YouTube Adds Another Feature to Help Creators Sell Branded Merch

By Joseph Myers

The pandemic has led many Americans to head to YouTube to inspect a plethora of take-our-minds-off-the-madness clips. Content creators have become beneficiaries of our viewing practices, and the video-sharing platform is rewarding them for their output through new features aimed at helping them sell merchandise.

With all the competition for viewers and subscribers, those who rely on YouTube for their livelihood are striving to find ways to break through and outdistance their competitors. One could argue, then, that the new measure, which alerts live-stream viewers in the comments every time an item is purchased, levels the playing field. Creators will receive notifications surrounding sales and could see those notices bear fruit if other viewers piggyback off purchases, but there should still be significant opportunities for uploaders to stand apart based on popularity and the overall integrity and appeal of their merch.

#YouTube https://t.co/lIfezFynwt

— PhoneWorld (@PhoneWorldpk) June 5, 2020

This marks the third-straight year that we have been able to relay something that YouTube has done to help creators sell merchandise, with the Teespring merch integration being 2018’s win and last year’s MerchBar feature providing music artists the shot at selling branded products and vinyl goods below their videos. Since people have leaned so heavily on YouTube these last 12 weeks, content creators are probably rejoicing over the timing of this latest announcement, as they will likely benefit from another craze that has intensified since March—namely, enthusiasm for online merch stores.

Creators also figure to flourish because states’ restrictions on live events means that streamed connections between them and their backers will still prove prevalent. While looking to escape the doldrums that the last three months have brought on, viewers could be even more inclined to want to thank content creators for their steadying influence by making a purchase. As we have explored in our look at how to go about making sales during the pandemic, the focus in immersing oneself with end-users and supporters should be to assist people and not simply look to sell to them.

With respect to content creators, yes, they are obviously looking to earn money through streamed occasions, but we want to give them the benefit of the doubt, too, and suggest that they are looking to be more than merch movers. Since the performance report included in the new feature will help them understand how certain products fare, the thinking that they might be in this for more than just having extra money to their names could merit a long-range study, especially since the pandemic figures to be a topic among consumers and their providers long after the quarantine ceases.