US video-sharing giant YouTube is furthering its participation in the e-commerce space, stepping up its partnership with Canada’s Shopify Inc. by introducing more brands into its shopping program.
The Google LLC-owned website said the move would enable its YouTube Shopping affiliate program to accept qualified Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants in the US directly through the online store maker’s Google & YouTube app.
The update simplifies brands’ management of their program involvement and collection of critical information about product and content performance in Google Merchant Center.
The expansion also provides content creators thousands of new brands to tag on their shopping-related videos, compared to the hundred brands currently available on the platform.
Furthermore, US creators affiliated with the program are set to have access to a new Chrome extension that will allow them to save products while they look around a brand or retailer’s page, streamlining the process of searching and tagging their products on clips.
The feature is also expected to be able to present an estimate of the commission creators may earn on every tagged product without leaving the page.
YouTube Taking on TikTok in E-Commerce and Improving Revenue
YouTube’s latest move positions it to better challenge the e-commerce presence of ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok in the US and stay resilient amid the sluggish growth in digital advertising.
While a relatively new player, the TikTok Shop has seen significant growth since its release in September 2023. The feature thrived to such an extent that in January, the short-form video-sharing platform reportedly projected a tenfold boost of $17.5 billion in its US commerce sales.
Merchants were also quick to join, with the shop logging over 500,000 of them selling to US users by the end of last year, doubling the numbers since its launch.
In addition to its e-commerce rivalry with TikTok, YouTube has taken its online shopping efforts a step further to improve revenue as internet ad growth decelerated.
Its attempts appeared to have produced positive results, as the platform registered 30 billion viewing hours in shopping videos in 2023. The watch time for clips pertaining to shopping also rose 25% in the period.
