YouTube Is Now Where Shoppers Decide to Buy, with Sophie Neary of Google

YouTube is no longer just where shoppers see your brand. It is where they decide to buy it. On the red carpet at YouTube Festival London 2026, Alex Rezvan, Host of The Retail Podcast, talks to Sophie Neary, Managing Director, Retail & Consumer Goods, Google. Where a retailer should start on YouTube, why brand and creator content belong in one plan, how shoppable video now reaches the living room TV and the high street, and why your videos now feed AI search. Chapters 0:00 Where shoppers now decide to buy 0:58 Where to start: your channel plus creators 2:05 Connected TV and the high street 2:59 From inspiration to purchase 3:25 AI search: models read your videos In this episode - Three strands of a YouTube content strategy: your own brand channel, user-generated content and creator content - Your brand is the what, your creators are the how and the why. You need both. - Every surface on YouTube is now shoppable, including connected TV - YouTube reaches 49 million UK adults every month (YouTube press release, September 2026) - Large language models read your videos, transcripts and comments Part of our three-part series from YouTube Festival London 2026, with creator Jade Beason and Charlotte Lock, Chief Customer Officer, Boots. Retail intelligence, e