YouTube has found perhaps its first Shorts star—not MrBeast or PewDiePie, creators of the old guard—but Alan Chikin Chow, a creator with 23 million subscribers and a flair for the short-video arts. Kristen O’Hara, VP of agency and brand solutions, introduced Chow as the No. 1 Shorts creator at YouTube’s IAB NewFronts show today, as the video behemoth makes a play for TikTok’s cultural resonance.

YouTube was still promoting homegrown stars who made it big with longer videos, including Liza Koshy, who hosted the top of the event. Koshy opened the YouTube presentation with a joke about the NewFronts, the annual showcase for digital publishers: “What they still have that,” Koshy quipped. “I don’t know why I have to sell anyone on the clear success of YouTube.”

While YouTube is still a favorite among creators, paying out $50 billion to creators over the past three years, the company said today, the platform is in the middle of an upheaval, switching to shorter video styles to keep up with the TikTok generation.

Related: How YouTube shorts is leaving creators with less money

This is where Chow, who has more than 13 million followers on TikTok, comes in. Many creators are struggling to transition to Shorts, which monetize differently from long-form videos. In longer videos, ads pop up before they start or midstream, giving creators a piece of that revenue. On Shorts, creators split money from ads that appear in the feed of other Shorts, a less-direct formula for payouts.

At the same time, YouTube is trying to convince marketers that Shorts are a path to building brands and driving sales. YouTube Shorts, similar to Meta’s Reels, don’t make as much money for the platforms as more developed ad products. YouTube’s ad revenue was $6.7 billion in the first quarter of 2023, a 2.6% decrease year over year, even as it reached 50 billion-plus Shorts viewed a day. YouTube said 1.5 billion people are logged in and watching Shorts each month.

YouTube, Meta, Snap, TikTok, Amazon, NBCUniversal’s Peacock and others are at this year’s IAB NewFronts, which run through Thursday. YouTube will save its premium-tier content, such as its Primetime Channels, which are ad-supported, for its upfront dog and pony show later this month, along with its new deal to sell NFL’s Sunday Ticket, which will be open as a subscription on YouTube and YouTube TV. It's NewFront presentation showcased its online, mobile and digital content, and this year, Shorts is a big part of that push.

YouTube released new ad products for Shorts, including bringing YouTube Select to the format. This will let brands appear only next to a curated grouping of popular Shorts videos. Shorts also has a new “brand awareness” ad format called “first position,” for advertisers to buy the top placement when a user opens the Shorts feed.

YouTube is trying to show advertisers that it can create a safe environment in a rather hectic short-video landscape. YouTube touted celebrities such as Meghan Trainor’s “I am your mother” dance challenge as an example of Shorts culture.

YouTube’s NewFronts opened with a talk between O’Hara and Michael Kassan, CEO of MediaLink, the management consulting firm. The two talked about how AI is changing the structures of advertising and content. IAB CEO David Cohen had opening remarks touching on the fact that digital video is changing, and that advertisers need to change with it. Marketers are having a hard time valuing short-form, user-generated videos compared to the ad-supported video on demand coming from longtime TV networks that are pushing into streaming. Cohen shared a stat from a recent IAB survey saying that 64% of TV and video ad buyers said “creator-driven video can be premium.”