The feature allows creators to tag the product from various websites
Initially, the feature will be available for ecommerce marketplaces like Flipkart and Myntra
The shopping affiliate program is already available in countries like United States and South Korea
Doubling down on its shopping feature in India, YouTube has introduced a shopping affiliate programme for creators to diversify their earnings and for viewers to discover products through the creators.
The feature allows creators to tag the product from various websites. Initially, the feature will be available for ecommerce marketplaces like Flipkart and Myntra.
The new feature is the latest addition to the existing YouTube Shopping feature that allows eligible creators to promote their own merchandise by linking their stores to their YouTube channels.
This feature further enhances the monetisation feature for these creators. At present, the source of revenue for these creators includes options like Ads revenue, and YouTube Premium.
Besides, there are other fan-fueled sources like channel memberships, super thanks, super chat and super stickers, providing a comprehensive suite of tools for creators to thrive on the platform.
“As a homegrown brand, with more than 500 Mn registered customers, Flipkart and Myntra understand the evolving and nuanced shopping needs of a diverse customer base. To make shopping engaging and personalised and empower customers to make informed purchase decisions, we have pioneered video commerce on our platforms, covering a variety of categories, including fashion, beauty, personal care, home furnishing and more, with strong engagement with customers across tier II and III cities,” said Flipkart group’s senior VP Ravi Iyer.
“Using the YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program, we aim to further boost the experience and engagement of customers using Flipkart and Myntra by enabling product discovery through videos by creators on YouTube. The innovative approach to product discovery will strengthen the trust and loyalty of customers as we continue to build on the opportunities that video commerce offers,” Iyer added.
The shopping affiliate program is already available in countries like United States and South Korea where the program is already quite popular. Just in 2023, viewers watched over 30 Bn hours of shopping-related videos on YouTube
This comes amid a host of creator-focussed offerings launched by YouTube last year.
Last year, it expanded eligibility for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) and brought YouTube Shorts creators under the initiative.
It also rolled out an ad revenue sharing feature for short form videos as competition began to mount from Meta-owned Instagram Reels.
Apart from this, YouTube is reportedly testing new GenAI features that would allow users to create music tracks based on a text prompt or even a simple hummed tune.
