YouTube brings shopping affiliate to Germany with MediaMarkt, Saturn and Kaufland

YouTube on Wednesday started its Shopping affiliate programme in Germany, according to the company’s own blog. Creators can tag products from MediaMarkt, Saturn, About You and Kaufland in videos, Shorts and livestreams, and earn a commission on every sale that follows.

Four German retailers open with YouTube

Trade weekly Horizont wrote on 3 September that YouTube launched the programme with MediaMarkt, Saturn, About You and Kaufland as the first partners. All four are large German brands with their own online shops and running affiliate teams. YouTube said in its blog that the German launch follows earlier rollouts in the United States, Indonesia, India, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

Creators tag products in videos and Shorts

Once a viewer clicks the tag, they land on the retailer’s site and the sale is tracked back to the creator. Heise reported that YouTube pays a commission that depends on the product category. Creators keep working with the same affiliate ID across normal videos, Shorts and livestreams.

Otto and Zalando are still off the German list

The launch pool matters for advertisers. Otto and Zalando are two of the biggest German retailers online and neither is on the opening list. That leaves fashion and lifestyle creators with a narrower set of stores to link to, and it puts MediaMarkt and Saturn ahead of their electronics rivals in creator briefs. Google keeps trimming its ad tech portfolio elsewhere — last week’s changes to how AdSense counts ad views and the antitrust ruling that spared AdX from a breakup point the same way.