YouTube beats TV and movies as Gen Z's top storytelling platform, but 73% won't cast the influencers brands are paying for

YouTube is the top storytelling platform for Gen Z and Gen Alpha according to UCLA's Center for Scholars and Storytellers, which surveyed 1,500 respondents aged 10 to 24. Nearly 73% ranked YouTube as the medium that can best convey a story, ahead of TV shows (70.3%), movies (70.2%) and video games (68.5%).

Tubefilter first reported the finding, crediting it as confirmation that Hollywood's recent embrace of YouTube talent is late rather than early. But the same study reveals a contradiction that should worry every brand building creator-led campaigns: only 16.8% of respondents would cast an influencer in a movie or TV show, compared to 39.8% who prefer an unknown actor.

For social media marketers, the implication is not that YouTube creator partnerships are overvalued. It is that the value they create on YouTube does not automatically transfer when those creators move into different storytelling formats or act as traditional spokespeople. The audience loves what these creators do in their native environment, but resists seeing them packaged for somewhere else.

What changes for brands on Monday

YouTube's position as the number one storytelling platform matters less than what Gen Z and Gen Alpha now consider a story. For this cohort, stories are found everywhere: on YouTube, in video games, in 30-second videos and, increasingly, in AI-generated content. Storytelling is no longer format-specific, and nearly four out of five respondents said short-form videos can tell a story.

The strategic takeaway is not "make more YouTube content". It is that audiences under 25 see no hierarchy between a 30-second Short, a 20-minute explainer, and a two-hour film. Each format can carry narrative weight if the execution earns it. Brands treating YouTube as a secondary or experimental channel are working from an outdated understanding of where stories live.

This creates immediate pressure on how campaigns are structured. If a brand's YouTube strategy is "repurpose TikTok content and run pre-roll ads", it is leaving money on the table. When viewers watch an organic YouTube video about a brand, they are 13 times more likely to make a branded search and five times more likely to make a purchase. But that lift comes from content that feels native to the platform and respects how audiences use YouTube to make decisions, not from ads that interrupt them.

The report also confirms what our breakdown of YouTube's generative AI report revealed: audiences are drawn to creators because of who they are and how they present, not just the information they deliver. That identity works on YouTube because the format and context support it. It does not automatically work when the same creator is asked to perform in a scripted ad, a Hollywood production, or even a brand's owned channel where the tone and production values shift.

Hollywood got there first, but brands should not follow the same route

Netflix announced deals with YouTube stars including Rhett & Link, the Stokes Twins, Alan Chikin Chow and Nick DiGiovanni in July, and Disney has struck deals with Dude Perfect, Dhar Mann and Like Nastya. YouTube responded by making offers to around 15 creators, with packages starting in the low seven figures and reaching roughly $10 million, to keep videos off competing platforms.

The talent war confirms YouTube creators are now considered professional entertainment producers with proven audiences. But the UCLA data suggests audiences do not yet see them that way when they step outside YouTube. The love for a creator's YouTube series does not guarantee they want to see that creator in a Netflix feature or a brand's 60-second TV spot.

For marketers, this means treating YouTube creator partnerships as YouTube content opportunities, not as casting decisions for other channels. A creator who drives millions of views and genuine engagement on their own channel may not deliver the same performance when transplanted into a brand campaign that strips away the context, format and creative control that made them compelling in the first place.

A large social media following does not necessarily mean audiences want that creator in a leading screen role, which is exactly what brands discover when they pay for influencer integrations that feel like ads rather than content. The value is in the creator's ability to tell stories within their format and environment, not in their transferable fame.

Where the money should go instead

Rather than paying creators to appear in traditional advertising formats, brands should be commissioning them to make YouTube content that aligns with what the audience already wants from that creator. YouTube is now paying select creators to post exclusively to its platform, making offers to around 15 creators with deal terms varying by talent. The platform understands that the content itself, in its native format, is the asset.

Brands can take the same approach. Instead of asking a creator to be a spokesperson, ask them to make an episode, a series, or a piece of storytelling that sits naturally within their channel and serves the brand's goals without disrupting the format that made the creator successful. The recent shift in how YouTube is turning Shorts into TV series shows the platform itself is investing in serialised, episodic storytelling that keeps audiences returning.

Brands funding that kind of content, rather than one-off integrations or spokesperson deals, are more likely to earn the trust and engagement that translates to search and purchase behaviour. The model is not "rent the audience"; it is "co-create the content".

The study also found that the top three story types respondents want to see are hopeful, uplifting stories with people beating the odds, friendships and social groups, and people with lives like mine. Brands building creator partnerships around relatable, optimistic narratives rather than product-led messaging are more likely to match what the audience is already seeking.

What this means for campaign planning

If YouTube is where Gen Z and Gen Alpha find stories, and stories are what drive brand consideration and purchase intent, then YouTube cannot be an afterthought in the media mix. It needs to be planned with the same rigour as any other storytelling channel, which means format-specific content, not repurposed assets.

Mainstream culture has not disappeared, it just stopped waiting for Hollywood's permission. That shift applies to brand storytelling too. The most valuable partnerships are not the ones that extract a creator from their environment and place them in yours. They are the ones that let creators do what they already do well, in the place where the audience already trusts them, with your brand woven into the story rather than stamped on top of it.

The UCLA data makes it clear that the audience sees YouTube creators as storytellers, not celebrities. Treat them accordingly.