YouTube is the ultimate litmus test for brands: What does it take to create content that viewers actually want to engage with? “On YouTube you can’t buy your way to success the way you can on Facebook and Twitter,” said YouTube marketing expert Brendon Gahan, speaking at the Streaming Media West conference today in Huntington Beach, California. Instead, brands need to create content people choose to see. It’s a tricky platform. Kids creating shows in their bedrooms can get millions of subscribers, he noted, but brands with million dollar budgets struggle to do the same.