At Made on YouTube on 23 September, YouTube said it will expand its Shopping affiliate programme to 35 countries by the end of the year. More than 1.3 million creators already use it, and YouTube says gross merchandise volume (total sales) grew 13x over the last two years.
The big move for brands: new affiliate campaigns let retailers and brands offer creators exclusive commission rates or bonuses for content about specific products. YouTube also says its own study found shopping tags drive more than twice as many clicks as links in the description. And viewers abroad now see a localised link, while the creator still earns.
This is the TikTok creator army model, with a longer shelf life. A YouTube review keeps selling for months. Brands that pay creators to tag their hero product now will own that search when people go looking.
YouTube also made Creator Partnerships available in 20 countries, so brands can find creators and put paid media behind their videos.