YouTube expands shopping affiliate programme in India with Amazon, AJIO, Meesho and others

YouTube is expanding its Shopping affiliate programme in India by adding major e-commerce platforms including Amazon, AJIO, Meesho, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ, giving creators access to a wider range of products that can be recommended and monetised through their content.

The new partnerships add to YouTube's existing affiliate network in India, which already includes Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Purplle, Shopsy and Tira. The expansion brings marketplaces spanning value retail, fashion and beauty into a broader digital shopping catalogue on the video platform.

YouTube said the move comes as affiliate commerce becomes an increasingly important source of income for Indian creators.

Creator earnings rise sharply

Average affiliate payouts to Indian creators increased by more than 160 per cent year-on-year between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, according to YouTube. The growth was higher than the 100 per cent increase recorded globally during the same period.

“With our creators seeing life-changing revenue, and our merchant partners and brands seeing measurable impact, we're building a thriving economy where creativity directly leads to commerce,” Gunjan Soni, Managing Director, India, YouTube, said.

YouTube has been expanding Shopping as an additional monetisation route beyond advertising. In March 2026, the company expanded access to its Shopping affiliate programme to eligible YouTube Partner Programme creators with at least 500 subscribers, allowing them to tag products across Shorts, video-on-demand content and live streams.

Shopping activity grows on YouTube

The expansion comes as product discovery and shopping-related viewing continues to grow on the platform.

YouTube said shopping-related watch time in India has risen by 55 per cent year-on-year. More than 45 crore logged-in users in India are searching YouTube for product-related content, highlighting the scale of the potential audience for creators and merchants.

The platform's wider Shopping programme allows creators to tag products in their content and earn commissions when viewers purchase recommended products. YouTube said its Shopping tags generate more than twice as many clicks as product links placed in video descriptions. Globally, more than 1.3 million creators are part of the affiliate programme, with gross merchandise volume generated through the programme growing 13-fold over the past two years.

YouTube is also expanding the affiliate programme to 35 countries by the end of 2026. The company said Amazon product tagging, already available to eligible creators in the US, will be expanded to India and Brazil in the coming weeks.

More retailers join YouTube's commerce ecosystem

The addition of Amazon, AJIO, Meesho, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ expands the range of products available to Indian creators and viewers, alongside the existing partnerships with Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Purplle, Shopsy and Tira.

The programme is designed to connect product discovery directly with creator-led recommendations, allowing viewers to move from watching content to exploring products while giving creators an opportunity to earn from resulting sales.

YouTube is also introducing new affiliate campaigns globally, allowing retailers and brands to offer incentives such as exclusive commission rates or bonuses when creators produce content featuring specific products. For creators with audiences across countries, product tags are being updated to display localised offers based on where viewers are watching from.

The latest expansion reinforces YouTube's broader push to make commerce a more significant part of the creator economy, alongside advertising, memberships and other monetisation options.