YouTube announced new updates to its Shopping affiliate program to support the fast-growing video commerce sector in the Philippines, including the onboarding of a shopping platform and a suite of features designed to make in-platform purchasing more seamless.

Southeast Asia continues to shape the global e-commerce landscape with a video-first audience, expanding digital economy and strong creator base. A Kantar survey showed that 85 percent of respondents in the region use YouTube Shorts as part of their shopping journey, underscoring the influence of creator recommendations and demand for authentic product reviews. Video commerce accounted for 20 percent of Southeast Asia’s total e-commerce gross merchandise value in 2024.

According to YouTube, the Philippines has been a major driver of this growth. Since launching in Southeast Asia last year, the YouTube Shopping affiliate program has enabled creators to diversify revenue streams by tagging products directly in videos, allowing viewers to shop without leaving the platform.

The company reported a five-fold increase in global YouTube Shopping gross merchandise volume and a more than 70 percent rise in shopping-related watch time in the Philippines year-over-year.

Survey findings also show strong buyer retention, with 81 percent of users who used Google or YouTube for shopping likely to buy the same brand again and 90 percent reporting satisfaction with their purchase.

To expand the ecosystem, YouTube confirmed that a leading shopping platform has joined the YouTube Shopping affiliate program in the Philippines, giving creators access to a wider product range for tagging and expanding opportunities for brands to partner with creators and drive traffic.

YouTube is also rolling out updates aimed at improving the viewer experience. These include Stickers on Shorts, which add interactive pop-ups to tagged items; Timestamps, which show product tags at the exact moment they appear in the video; and a YouTube Shopping Chrome Extension that allows creators to save items for tagging later. Product tagging guidelines and best practices have also been updated.

AI will play an increasingly central role. YouTube recently introduced Auto Timestamps, which uses AI to place product tags automatically based on when items are mentioned in videos. Testing will also begin this year on a feature that can automatically identify and tag all eligible products shown in a video.

“Creators are the heart of YouTube, and we are deeply committed to helping them thrive in the Philippines digital economy. We’ve seen incredible momentum with YouTube Shopping in the region over the past year and are further scaling the program by welcoming Lazada to our affiliate program and introducing new features to YouTube Shopping. We are committed to making the YouTube Shopping experience more rewarding and seamless for our creators and viewers, and are looking forward to seeing creators use these new features to connect with their fans in more meaningful ways and engaging with brands in commercially successful ways,” said Prep Palacio, Country Manager, Google Philippines.