YouTube has launched its Shopping affiliate programme in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, allowing eligible creators to tag products in their videos and earn commissions on sales, with Amazon as its first retail partner, the company announced on Monday, October 26, as reported by Arab News, The National and Wamda.
How the programme works
Creators in the YouTube Partner Programme with at least 500 subscribers can tag Amazon products in long-form videos, Shorts and livestreams. Viewers who tap a tag are taken to Amazon’s checkout, while those watching on connected TVs can scan an on-screen QR code to complete the purchase on their phone, Arab News reported.
The subscriber threshold is not the only condition. According to The National, creators also need three public uploads in the previous 90 days and either 3,000 valid public watch hours over the past year or three million valid Shorts views within 90 days, in line with YouTube’s monetisation rules. Commissions can be deducted if a purchase is refunded.
Creators in the three markets can also earn from purchases made by viewers elsewhere in the world where the programme operates, including the United States and Japan. YouTube said Google’s AI tools would automatically identify products in videos and suggest tags, and that more local and international retailers would be added in later phases, according to Wamda.
A bet on the region’s creator economy
YouTube says more than 40 million logged-in users in Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the UAE ran shopping-related searches on the platform in June, and that viewers worldwide watch more than 40 billion hours of shopping-related content each year. A Kantar survey commissioned by YouTube found that 86 per cent of respondents in Saudi Arabia and the UAE regard YouTube creators as the most trusted source of product recommendations.
“Launching YouTube Shopping in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt opens a massive new chapter for the creator economy,” said Javid Aslanov, head of YouTube for the Middle East and North Africa, quoted by Wamda. For Amazon, which is using the partnership to reach audiences through creators, the deal adds a new sales channel in three of its key markets in the region.
The rollout follows a gradual expansion of the programme, which YouTube first opened to eligible US creators in June 2023 before extending it to Partner Programme members with 500 subscribers in March 2026, The National noted.
A regulated market for paid promotion
The launch arrives in markets that have tightened rules on online advertising by individuals. In the UAE, anyone publishing promotional content on social media must hold an advertiser permit issued by the UAE Media Council, which became mandatory after a deadline set for January 31, 2026, The National reported earlier this year. Saudi Arabia has required influencers to hold a “Mawthooq” advertising licence since 2022, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.
These frameworks are likely to shape how quickly creators adopt affiliate links, since tagged products are, by design, a form of commercial promotion. The National also pointed to a broader question for the model: keeping audience trust when creators have a direct financial interest in the products they recommend.
What comes next
YouTube describes the launch as the first phase of a wider expansion across the Middle East and North Africa. The company has not said when other countries in the region, or additional retailers, will be added.
