YouTube has announced an in-app shopping feature for Shorts hence adopting a model similar to that of the rivals TikTok and Instagram. The in-app shopping feature will allow users to shop for a particular look as they scroll through YouTube Shorts. A spokesperson for YouTube said; “We firmly believe YouTube is the best place for creators to build a business and shopping is a piece of that.”
Countries Eligible for YouTube Shorts In-app Shopping Feature
During the testing phase, only the creators from the US will be able to tag products from their own stores, and viewers in the United States, India, Brazil, Canada, and Australia can see the tags and shop through the Shorts. It must be noted that last week TikTok also announced a similar in-app shopping feature that allows users to shop directly from the app if they like a particular look.
YouTube is expanding into the e-commerce business with multiple initiatives such as; shoppable ads and the ability to shop directly from live streams hosted by creators. With YouTube Shorts having 1.5 billion monthly users it was evident that the company will expand its shopping features to TikTok-like video formats as well.
YouTube’s Quarterly Ad Revenue Declined
Despite achieving success with Shorts, the company’s quarterly revenue has declined by 1.9% year on year hence it is quite evident that YouTube is now looking to generate another stream of revenue by introducing the shopping feature. Due to the macroeconomic downturn, digital companies that make money via advertisements are facing headwinds in recent quarters. According to Amanda McLoughlin, CEO of Multitude Productions; “This is a really normal reaction by companies to any type of uncertainty in the world. Advertisers are overcorrecting to the specter of a recession by slashing budgets. If a recession actually hits, we’ll probably see ad spending bounce back faster than you’d expect. Uncertainty is much scarier than reality for companies.”
Also read: YouTube Shorts Can Now be Viewed on TV Screens
