As the social-shopping race heats up among platforms, YouTube is quietly inviting select creators to get paid to test out a new product-tagging shopping tool as part of a pilot program.
Insider first reported on the program in April. At the time, YouTube told Insider that it was hoping to allow more creators to tag third-party products in their videos — a feature that the company began testing in late 2021 — and that this could lead to a full-fledged affiliate program.
Since May, YouTube started inviting more creators to join the program —and paying them to use it.
Insider spoke with four creators and one talent manager who, in the last few weeks, received an email inviting them to test out the new product-tagging feature, which is still in beta and not available to most creators.
The feature is similar to the in-app shopping tools both TikTok and Instagram have developed, and it lets creators tag shoppable products within a video. To get started, eligible creators select products in their channel dashboard, triggering a "View products" pop-up onscreen. From there, viewers can browse the products on the video page and then check out on retailers' websites.
While the creators do not get affiliate commissions from those sales, three of the creators and the talent manager said YouTube pays a monthly rate to use the feature. The fourth creator shared that while they have access to the product-tagging tool, they have not earned any money to test it.
The first creator was offered a minimum of $50 each month for using the feature, plus they could earn up to $0.08 each time a viewer clicked on a product tag and visited the product page. The cost-per-click rate YouTube is offering varies by creator and product based on a "number of factors," the company told Insider, but declined to share more on the exact payment structure.
"One of the greatest advantages of product tagging is that creators get paid for number-of-clicks," a second creator, based in India, wrote to Insider. "Even if someone just clicks the tag, not necessary if that person buys the product."
The third creator Insider spoke with earned $100 in May, June, and July for using the product tagging tool, according to documentation viewed by Insider.
YouTube told the fourth creator that product tagging increases the potential for a video to show up in other places across YouTube — which could impact a creator's reach and engagement, according to an email viewed by Insider.
Eventually, the company hopes brands will pay out commissions, YouTube told Insider in April. For now, it is currently fronting the costs itself as part of the test, a spokesperson said.
"We've been testing this program with creators for a few months now and getting positive feedback," a YouTube spokesperson said. "Our goal with this program is to help inform what we ultimately introduce for creators to monetize on Shopping long-term."
Recently, TikTok has been testing a dedicated "Shop" tab in select markets, but not the US. And Instagram has been testing its own affiliate tools which allow creators to tag products in posts, Stories, livestreams, and Reels.
"While shoppable social content is not new, what is new, and of note, is the addition of this functionally to a creator ecosystem as robust as YouTube's," said Kyle Kuhns, founder and CEO of marketing agency XX Artists. "Video, short form, social, stories, live, and podcasts all converge on YouTube. To think about the long-term integration of shoppable commerce into a content product ecosystem that robust is really what differentiates YouTube's long term ability to win and provide for creators and brands in this space."
Yet the platform's tool — and consumer behavior — is still in early stages.
"So far, I think it's good," the third creator said. "I think it may still take a bit of audience training to get people to click the embedded product links since we are so conditioned to referencing links in the description box, but I'm excited to see YouTube incorporating this and curious to see how creators use it — especially with live video."
