Dive Brief:
- Shopify expanded its partnership with YouTube on Tuesday, per a company blog post. Eligible Shopify Plus and Advanced sellers in the U.S. can join the video-based social media network’s affiliate program via Google and YouTube’s apps now on the selling platform.
- Shopify merchants can use YouTube Shopping’s affiliate program to let participating creators promote their products. Sellers can also oversee the program, content and product analytics using the Google Merchant Center, according to the announcement.
- Content creators on YouTube can promote products from brands like GoPure Beauty, BK Beauty and HexClad. YouTube is also introducing a Google Chrome extension for U.S. content creators in the YouTube Shopping affiliate program. The extension lets participants save products, tag them in their videos and see potential earnings from promoting products.
Dive Insight:
The collaboration with Shopify is part of YouTube’s ongoing investment in social commerce. In 2022, David Katz, vice president of shopping product at YouTube, announced the company’s partnership with Shopify to let creators link to their Shopify store on their channels. At that time, the company said it would continue to expand its Live, short-form and long-form video shoppable content capabilities.
“In 2023, people watched over 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos on YouTube, helping make connections between shopping creators and their fans deeper, easier, and more fulfilling,” Suyog Karnawat, product manager at YouTube Shopping, wrote in a statement, citing the tech company’s internal data. “Over the past few months, we’ve introduced updates so viewers can shop for new favorites, have made tagging easier for creators, and more.”
YouTube is enhancing its content shopping features as other platforms roll out similar features and bring their platforms into the social commerce playing field.
In 2022, Wish introduced its Wish Clips feature, which lets users view product information and buy products in the app’s short-form videos. The following year, TikTok launched the TikTok Shop in the U.S., enabling businesses to showcase their products on the social media app. Earlier this year, Amazon Live debuted its shoppable, free ad-supported channel on Prime Video, allowing viewers browse, shop and engage with content they’re watching on TV or their mobile devices.
