YouTube Shopping’s affiliate program launches in Saudi UAE Egypt

YouTube Shopping’s affiliate program has launched in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. YouTube announced the launch on 26 October 2026, with Amazon as the first retail partner. Eligible creators enrolled in the YouTube Partner Program who have at least 500 subscribers can tag Amazon products in videos, Shorts and livestreams. They earn commissions on qualifying purchases made by viewers, including purchases by viewers outside the three markets. Creators must also have uploaded three public videos in the previous 90 days and met either 3,000 valid public watch hours in the previous year or three million valid Shorts views in 90 days. Google AI is used to identify products in videos and suggest tags. Viewers watching on television can scan an on-screen QR code with their phones to complete a purchase. Earnings are tracked through YouTube Studio. Javid Aslanov, head of YouTube in the Middle East and North Africa, said the launch opens a new chapter for the creator economy by giving creators another way to build their businesses and brands a way to connect with engaged audiences. He added that the Amazon partnership helps connect businesses with customers at the moment they are looking for recommendations. YouTube said it plans to add more local and international retailers. In June 2026, more than 40 million logged-in users across five MENA countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, made shopping-related searches on YouTube. Globally, people watch more than 40 billion hours of shopping-related content on the platform each year. A Kantar survey commissioned by YouTube found that 86 percent of viewers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE considered YouTube creators the most trusted source for product recommendations. In Saudi Arabia, 84 percent of surveyed viewers said the platform helped them make more confident purchasing decisions. YouTube has not published the number of creators in the three markets who meet the 500-subscriber threshold or the commission rates available on Amazon products. Those details would show the size of the eligible creator pool and the potential earnings per sale. The company has not published the share of shopping-related searches that currently lead to a purchase or the average order value of purchases that start from a YouTube tag. Amazon is the only retail partner at launch. YouTube has not named the additional retailers it plans to add or given a timeline for their inclusion. For creators the practical change is a lower eligibility threshold that allows earlier monetization through product tags. The value depends on whether the commission rates are competitive with other affiliate programs and whether viewers complete purchases after clicking a tag. For brands the change is another channel that places products inside existing creator content. Neither YouTube nor Amazon has published a contract value or a minimum commitment for the partnership. The program is the first phase of YouTube Shopping’s affiliate offering in the region. Other platforms in the region have also added shopping and affiliate tools for creators. YouTube Shopping pairs a lower subscriber threshold with Amazon as the first partner and AI-assisted tagging. The company has not published a comparison of expected commission rates with those available on other platforms or the share of eligible creators who are expected to opt in during the first quarter. YouTube first rolled out a wider version of the program to eligible US creators in June 2023. The announcement does not list the product categories that will be available for tagging at launch or the number of creators who have already completed the Amazon account setup required to participate. Those details would show the initial inventory and the early adoption rate. Without them the launch remains a description of eligibility rules rather than a measured expansion of creator revenue. If YouTube publishes the number of creators who have tagged products, the commission rates and the volume of purchases completed through tags in the first month, the launch has a measurable follow-through. If the next update is only a restatement of the three-market launch, the change for the market remains the same as the initial announcement. The figures missing are commission rates and early purchase volume.