As YouTube continues its push into ecommerce, it’s launching an ‘Affiliate Hub’ to make it easier for channels to earn affiliate marketing income.
The Affiliate Hub, integrated into the YouTube app, is a central place to browse top affiliate partners, commission rates, promotional offers, and even request product samples.
It’s one of several new shopping features YouTube has launched, targeting the lucrative creator economy.
Other updates include:
- Shopping Collections that allow creators to curate their own product galleries.
- The ability for all creators (not just affiliates) to bulk tag products across their video libraries.
- Integration with e-commerce platform Fourthwall to manage storefronts within YouTube Studio.
The updates come amid a growth period for YouTube Shopping.
In 2023, viewers reportedly watched over 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos, representing a 25% increase in watch time year over year.
Here’s more about YouTube’s new shopping updates.
YouTube Affiliate Hub
For affiliate marketers considering YouTube, today’s update makes it more appealing and creator-friendly.
“Who doesn’t love a good deal?” said Aditya Dhanrajani, YouTube’s Director of Product Management for Shopping. “The Affiliate Hub is making it easier for Shopping creators to find the information to start planning their next shoppable video.”
For YouTube creators building an affiliate marketing business, the Hub streamlines a fragmented process of dealing with different brands across separate platforms and sources.
Now, creators can view all the latest affiliate brand opportunities, exclusive promo codes to share with their audience, and commission payouts in one place.
“Our creators understand the incredible opportunity for affiliate earnings on YouTube,” said Dhanrajani. “With an integrated Affiliate Hub providing partnership opportunities, promo deals, and seamless product tagging, there’s never been a better time to build an affiliate business on our platform.”
Other New Shopping Features
Shopping Collections
YouTube highlights another key feature in this update: Shopping Collections, which allows channels to curate products from their favorite brands or their own merchandise lines.
Creators can now group products into themed collections, making it easier for viewers to discover and purchase related items.
Collections will appear in a channel’s product list, Store tab, and video descriptions. The feature is initially launching on the Studio app for mobile, with plans to expand to desktop soon.
Expanded Product Tagging
Last year, YouTube introduced the ability for affiliate shopping creators to tag products across multiple videos simultaneously based on items listed in the video descriptions.
This feature is now being expanded to all Shopping creators, allowing them to tag their products and merchandise across their entire video library. This update could help creators earn more revenue from older, high-traffic content.
Integration With Fourthwall
YouTube is integrating Fourthwall, an e-commerce platform, into its list of supported shopping platforms.
This integration will enable creators to create and manage their storefronts directly within YouTube Studio, streamlining the process of setting up and maintaining an online store.
“We know that people come to YouTube every day to connect with the things and creators they love,” Dhanrajani stated. “We hope these new YouTube Shopping features make that journey even easier for creators and viewers.”
In Summary
As the spring shopping season kicks off, these updates enhance YouTube’s ecommerce capabilities and provide creators with more opportunities to monetize their content.
View YouTube’s announcement below:
