YouTube is expanding its Shopping affiliate program to 35 countries by the end of 2026, the company announced at its Made on YouTube event, with more than 1.3 million creators already enrolled. The company said the program has driven a 13-fold increase in gross merchandise value over the past two years, and that shopping-related watch time crossed 40 billion hours in 2025.

India shows what the expansion looks like in practice. YouTube added Amazon, AJIO, Meesho, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ to its Indian affiliate network, joining existing partners Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Purplle, Shopsy and Tira. Average affiliate payouts to Indian creators rose more than 160 percent year-on-year between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, against a 100 percent increase globally. Program enrollment in India grew 200 percent year-on-year, and tagged videos passed 19 million.

The United Kingdom became the fifteenth affiliate market on August 6, 2026, when YouTube opened product tagging to eligible British creators with six retail partners: Wayfair, Currys, Debenhams, Boots, Marks and Spencer, and Etsy. Creators tag products directly in videos, Shorts and live streams, and earn commission when viewers complete purchases on the retailer’s site.

The takeaway for creators is that affiliate tagging rewards catalog depth. Review-style and tutorial content compounds: a two-year-old review with tagged products keeps earning while a pure entertainment video does not. Audit the back catalog for videos where products are already mentioned on camera, add tags where the products are available in the affiliate catalog, and treat tagging as part of the upload checklist for every new video.