YouTube Now Pays Amazon Commissions in 12 Countries. It Won't Tell Creators Which Video Made the Sale.

YouTube is signing retailers into its Shopping affiliate program quickly. On 20 October, AliExpress said creators in the US, Brazil, the UK and Germany could tag its products. On Monday, 26 October, YouTube launched the program in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt with Amazon as the first retailer. On the same day, Amazon said Indian creators could tag its products on YouTube and Pinterest.

YouTube's help page now lists 12 countries where creators can tag Amazon products. The money arrives slowly, and the reporting tells creators little.

Who can join, and what YouTube is selling

In a Google blog post, Javid Aslanov, YouTube's head for MENA, said Partner Program channels "with as few as 500 subscribers" qualify in the three new markets. The National's Salim A. Essaid reported the rest of the bar from YouTube's monetisation rules: three public uploads in 90 days, plus either 3,000 watch hours in a year or 3 million Shorts views in 90 days.

The audience figures are YouTube's own. It says more than 40 million logged-in users across nine MENA countries made shopping-related searches in June. In India, YouTube managing director Gunjan Soni put the figure at more than 450 million people.

The mechanics that set the pay

YouTube's Amazon help page sets out three mechanics.

First, attribution. "You can't check which specific videos or products drove Amazon purchases," the page says. Creators see daily totals for revenue, clicks and sales. They can't see which video earned the money.

Second, timing. Commissions lock monthly, and "earnings that lock in January are paid out to you during the March AdSense payment cycle." Returns are deducted from the current balance and can push it negative. A negative balance rolls into the next month.

Third, rates. YouTube says each retailer sets its own commission rate and attribution window, and shows them per product in Studio. Its general help page adds that YouTube is "currently" passing "100% of commissions" to creators as a temporary launch incentive. It says rates "may reduce in the future," with at least 30 days' notice.

Amazon's own Associates schedules are the best public guide to what Amazon pays. Posthype couldn't confirm that rates inside YouTube Studio match them. Amazon.ae pays 2% on electronics, 7% on beauty and 9% on apparel. Amazon.in pays 8% on beauty and 2.8% on electronics. It pays 0% on every iPhone model, on dozens of Samsung, OnePlus and Redmi phones, and on earphones and speakers under Rs 3,000.

Posthype's arithmetic: at the Amazon.ae rate, a AED 1,000 phone earns a tech reviewer AED 20, while the same spend on clothes earns AED 90. In India, many of the phones tech channels review pay nothing.

Amazon's India numbers

Amazon says its Indian Influencer Program has 2 lakh (200,000) creators, double last year, and that earnings per creator are up 60% year on year. On the same page, it says 1.25 lakh creators are earning across the Influencer Program, Amazon Live and Creator Central. Posthype's arithmetic: if both figures cover the same group, about 62% of enrolled creators earn anything. Amazon doesn't give typical earnings.

What this means for creators and brands

Before tagging, open Earn, then Shopping, then Explore affiliate offers in Studio and check the rate on each product. Category rates vary by a factor of four or more, and some products pay 0%. Because Amazon sales can't be traced to a video, test one format at a time if you want to learn what converts. Plan cash flow around a two-month lag and possible clawbacks. Treat today's 100% pass-through as temporary, because YouTube says it is. For brands, the shift is that a channel with 500 subscribers in Riyadh or Cairo can now earn affiliate commission without a negotiated deal. Custom commission rates in Studio are the lever for getting tagged first.