YouTube Shopping Expands to Southeast Asia

YouTube Shopping is being introduced in the Philippines in collaboration with Shopee. With this introduction, Southeast Asia's growing video commerce is further fueled by the availability of the YouTube Shopping affiliate program in six countries. YouTube Shopping aims to improve the shopping experience and open up new avenues for advertising, content producers, and users.

While watching video from their favorite producers, viewers can now easily identify and purchase the items they love. With the help of the YouTube Shopping affiliate network, video e-commerce is transformed from links in the description box to direct product tagging, eliminating the need for additional clicking, incessant searching, and website switching. They only need to check out!

Both Shopee merchants and video producers have exciting potential as a result of the Philippines' debut of the YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program. Through this agreement, Shopee merchants can now reach a wider audience by working with an even more extensive network of content creators. This gives them the chance to reach a highly engaged, incremental audience and increase sales like never before. This smooth interaction between sellers and creators increases brand reach, speeds up product discovery, and eventually raises conversion rates.

This collaboration opens up new economic prospects for qualified local creators, allowing them to make money off of their influence by marketing goods to a following they have already established. This partnership satisfies the changing expectations of Filipino consumers, who are looking for more engaging, content-driven purchasing experiences.

Tapping on the rise of video commerce and creator economy in the Philippines

One of the fastest-growing e-commerce areas in the world is Southeast Asia, where video commerce has quadrupled since 2022 to account for 20% of e-commerce gross merchandise value in 2024. With over 450 channels with over a million members and over 6,000 channels with over 100,000 subscribers, the Philippine creator economy is flourishing at the same time.

The transition from traditional discovery to a video-first purchasing experience is fueling this development, as customers seek out knowledge and enjoyment from online content produced by reliable artists. YouTube creators are trusted counsel for brands, in addition to being business owners and cultural influencers. Compared to other social media platforms, internet consumers are 98% more likely to believe recommendations from YouTube producers, according to a global survey. Purchase confidence is directly correlated with this trust. In actuality, on average, YouTube generates 3.8 times more buy intent than other social media sites.

This emphasizes viewers' demand for real product reviews and demos, which eventually leads to conversion, and their faith in creators' suggestions. This in-depth interaction with reliable YouTube producers highlights the platform's exceptional position to support consumers' desire for amusement that is driven by searches and videos to enhance their purchasing experiences.

Eight out of ten Gen Z respondents want interesting shopping experiences, according to a Kantar survey on Southeast Asian Gen Zs' purchasing habits. This highlights the significance of content in the Gen Z buying experience. Additionally, 63% of Filipino Gen Z respondents still prefer to finish their purchases on e-commerce platforms, even after exploring alternative channels for product discovery. For this reason, the partnership between Shopee and YouTube is highly synergistic in creating a seamless, integrated shopping experience.

Sapna Chadha, Vice President for Google Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier said, “Southeast Asia is shaping the future of shopping with its powerful combination of a deeply engaged video-first audience, a profitable digital economy, and a vibrant creator community. We’re thrilled to bring YouTube Shopping to the Philippines—making Southeast Asia home to six out of nine countries globally that have it. Just seven months since our regional debut, we’re seeing strong traction across creators, sellers, and advertisers already. Building on this early momentum, YouTube Shopping will continue to grow, unlocking new opportunities for viewers, creators, brands, and partners across this dynamic region.”

Vincent Lee, Head of Shopee Philippines shared, ”At Shopee, we are committed to delivering engaging shopping experiences that integrate content, community, and commerce. Our partnership with YouTube Shopping is a significant milestone for our brands and sellers, allowing them to connect with creators and harness their influence to drive sales effectively. This collaboration also opens up exciting opportunities for the growing number of Filipino content creators to monetize their creativity while promoting products that resonate with their audiences. As the digital economy continues to expand, our commitment is to support sellers and creators alike, helping them thrive in this evolving landscape."

Earn more with YouTube Shopping affiliate program for creators

Creators can pin products during live streams and tag them in both new and old videos using the YouTube Shopping affiliate program. The video's description and "Product" sections provide a quick overview of the entire list of tagged products and details about each one. For a smooth transaction, clicking on a product will take users straight to an external Shopee sales page.

In addition to the current monetization opportunities, the YouTube Shopping affiliate program enables Filipino creators to interact with their audience and establish more meaningful relationships than just quick transactions. These consist of tools like Super Thanks, Super Chat, Channel Memberships, YouTube Premium Revenue, Ads Revenue, and Super Stickers.

YouTube Shopping affiliate network has produced remarkable results and tremendous momentum in just seven months since it was introduced in Southeast Asia.

For instance, since joining the YouTube Shopping affiliate program in the final quarter of 2024, Mai Trinh Hồ, a fashion and beauty artist renowned for her candid evaluations, has boosted her revenue nearly fivefold. Another example is that of Indonesian tech developer Jagat Review, who revealed that between July and October of last year, his revenues from the YouTube Shopping affiliate program accounted for an astounding 50% of the total revenue generated by his channel.

Now that YouTube Shopping is launched in the Philippines, creators like Camille Co are excited – she is already sharing her favorite makeup products by tagging them on her videos.

“I always get asked where I got this and that makeup or clothing or home stuff on my vlogs and for a long time, it’s been challenging to share them all.” Co said. “Now with YouTube Shopping, it’s so much easier to share these products that I love and truly believe in. A huge plus also for me because I get to earn on the side while doing so!”

 

Mond Salem of Hardware Voyage, a Filipino tech channel, is also optimistic about the feature. “I’m so excited about YouTube Shopping finally being in the Philippines! I’m looking forward to me and my fellow creators earning more with featured product sale commissions,” he said.

Reach and engagement opportunities for brands and advertisers

YouTube Shopping gives advertisers more ways to connect with and interact with more customers, which improves business outcomes.

The customer path from discovery to sale will be shortened by allowing marketers to link partnership advertising directly to pertinent creator content. Long and short creator films combined with product feeds can be used by brands in campaigns to reach more YouTube users. For instance, L'Oréal Thailand doubled the number of high-intent views and doubled the cost-per-visit of their campaign by combining it with the YouTube Shopping affiliate program.

YouTube and Shopee have seen active usage and purchases across many categories, including Beauty, Mobile & Gadgets, and Home & Living, since introducing the YouTube Shopping affiliate program throughout the area. This demonstrates the wide variety of products available and the enormous potential for creators to affect the decisions of consumers. YouTube Shopping's growth in Southeast Asia solidifies its status as a game-changing force in the creative and video commerce industries.

To learn more about enabling YouTube Shopping on your channel, click here.