YouTube Inks Amazon Partnership to Boost Online Shopping Bet

YouTube has tapped Amazon.com Inc. as its newest affiliate partner in YouTube Shopping, part of the video giant's push to prioritize e-commerce as one of its next big bets. YouTube creators can now seamlessly tag Amazon products in their videos and livestreams, driving more business directly to the enormous global marketplace while taking a cut from sales. Though YouTube Shopping has yet to gain the same traction as rival TikTok Shop, more than one million of YouTube's roughly three million creators who are able to make money on the platform are part of its shopping program today. People are selling everything from tech gadgets and home goods to fashion and beauty products to an audience watching 110 million hours of shopping-related videos on YouTube each day, whether through product reviews, get-ready-with-me videos, outfit hauls or makeup tutorials. YouTube Shopping lets creators tag products sold by thousands of sellers, from small brands and direct-to-consumer retailers to the likes of Walmart, Sephora and Home Depot. (Google's leading artificial intelligence tool Gemini has made tagging even simpler). Viewers can click to get more information and buy a product, with creators earning a commission from every purchase. YouTube's shopping tags drive about twice as much engagement as an affiliate link buried in a video description, making it much easier for creators to earn commissions. Until now, creators couldn't easily tag Amazon products, despite the company being one of YouTubers' most-requested partners. TikTok cut its own deal with Amazon two years ago, letting users shop for Amazon products through ads without leaving the TikTok app. Though YouTube may have some catching up to do. But it's pretty uniquely positioned to excel at e-commerce in a way that's different from more traditional social media platforms.