YouTube is stepping up its competition with TikTok Shop by expanding its partnership with Shopify, significantly broadening the YouTube Shopping affiliate program. This expansion, announced on Tuesday, August 20, allows creators to access thousands of new brands to tag in their shopping videos, a notable increase from the current few hundred brands available.
The partnership now includes all eligible Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants in the U.S., providing them the opportunity to join the affiliate program.
The YouTube Shopping affiliate program is designed to benefit both creators and brands. Here’s how:
- For creators: They can earn money by tagging products in their videos, providing a direct way to monetize their content.
- For brands: The program offers a new channel to reach customers, potentially boosting their sales through greater exposure.
This move positions YouTube to better compete with TikTok, which is rapidly growing its TikTok Shop business in the U.S., aiming for a tenfold increase to $17.5 billion this year. Despite TikTok’s relatively recent entry into the U.S. e-commerce market, the platform reported having 500,000 merchants onboarded by the end of 2023.
In addition to the expanded partnership, YouTube is introducing a new Chrome extension for U.S.-based creators in the affiliate program. This tool will allow creators to save products while browsing a brand or retailer’s website, making it easier to tag these products in their videos later.
This expansion reflects YouTube’s broader strategy to enhance its e-commerce capabilities as a way to generate more revenue, especially in light of a slowdown in digital advertising. The platform has seen positive results, with over 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos watched on YouTube in 2023 and a 25% increase in watch time for videos that assist in shopping.
For creators, these developments offer new opportunities to increase their earnings through YouTube’s platform. In line with this, YouTube recently introduced additional Shopping features to help creators more effectively market products and grow their income.
