While creators can still manually pull and drop individual affiliate links into their video descriptions, creators can now more easily tag products directly in their videos, resulting in a richer, more integrated experience for viewers.
impact.com is excited to announce a new partnership with YouTube that allows impact.com clients to connect to YouTube in a new way. This effort helps:
- Brands reach their marketing goals
- Creators boost conversions and revenue
- Viewers easily shop from their favorite creators
Billions of users log into YouTube every month, giving brands access to engaged audiences. And by partnering with YouTube creators, brands can use the power of affiliate marketing to continually tap into a wide range of consumers with high purchase intent.
Now, this collaboration puts all the benefits of accessing YouTube viewers in closer reach.
How creators can build shopping experiences with your affiliate links
The integration allows creators to tag products from impact.com brands within their content easily.
Creators are no longer limited to only third-party affiliate links in the description section. They can now tag products highlighted in the content during the editing and uploading process—without ever leaving YouTube Creator Studio.
All creators need to do is search for the products in the “tag products” section in Studio and tag them with a few clicks. Once a creator tags the product, a product listing appears—complete with product name, image, pricing, and more.
Viewers can shop these listings while watching the video. Clicking on a product on mobile opens a picture-in-picture experience, allowing the video to minimize and continue playing while viewers engage with the product on a brand’s website and purchase in the background.
Here’s how it works:
What qualifies creators for the program?
Creators in the US in the YouTube Partner Program may be eligible to qualify for the program. Read YouTube’s full eligibility requirements to learn more.
How your brand can enroll
If you’re an impact.com client interested in the program, fill out the inquiry form. An impact.com team member will ensure the program is a good fit before you go live as a merchant on the platform.
For a brand to qualify, they must:
- Be based in the US
- Meet the required commission threshold
- Have a Google Merchant Center feed
Brands can scale with creators without active management
Now, you can scale your affiliate program with YouTube creators who already love and highlight your products. Brands working within the impact.com ecosystem can seamlessly access thousands of creators through a single partnership with YouTube.
The integration allows creators to easily search for, tag, and promote your products to their audiences—giving you the opportunity to drive organic engagement without actively managing each creator.
Creators can also tag products in Shorts, presenting a new affiliate marketing opportunity for brands.
As a seasoned content platform, YouTube has a proven track record of supporting brand safety. All creators must meet eligibility criteria to participate in the affiliate program.
See how YouTube creators perform in the aggregate through impact.com’s robust reporting dashboards—allowing you to view how the program contributes to your greater marketing goals. You can also gain new insights with YouTube’s more granular reporting, which includes valuable supplemental metrics that occur outside of the impact.com ecosystem.
And now creators can build better shopping experiences with less effort
For YouTube creators, the integration can create a better audience experience. The product listings pull in information like pricing, retailer, and product imagery, encouraging users to interact. In-feed purchases also create a frictionless shopping experience—meaning viewers can continue to watch the video while they check out on the retailer’s website.
In addition to a cleaner interface, this integration means less work with more payoff. Easily integrate shoppable products without negotiating with individual brands, increasing the number of products you can offer and earning potential.
Product tagging automatically pulls in the brand’s product listing from Google Merchant Center, so you no longer have to manually hunt for and drop affiliate links into video descriptions.
And now, viewers can shop directly from Shorts, presenting a new monetization opportunity. According to a 2023 State of Marketing Report by Hubspot, short-form content is driving 90 percent of marketers to maintain or increase spending on the format in 2023.
Plus, your feed on all videos updates automatically—meaning no more broken links and a higher chance of earning revenue from evergreen content.
When impact.com brands enroll in the program, they agree to YouTube’s Affiliate Terms and Conditions—this includes the requirement of offering competitive commission rates (flat-rate commissions are recommended).
All these factors can enhance the affiliate revenue stream for your content creation business. This simple revenue source can pair with other sources of income, such as negotiating CPA payouts as part of direct sponsorship negotiations.
Enter the bright future of video shopping
With this partnership, we aim to enter a new, brighter future in video shopping. By creating a more seamless video shopping experience and taking the heavy lift out of linking products, we can bring more value to brands, creators, and viewers than ever before.
Have questions about the program? Reach out to the impact.com team at youtubeaffiliate@impact.com.
