As YouTube continues its commitment to e-commerce, it's launching an Affiliate Hub to make it easier for channels to earn affiliate marketing revenue.
The Affiliate Hub integrated into the YouTube app is a central location to view top affiliate partners, commission rates, promotional offers, request product samples, and more.
It's one of several new shopping features YouTube has launched targeting the lucrative creator economy.
Other updates include:
- A shopping collection where creators can curate their own product galleries.
- The ability for all creators, not just affiliates, to bulk tag products across their entire video library.
- Manage your storefront within YouTube Studio with integration with e-commerce platform Fourthwall.
This update comes in the midst of a period of growth for YouTube Shopping.
In 2023, viewers reportedly watched over 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos, representing a 25% increase in viewing time year-over-year.
Click here to stay up to date on new shopping opportunities on YouTube.
YouTube Affiliate Hub
For affiliate marketers considering YouTube, today's updates make it more engaging and creator-friendly.
“Who doesn't love a good deal?” said Aditya Dhanrajani, Director of Product Management, YouTube Shopping. “Affiliate His Hub makes it easy for Shopping His creators to find information to start planning their next shoppable video.”
For YouTube creators building affiliate marketing businesses, the hub streamlines the fragmented process of working with different brands across separate platforms and sources.
Creators can now see all the latest affiliate brand opportunities, exclusive promo codes to share with their audience, and commission payments in one place.
“Our creators understand the incredible opportunity for affiliate income on YouTube,” Dhanrajani says. “With a unified affiliate hub offering partnership opportunities, promotional deals, and seamless product tagging, there has never been a better time to build your affiliate business on our platform.”
Other new shopping features
shopping collection
YouTube is highlighting another important feature of this update: Shopping Collections. This allows channels to curate products from their favorite brands and their own product lines.
Creators can now group products into themed collections, making it easier for viewers to discover and purchase related items.
Collections appear in your channel's product listings, store tab, and video descriptions. This feature is starting with the Studio app on mobile and will soon be extended to desktop.
Enhanced product tagging
Last year, YouTube introduced the ability for affiliate shopping creators to tag products in multiple videos at the same time based on items listed in the video description.
This feature is now being extended to all shopping creators, who will now be able to tag their products and products across their entire video library. This update could potentially allow creators to earn more money from older, high-traffic content.
Integration with Fourthwall
YouTube has integrated e-commerce platform Fourthwall into its list of supported shopping platforms.
This integration allows creators to create and manage storefronts directly within YouTube Studio, streamlining the process of setting up and maintaining an online store.
“We know people turn to YouTube every day to connect with the things they love and the creators they love,” Dhanrajani said. “We hope these new YouTube Shopping features will make that journey even easier for creators and viewers.”
In summary
As the spring shopping season begins, these updates enhance YouTube's e-commerce capabilities and give creators more opportunities to monetize their content.
Watch the YouTube announcement below.
