TikTok Shop is indeed on the rise. But we shouldn’t sleep on YouTube Shopping. According to the platform’s internal data, people watched over 30 billion hours of shopping videos on YouTube in 2023.
So it should come as no surprise that, as of August 20, YouTube is expanding its partnership with Shopify.
As a result of this expanded partnership, YouTubers will be able to connect with thousands of new brands to tag in affiliate videos, like BK Beauty, Popflex, HexClad, and GoPure Beauty, amongst others.
What else is YouTube Shopping introducing?
In a website post, Google announced all eligible Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants in the US can now apply for the YouTube Shopping affiliate program.
Furthermore, it is introducing a new Chrome extension for creators who are part of the affiliate program. With this extension, creator will be able to “save” products when they are looking at a brand’s website to use them for affiliate videos later on.
The extension can also estimate how much a creator could earn from tagging that specific product in an affiliate YouTube video.
Earlier this year, YouTube launched a number of new shopping features, including an Affiliate Hub for better content planning, the integration of Fourthwall (a website builder) to help manage the virtual storefront, and shoppable product collections.
While TikTok Shop is aiming to expand its US business to $17.5 billion this year, it looks like YouTube might provide stiff competition.
