YouTube Shorts Getting Shopping Tags: How Will It Help Creators And Viewers?

YouTube is actively exploring monetization options for the "Shorts" video platform which rivals TikTok. YouTube Shorts will soon receive Shopping Tags and additional features, helping content creators earn more revenue and advertisers gain more audience. Let's see how YouTube is pushing ads on Shorts to viewers who are already struggling with a barrage of promotional material.

Shopping Tags In YouTube Shorts And New Incentives For Creators

YouTube Shorts hasn't been immune to advertising. YouTube has been steadily pushing more ads in an attempt to boost revenues. Videos on Shorts already contain multiple formats of ads. The platform offers video creators 45 percent of the income earned through these promotions.

The new ad format is slightly different as it allows content creators to tag products from their own stores. Currently, YouTube is testing the feature with a few eligible creators in the United States.

Youtube Shorts begins testing shopping features and affiliate marketing pic.twitter.com/lXd39fom9F

— Arman ACAR 🔺 (@rmncr) November 15, 2022

Viewers from the US, India, Brazil, Canada, and Australia can see the tags. These tags should be visible with a unique marker, and viewers would be able to click on them to shop through the Shorts platform directly. YouTube has indicated that it is working on offering the new Shopping Tags feature for more content creators and adding more regions in which these tags will be visible.

Apart from Shopping Tags, YouTube is also testing an affiliate program in the US. Eligible content creators can earn commissions when viewers purchase recommended products in the Shorts and regular videos they post.

YouTube Shorts Ads, Shopping Tags, And Commission On More Devices Soon?

YouTube Shorts is a popular platform. It recently crossed the 1.5 billion monthly user mark. However, YouTube's quarterly ad revenue showed a slight downward trajectory as it declined in the third quarter of 2022 by about 1.9 percent on a year-over-year basis. It fell from $7.2 billion to $7.07 billion, and missed expectations.

$GOOG YouTube brings shopping features to Shorts.

Starting 2023:

1) Affiliate marketing system (US only).
2) Shop directly through Shorts via links (US, India, Brazil, Canada, and Australia).

YouTube Shorts have 1.5 billion monthly users.

Source: The Financial Times. pic.twitter.com/9nJnX3YIzs

— App Economy Insights (@EconomyApp) November 15, 2022

YouTube recently set Shorts free from the main YouTube page by granting Shorts and Live Videos their own tabs. The platform even started offering YouTube Shorts for smart TVs, gaming consoles, and other devices. This indicates YouTube is positioning Shorts as a separate platform. It is obvious YouTube is trying to push ads on multiple screens via the Shorts platform.

YouTube Shorts' Shopping Tags aren't pathbreaking. TikTok recently started testing TikTok Shop. Meta already allows creators to include products in their live streams, and these products accumulate in a dedicated shopping tab. All this basically means viewers will have to brace themselves for even more ads in the future.