YouTube India aims to unlock more growth via shopping, brand tie-ups

Platform sees surge in shopping-related watch time, adds new partners to its affiliate program and expands tools for creator-brand collaborations

With India continuing to be a big focus market for YouTube globally, the video-sharing platform aims to unlock more growth potential through shopping features and creator-brand collaborations. Over 200 million logged-in users in July made active shopping-related searches on YouTube in the country.

 

“There is so much growth to unlock (in India) at the intersection of high shopping intent and brand needs, including category growth and boosting sales during big events such as the Billion Days,” Gunjan Soni, managing director, India, YouTube, told Business Standard.

 

“This will be one of our main focus areas. Besides, we are also working on creating tools to help brands select creator content and boost it directly from their app interfaces,” she added. 

This comes after the platform noted over a 250 per cent rise (in February 2025 compared to February 2024) in shopping-related watch time in India on a year-on-year basis. As a result, the platform has added two new partners to its YouTube Shopping Affiliate programme, Nykaa and Purplle. This programme was launched in 2024, where certain creators enrolled with the platform can monetise their content by tagging products from its partners, such as Nykaa, Purplle, Flipkart and Myntra. In May, the company announced that it is expected to invest over ~850 crore to accelerate the growth of Indian creators, artists, and media companies.

 

Currently, more than 40 per cent of eligible creators in India are enrolled in the YouTube Shopping affiliate programme, with over 3 million videos tagged with affiliate products, Soni said in a press briefing.

 

She also noted that in India, it is witnessing its users to be more willing to pay and support its creators.

 

“About 45,000 channels in India got supported through fan funding by the end of 2024. Around 100 million channels had uploaded a video on YouTube last year, which continues to show us how user and creator boundaries are blurring,” she added.

 

She added that there has been a 10 per cent increase in the number of channels earning seven-digit figures or more in India compared to last year. Also, over the last year, around 15,000 channels have reached over one million subscribers, highlighting the fandom and trust that creators are able to build through the platform.

 

As of September, YouTube Shorts has touched nearly 650 million logged-in users, with its CTV user base reaching over 75 million users. Soni noted that the large-screen ecosystem has been YouTube’s fastest-growing surface for almost five years now.