrastructure for precision in YouTube targeting. The company's platform reaches specific audiences within relevant contexts while now adding creative performance prediction before launch. This combination addresses both placement optimization and creative effectiveness within unified workflows.

For marketing professionals managing YouTube campaigns, the enhanced CreativeVue suite provides data-driven insights for creative decisions before committing budgets to production and media placement. The predictive capabilities enable testing creative approaches and identifying optimization opportunities during development rather than after campaign launch.

Timeline

• April 2025: YouTube's ABCD framework playbook provides research-backed creative guidelines showing 30% lift in short-term sales likelihood
• May 2025: YouTube reveals Creator Essentials package to enhance brand collaborations during 20th anniversary
• October 2025: YouTube launches specialized activation partners program with four vetted companies including Channel Factory and Pixability
• October 2025: YouTube introduces brand pulse report using AI to connect paid advertising with organic video performance
• November 2025: YouTube Shorts revenue per watch hour matches traditional video in United States, achieving monetization parity
• November 2025: MRC and IAB release attention measurement guidelines establishing standardized frameworks for digital advertising
• November 25, 2025: VuePlanner integrates Sundogs creative scoring into CreativeVue intelligence suite

Summary

Who: VuePlanner, a YouTube advertising activation and optimization platform and YouTube Measurement Program member, integrated technology from Sundogs, a creative intelligence startup founded by Ben Jones and Jonathan Savitch.

What: Integration of Sundogs' creative scoring capabilities into VuePlanner's CreativeVue intelligence suite, adding measurement of more than 150 advertisement attributes including narrative structure, emotions, branding elements, audio components, product presentation, and execution quality to predict campaign performance before launch.

When: Announced November 25, 2025, representing VuePlanner's second AI partnership following existing collaboration with junbi.ai for attention-based creative scoring.

Where: The integration operates within VuePlanner's planning and targeting platform for YouTube advertising campaigns, accessible through the CreativeVue suite dashboard with scores, summaries, and detailed optimization recommendations.

Why: Enables brands to predict campaign performance and optimize advertisement creative for stronger engagement on YouTube before launch, addressing the need for data-driven creative decisions during development rather than after deployment while combining precision targeting with creative effectiveness optimization.