YouTube's Shopping affiliate program lets creators tag products in their videos and earn a commission when viewers buy. For most of its life it was out of reach: 20,000 subscribers when it opened up in 2023. In 2026 that changed twice, and a third change is on the way.
How the threshold came down
| When | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Launched for a small group of large channels |
| 2023 | 20,000 subscribers |
| Later | Lowered in steps to 1,000 subscribers |
| 25 March 2026 | 500 subscribers, for creators in the Partner Program |
Note the condition: 500 subscribers and membership of the Partner Program. YouTube's expanded Partner Program has an earlier tier that opens features such as fan funding and shopping before a channel qualifies for ad revenue; check its current requirements in YouTube Help, because the ad-revenue thresholds are changing on 1 February 2027.
The full eligibility list
The subscriber count is the headline, not the whole test. According to YouTube Help, your channel must:
- Be in the YouTube Partner Program and meet its subscriber threshold.
- Be based in a supported country (see below).
- Not have its audience set as Made for Kids, and not have a significant number of videos set as made for kids.
- Not be a music channel or Official Artist Channel, or be associated with music partners — this condition appears in some versions of the help page.
- Have no active Community Guidelines strikes.
YouTube also notes that criteria can differ for pilot programs. The definitive check is the Shopping section in YouTube Studio: if you are eligible, the option to sign up appears there.
Which countries
This is the part that changes fastest, so check rather than trust any list, including this one.
- In March 2026 the program was available in 12 markets: the US, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Singapore, Brazil, Taiwan and Japan.
- Some versions of the help page also list Mexico and Argentina.
- On 6 August 2026 it opened to eligible creators in the UK, with merchants including Wayfair, Currys, Debenhams, Boots, M&S and Etsy.
- At Made On YouTube on 23 September, YouTube said it is expanding to 35 countries by the end of the year.
YouTube did not publish the list of 35. If your country is not live yet, the end of 2026 is the stated target, not a promise for your market specifically.
What you earn — and what nobody has published
You earn a commission when someone buys through a product you tagged, on the retailer's site. Neither YouTube's announcements nor the coverage cited here state commission rates; they vary by retailer and campaign.
That matters for how you judge it. Do not estimate affiliate income from a percentage you read in a forum. Estimate it from your own audience: how many of your viewers already ask where you got something, and what those things cost.
Where tags work, and why they beat description links
Product tags work in long-form videos, Shorts and live streams. YouTube says a study found Shopping tags drive more than twice as many clicks as links in the description, and that the program now has over 1.3 million creators, with gross merchandise value up 13× over two years.
Also announced on 23 September:
- Amazon product tagging is available in the US, expanding to India and Brazil in the coming weeks and to more countries before the end of the year.
- Localized links: viewers in another country see a localized link, and you still earn the commission on that cross-border sale.
- Affiliate campaigns: retailers can offer incentives such as exclusive commission rates or bonuses for content featuring specific products.
Getting ready before your country opens
- Check your Made for Kids settings. A channel with many videos marked as made for kids is excluded, whatever its size.
- Find the products you already mention. The easiest tags are things you use on camera anyway. Tagging products you never talk about reads as an ad, because it is one.
- Keep your descriptions honest about links. If you use affiliate links today, say so plainly; the habit carries over.
- Plan one video around a real recommendation, not around a tag. The program pays on purchases, and purchases follow trust.
If you want a clean, clearly disclosed description to go with tagged products, our description generator drafts one from your video's topic — edit it so it says only what you would say yourself.
The honest read
For a channel with 500 subscribers in a supported country, this is now the earliest real income YouTube offers, earlier than ad revenue. For everyone else, the useful step is the boring one: check eligibility in Studio, fix the Made for Kids settings if they are wrong, and wait for the country list to grow.
Sources
- Earn earlier: expanding YouTube Shopping to creators with 500+ subscribers — YouTube Blog, 25 March 2026
- YouTube Shopping affiliate program overview & eligibility — YouTube Help
- Get started with Shopping on YouTube — YouTube Help
- Overview of the expanded YouTube Partner Program — YouTube Help
- Bringing brands and creators together to help you earn more — YouTube Blog, 23 September 2026
- YouTube expands Shopping Affiliate Program access — Social Media Today, 25 March 2026
- YouTube expands shopping affiliate program to the UK — Social Media Today, 6 August 2026
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