YouTube, the world’s largest video platform, has started a shopping program for Indian creators to help them earn more money.
The company announced the expansion of YouTube Shopping by introducing the YouTube Shopping affiliate program.
This program will create new earning opportunities for creators and help viewers find products recommended by their favorite creators.
It will begin with partnerships with Walmart-owned e-commerce companies Flipkart and Myntra. YouTube aims to strengthen its shopping features through this initiative.
New Opportunities During Festive Sales
This announcement comes at the start of the festive sales season, a key time for e-commerce platforms.
Eligible creators on YouTube will be able to tag and promote products in their videos, allowing viewers to buy these items through links to Flipkart and Myntra.
YouTube plans to enhance this service with more features in the future.
How Creators Can Join the Program
Creators who are part of YouTube’s Partner Program and have over 10,000 subscribers can join the affiliate program.
They will be able to recommend products in both their long-form and short-form videos (Shorts) and during livestreams.
Additionally, creators can tag products in their existing and new videos, as well as pin them during livestreams.
The new affiliate program builds on YouTube’s existing Shopping feature, which allows creators to promote their merchandise by linking their stores to their channels.
This feature will be accessible across all YouTube apps on mobile devices, the web, and connected televisions.
A YouTube official stated that they would use technologies like QR codes to enhance the shopping experience on connected TVs.
Creator Commission and Future Plans
Creators will earn commissions on the sales of the products they promote. The commission will be based on the sale price of the items, excluding delivery charges.
The more products viewers buy, the higher the commission for the creators. Initially, 100% of the commission went to creators, but YouTube will now share part of it to improve transparency across brands, which may lead to increased advertising revenue and brand sponsorships.
Ravi Iyer, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Development and Strategic Partnerships at Flipkart Group, mentioned that they aim to enhance customer experience on both platforms by enabling product discovery through creators’ videos.
Flipkart and Myntra, with over 500 million customers, are committed to making shopping engaging and personalized.
YouTube plans to add more partners to its affiliate program in the future. This initiative follows a similar partnership with Shopee, the e-commerce branch of Singapore-based Sea Limited.
The shopping service is currently available in the US, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
More than 250,000 creators have registered for the YouTube Shopping program globally.
