Google’s YouTube is stepping up its efforts to enter e-commerce and is introducing a shopping feature to its short-form video platform Shorts, aiming to diversify its revenue sources at a time when digital ad growth is slowing, according to a report in the Financial Times.
YouTube is one of the pillars of Google’s business, generating more than $28 billion (about RMB 187.6 billion) in advertising revenue last year. In the third quarter of this year, YouTube’s advertising revenue was $7.071 billion (about RMB 49.9992 billion), compared with $7.205 billion (about 50.939 billion yuan) in the same period a year earlier.
YouTube Shorts is a short video platform launched by YouTube in 2020 to compete with TikTok.
The addition of the shopping feature also means that users can buy products while browsing videos. In addition, YouTube is testing a new commission scheme for “weblebrities” who sell products through video links. The company is struggling to retain creators in response to stiff competition from rivals.
