To propel its ongoing efforts to make video more shoppable, YouTube has announced that creators can tag Amazon products in their videos. Doing so makes those items clickable so that viewers can see products in action and buy them on the spot. Creators in turn get an affiliate fee for any sales.
These product placements can be central to a given video – such as a product review – or simply be incidental and in the background. The latter includes things like décor, lighting, or any other accoutrements in view. This opens the door for a wide range of contextual or natural product placement.
To be clear, shoppable Amazon videos aren’t new. You may have seen them when product details pop up in the corner of a screen, showing QR codes or other calls to action. But what makes the latest move different is that Amazon’s massive product catalog is available for creators to integrate and tag.
This essentially brings a formidable taxonomy of shoppable products from the world’s largest online store. It’s also standardized in a way that makes it easy for creators to tag products. Previous to this move, creators often had to paste affiliate links in the video description, which users can copy & paste.
That roundabout process is now replaced with something more integrated and native, which likely means more affiliate sales. That easier payoff will incentivize mass quantities of creators to tag early and often. And for those who don’t, YouTube is developing an auto-tagging feature to reduce friction even further.
Meaty Middle
Altogether, this brings together two powerhouses: the king of online video and the king of online shopping. The venn diagram overlaying the two has a meaty middle where lots of shopping can happen. This could be opportune in everything from golf videos (golf clubs) to A/V reviews (TVs & speakers).
But though the term “creator” is used extensively in the preceding paragraphs, this program could have equal implications for SMBs. Relatively few SMBs utilize video including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram Reels. But those who do may find opportunity in turning videos into shoppable lower-funnel assets.
YouTube is also working on analytics so marketers can track performance and payouts. Initially the analytics are fairly basic – showing overall daily earnings rather than breakdowns per video or per-product. But that could evolve as YouTube and Amazon develop the integration in future cycles.
Beyond the benefits for businesses, what about YouTube viewers. This move could serve them by making it easier to learn about and buy the products they see naturally integrated with the content they watch. It also taps into comfort levels to click on things they can buy with their trusted Amazon account.
All the above is rolling out and viewable globally, though tags can only be added by U.S. creators. Participating creators also must to be enrolled in YouTube’s Partner and Shopping Affiliate programs and have Amazon Influencer or Associates accounts. Once those are in place, it’s off to the races.
