'Shoppable short-form video is on fire': YouTube's head of shopping shares why the platform is betting on shorts to drive social commerce

• At CreatorIQ Connect, a marketing conference in LA, industry leaders shared tips and best practices.
• YouTube exec Bridget Dolan spoke about why the platform is betting on short-video to drive shopping.

While livestream shopping is booming in Asia, the trend has yet to make waves in the US. Platforms like TikTok and YouTube are still betting on e-commerce, but have instead shifted some focus toward short videos driving sales instead of hours-long livestreams.

At the latest CreatorIQ Connect conference series in Los Angeles, the marketing platform hosted panels with industry professionals like Michelle Miller, senior vice president of global marketing at K18; Bridget Dolan, global managing director of YouTube Shopping; and Jackie Pimentel, senior global marketing director at Meta.

Dolan spoke about how the tech giant is thinking about social shopping and why her team is betting on short videos to drive sales over livestreams.

"Shoppable short-form video is on fire," Dolan said, speaking on a panel about creators and online shopping. "We had over 150 billion views in 2022 of videos with products tagged — shoppable videos on YouTube. Shopping shorts are growing a lot faster than shorts are growing."

Dolan added that shopping content performs best on YouTube when it doesn't look overly staged, or have a high production value, and highlights a single product or brand in a vertical 15-to-30-second short.

"It's basically like a quick review of why this product is amazing," Dolan said.

YouTube has over 150 brands as part of the platform's new affiliate program. To join as a brand, the company must have a relationship with affiliate networks Rakuten, Impact, or CJ Affiliate.

YouTube first began quietly testing shopping tools in 2021 like product pins with a small group of creators.

The new affiliate program, which launched in June, lets creators earn commissions when they tag products in their videos, from shorts and long-form content to livestreams.

Wooing creators and best practices to drive sales

Not every product — or creator — can drive e-commerce sales. Instead of leaning on top creators like MrBeast, YouTube is working with a group of tech, fashion, and beauty influencers to drive its shopping efforts.

"150,000 or 1 million subscribers on YouTube are hard earned," Dolan said. "It does not come fast, and it doesn't come easy, but when they build an audience like that, they really listen and they have that trust."

What's worked are exclusive drops, as well as concert and sports team apparel, Dolan said. Throughout 2023, YouTube partnered with both Coachella and the NFL to sell exclusive merch, and the company hired creators to drive buzz around the launch of Google's Pixel 8.

Last month, YouTube invited 100 top beauty and fashion creators to its LA office to shop from brands available on the affiliate program and get tips from execs on how to sell in an authentic way.

"Yes, they love the brand deals, and they love having those relationships, but this is the opposite," Dolan said of affiliate marketing. "This is them coming up with what they'd like to talk about. They're creating on their own."