YouTube is preparing to launch its first official shopping channel for live commerce in South Korea on June 30, Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The global heavyweight is expanding into live e-commerce to diversify its revenue streams amid reduced advertiser spending and competition from platforms like TikTok.
According to the sources, the new channel is expected to provide companies with a platform for live commerce and will broadcast live-streaming shopping content from about 30 brands at its launch. The channel will operate in Korea and start as a 90-day project, with plans to expand its operation globally.
As a popular video streaming service with over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide, YouTube has a broad reach and is known for its diverse, high-quality content. Its e-commerce capabilities are a natural extension of its business and could open up new ways for consumers to interact with their favorite creators, brands, and products.
This move follows a similar initiative by Instagram, which launched its shopping channel last month. The channel allows creators to sell various products in their videos, including apparel, beauty, and electronics. It lets viewers chat with hosts, send virtual gifts and stickers, and join exclusive fan clubs.
The launch of the new channel is a significant milestone in the evolution of live commerce, which has the potential to revolutionize the digital landscape and create a more immersive experience for both brands and creators. While YouTube is facing a decline in ad revenues due to reduced advertiser spending and competition from platforms such as TikTok, its Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said in February that the company sees “lots of potentials” in making YouTube more “shoppable.”
As the number of people engaging with video content online continues to grow, there is an opportunity for YouTube to transform how businesses connect with customers and deliver meaningful experiences through live-streaming commerce. The new channel is essential in delivering on this vision, and we look forward to seeing how it grows in the future.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has invested in video technologies to help drive growth across its core businesses. In its fourth-quarter earnings call, Alphabet CEO Larry Page said the company would continue to focus on becoming more “shoppable,” which he described as a way to support creator growth and generate more content and viewership for advertisers.
As YouTube’s ad revenue has declined, the company has been experimenting with new advertising formats, such as the Shorts feature, to encourage users to visit and buy from stores linked to the videos they watch. It has also launched a unified payment system that allows users to pay for content and products directly from the company’s platforms. However, there is still time to say how effective these efforts will be. A full-fledged live-streaming commerce platform would require more infrastructure and investment in ad sales. At the same time, users are likely to be cautious about giving up their data and privacy.