The 2026 eCom Trends Report
Top Report Findings: This is our sixth Trends Report with 300 owners representing $3.5...
Is YouTube the most underrated paid channel for eCommerce brands right now? In this episode, I sit down with Brett Curry, founder of OMG Commerce, to break down exactly how seven- and eight-figure brands should be thinking about YouTube ads. Brett has been running YouTube campaigns for top D2C brands for years, and he reveals why YouTube looks terrible in most reporting tools… and why it’s still absolutely worth the investment.
Listen in as Brett goes deeper on what a winning YouTube ad actually looks like, why the homepage often outperforms the product page for cold traffic, and how creative fatigue on YouTube compares to Meta. You’ll also hear his takes on Google Shopping and Amazon in 2026, why branded search spend may be costing you more than it’s worth, and how OMG uses geo holdouts and incrementality testing to prove what’s actually working and not just what looks good on a dashboard.
You’ll learn:
- Why YouTube is a top-of-funnel channel and why attribution gets tricky. (6:57)
- How geo holdouts and incrementality tests reveal what YouTube is actually doing. (9:25)
- What makes a winning YouTube ad: hooks, product demos, social proof, and CTAs. (16:15)
- Why the homepage usually beats the product detail page for cold YouTube traffic. (27:20)
- How to think about campaign setup, audience signals, and smart bidding in 2026. (33:11)
- How creative fatigue on YouTube compares to Meta—and why it matters. (34:41)
- Why top Meta ads are now crossing over and working on YouTube. (36:40)
- Brett’s quick take on the state of Google Shopping and Amazon ads. (39:35)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music
(With your host Andrew Youderian of eCommerceFuel.com and Brett Curry of OMGCommerce.com)
What Was Mentioned
Ideas Worth Sharing:
“It looks pretty bad from a reporting standpoint inside of a lot of reporting tools, like MTA tools. But if you look at things like geo holdouts and incrementality tests, it's actually quite profitable and quite incremental at driving new customers.” - @BrettCurry Tweet this "If we get to the point where you're just having to pay big tech for the privilege of people searching directly for you and still coming to you, it just hurts my soul as a marketer." - Andrew Youderian Tweet this “We get the five seconds to hook someone and keep them watching... We need to earn the next five seconds and the next five seconds." - @BrettCurry Tweet this
Post by Andrew Youderian
Founder and Chief Instigator, eComFuel
Andrew quit an early finance job to sell CB radios online — an admittedly unorthodox career path. It set him on a course to found and sell multiple businesses, host a decade-running podcast, lecture at Harvard Business School and create eComFuel, the leading community for 7- and 8-figure online business owners. Andrew is fascinated with branding, AI, building community, investing and growing meaningful businesses that don't require sacrificing what truly matters.
