YouTube is taking its shopping experience in India to the next level with new merchant partners, AI-driven product tagging, and initiatives to strengthen creator–brand collaborations. The platform recently expanded its YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program to include Nykaa and Purplle, two of India’s leading beauty and lifestyle retailers. This expansion comes as shopping-related watch time on YouTube in India has surged over 250% year-on-year, with more than 200 million logged-in users actively searching for shopping content.
Gunjan Soni, Managing Director – India, YouTube, stated that India’s vibrant creator economy is shaping the next era of video commerce. She emphasized that YouTube is transforming content-driven shopping into a complete monetization ecosystem by equipping creators with advanced tools, offering engaging formats to viewers, and forming partnerships with top merchants.
With the expansion, creators can now tag products from Nykaa and Purplle alongside existing partners like Flipkart and Myntra, giving viewers a wider range of options. YouTube reports that 89% of beauty shoppers in India rely on the platform to make confident purchase decisions. Additionally, YouTube will launch a mentorship program with Nykaa to nurture the next generation of beauty and lifestyle creators.
Industry leaders highlighted the value of these collaborations. Pratik Arun Shetty, VP – Growth and Marketing at Flipkart, noted that YouTube blends commerce with creativity, enabling customers to explore and shop through engaging video content. Deepash Jain, VP Marketing at Myntra, shared that collaborations on YouTube have grown threefold, reflecting the rising role of social-led commerce. Nykaa emphasized that content-led commerce centers on creators and that YouTube Shopping helps them connect with audiences in authentic ways. Suyash Katyayani, CTO of Purplle, added that the collaboration aims to make beauty discovery engaging and impactful, allowing creators to inspire and consumers to discover.
YouTube is introducing AI-powered product tagging to highlight products at the exact moment they are mentioned in videos, with plans to expand it later this year to automatically identify and tag all eligible products. Additional tools include Product Stickers on Shorts, timestamp-synced tags, and a Chrome extension to simplify product saving and tagging.
To further strengthen brand–creator partnerships, YouTube is adding features such as flexible brand segment insertion in sponsorship videos, direct brand links in Shorts, and a Creator Partnerships Hub within Google Ads for more efficient collaborations. With over 40% of eligible Indian creators already enrolled in the affiliate program and more than 3 million videos tagged with products, YouTube is shaping a seamless ecosystem where content, commerce, and community converge.
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