YouTube has announced a major expansion of its Shopping affiliate program in India, adding Amazon, AJIO, Meesho, Snapdeal, and Tata CLiQ as new retail partners. This move creates what the company calls India’s most comprehensive digital storefront, bringing together value marketplaces, horizontal retailers, and premium brands on a single platform. The expansion builds on existing partnerships with Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Purplle, Shopsy, and Tira.
According to YouTube internal data, over 450 million logged-in users in India search for shopping-related content, and shopping-related watch time has increased by 55% year-over-year. The platform’s affiliate program has also seen remarkable growth: average creator payouts in India surged more than 160% year-over-year from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026, outpacing the global average of 100%. More than 50% of eligible Indian creators are now enrolled in the program, a 200% increase year-over-year, and they have tagged over 19 million videos.
Gunjan Soni, Managing Director – India, YouTube, said, “We’ve crossed an incredible milestone where trusted creator voices, a comprehensive retail catalog, and AI meet at a massive scale. With this expansion in retail partners we are meeting the 450 million+ Indians searching for products on YouTube with India’s most comprehensive digital storefront. Our creators are seeing life-changing revenue, and our merchant partners and brands are seeing measurable impact.”
Partners echoed the sentiment. Nidhi Thakkar, Head of Social Commerce – Emerging Countries at Amazon, highlighted the seamless journey from creator recommendation to purchase. Arpan Biswas of Reliance AJIO emphasized the convergence of content and commerce for fashion discovery. Nikita Dawda of Meesho noted that creators can double their earnings through the partnership. Achint Setia of Snapdeal pointed to seamless discovery for GenZ shoppers, while Gopal Asthana of Tata CLiQ stressed frictionless integration with premium fashion. Prakash Subramanian of Tira reported 2x creator engagement, and Aditya Mujumdar of Purplle shared that creator-tagged videos have driven nearly a quarter of a million orders, with top earners speaking in regional languages.
Alongside the partner expansion, YouTube unveiled several new AI-powered features to enhance the shopping experience. The Ask YouTube capability now allows viewers to ask product-related questions directly on the watch page, with follow-up queries and voice commands on TV. Dynamic Global Retail Tags automatically adapt tagged products to domestic deals and local currencies based on the viewer’s location, enabling Indian creators to earn commissions from international audiences seamlessly.
For brands and creators, YouTube introduced the Affiliate Partnerships Boost, which lets brands amplify organic creator content through paid campaigns. Nykaa will be the first to leverage this feature for festive sales. The upcoming Ask Studio for Brand Partnerships uses generative AI inside YouTube Studio to help creators pitch campaigns and respond to brand briefs quickly. Creator Partnerships Boost simplifies getting channels in front of top advertisers, while Dynamic Brand Segments allow creators to insert promotional segments into up to 20 long-form videos simultaneously. Exclusive Affiliate Campaigns, rolling out in India next year, will invite creators into high-priority campaigns with bonus incentives and higher commission rates.
Globally, YouTube’s shopping-related watch time surpassed 40 billion hours in 2025, and gross merchandise value grew 13 times over two years. The new tools and partnerships aim to sustain this momentum, particularly in India where the creator economy is thriving.
