Product Tagging is one of the most promising ways to earn on YouTube. It allows creators to make money directly from their videos — without relying on sponsors, brand deals, or external ads. When a viewer sees a product in the video and clicks on it, they can either purchase it directly through YouTube or visit the brand’s website. In both cases, the creator earns a commission.
The Product Tagging feature is already available in several countries and is generating real income for YouTubers.
In this article, we break down how to boost your YouTube income with Product Tagging: how it works, who can use it, how to choose products, track performance, and why viewers often buy items that aren’t even shown in the video.
Product Tagging is a feature within YouTube Shopping that lets you add interactive product links directly to your videos.
Creators can choose products from a brand catalog and tag them in their content. YouTube then automatically generates a product section that viewers can see. The way this section looks depends on the device:
— On desktop: a dedicated section below the video or a product block within the player;
— On mobile: a horizontal slider showcasing the product list.
The biggest advantage is how naturally it blends in. The tags don’t feel like ads, don’t interrupt the viewing experience, and only appear when the viewer chooses to engage with video elements.
Another key benefit is that you can tag not only new videos, but also ones you've already published. That means you can monetize your entire content archive — even older videos that continue to get views.
In addition to its obvious convenience, Product Tagging comes with a set of features that make it a powerful tool for additional income. Here are the key ones:
The platform analyzes your video content and can automatically recommend products to tag — even if you don’t add any yourself. This is especially useful for creators in niches like lifestyle, tech, parenting, beauty, and more. In a way, YouTube acts as a built-in assistant, surfacing relevant items that fit your content.
You can enable or disable automatic tagging in YouTube Studio, under the Shopping tab.
In the Shopping section of YouTube Studio, you can easily drag and drop products to rearrange their order. This comes in handy when your analytics show that a particular item gets more clicks — just move it to the top to increase visibility and drive more sales.
YouTube gives you detailed insights for every tagged product — including how many times the tag was shown, how many clicks it received, and how much revenue it generated (through CPA or CPC). This makes it easy to spot which products are performing well and which aren’t, so you can fine-tune your tagging strategy for better results.
Product Tagging is already available for Shorts. The tags might not appear directly in the video, but the products show up below the player or in the description. This means you can earn even from short vertical videos.
Beyond third-party brands, you can also tag items from your own online store — through Shopify or Spring. This allows you to combine affiliate revenue with direct merch sales in the same video, making your content work even harder for you.
Unlike some other monetization tools, Product Tagging isn’t available to all creators just yet — YouTube is rolling it out gradually.
As of 2025, the feature works in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Brazil, India, Japan, South Korea, and most European countries.
To activate Product Tagging, your channel must meet the following criteria:
— Be part of the YouTube Partner Program;
— Have 500+ subscribers (or more, depending on your country);
— Reach a required amount of watch time or Shorts views;
— Follow YouTube’s monetization policies and community guidelines;
— Have no recent major violations;
— Creators can also unlock additional features by integrating their channel with Shopify or Spring, which allows them to tag and sell their own merch directly in videos.
One of the golden rules of marketing: people don’t want to be sold to — they want to decide for themselves what to buy. And that’s exactly where Product Tagging shines.
This tool doesn’t look like an ad. It’s fully native: the viewer sees the product on screen and, at the same time, has access to a “View Products” button. This creates the perfect environment for spontaneous action — when interest in a product is sparked not by pressure, but by timely, subtle visibility.
The mechanism is simple: recognition → trust → action. The product is on screen — it feels real. The creator is using it or talking about it — so it feels trustworthy. The viewer can click and buy instantly — with zero friction.
In this case, Product Tagging works better than links in the description or traditional ad integrations.
Now let’s look at a real example that shows how this tool works in practice. A kids' entertainment channel started using Product Tagging in early 2024. At first, we added tags cautiously — only to products that actually appeared on screen: the host’s outfit, colorful posters on the walls, decor, and props. Candy also appeared in the videos, but we avoided tagging it to prevent the “Made for Kids” (MFK) label.
Just a few months in, we started seeing results. Products began getting clicks, orders came in, and revenue steadily grew. Over the course of a year — from January 2024 to April 2025 — Product Tagging brought in more than $1583.75 in earnings. A total of 599 orders were placed, with overall sales reaching $43,529.89. Product tags received nearly 289,000 clicks.
Our Biggest Earnings Came from Simple, Fun Videos — Like “Mini Jelly Cake” or “Make Spiderman Toy Myself”.
These were short, easy-to-watch clips where product tags felt completely natural. As the strategy evolved, we started adding products more intentionally — and that’s when things got even more interesting.
We noticed that viewers weren’t just buying the items shown in the video. They were also purchasing other products from the tagged selection. That’s how we built a surprising success case around diapers — more on that below.
This experience showed us that Product Tagging isn’t just for pointing out what’s on screen. It’s a powerful tool that actually drives purchases and helps grow your YouTube revenue in a structured, scalable way.
Want to integrate Product Tagging into your channel and build your own success story? Reach out to us — we’ll help you set it up and get started.
We never planned to sell diapers. They weren’t shown on screen, the creator didn’t wear them, and we certainly didn’t tag them. But then something unexpected happened — and it turned out to be a win.
During a routine performance review, we noticed something odd: a video had yellow clothing tagged, but 95% of the clicks were going to... diapers. Diapers that weren’t even featured or tagged.
That sparked an idea — what if we did tag diapers? So we filmed a new Short: the host, in a playful costume with a wig, danced in a t-shirt and diapers. It was meant as an experiment — and it worked. The results:
Even though it didn’t generate direct sales, this case turned out to be a breakthrough. We realized that viewers don’t just click on what they see — they click on what they want or expect to see.
Product Tagging lets you shape audience behavior through visuals and context.
After the diaper case, we realized that Product Tagging can be effective even for products that never appear on the screen. This raised a key question: do viewers always buy what they actually see in the video? In reality — not always. Based on our 2024–2025 data, we saw purchases of:
— A Graco stroller for $199.99;
— A Rittman upholstered bed for $343.78;
— A Keurig coffee maker, party supplies, clothing, women’s lingerie, pillows, a kids’ bike — and most of these items weren’t featured in any video.
Here’s how the system works: If a viewer clicks on any tagged product in your video and ends up buying something else from that store during the same session, you still earn a commission.
Here’s a real-world example:
A viewer clicked on the toy, was redirected to Target.com, browsed around — and ended up buying mascara. And yes, the creator still earned a commission.
This example highlights why working with data consistently is so important:
— To understand your audience’s actual behavior, not just surface-level interactions;
— To choose platforms with a wide range of related products that convert better;
— To build a tagging strategy based not only on what’s “in the frame” but also on viewer behavior.
By analyzing these patterns, you can clearly identify which products drive the most revenue — and use that insight to shape your strategy. And that brings us to the next question: how do you choose what to tag — the right way?
We came to a simple conclusion: tag the products that pay more. YouTube provides clear information about each brand’s commission rate in the Shopping section — and that’s a key factor in our tagging decisions. For example:
Check out the available sellers in YouTube Studio — under the Shopping tab.
If you’re going to show a laptop anyway, why not choose the one that brings in 9% commission instead of 2%? Just plan your props with commissions in mind.
When working with Product Tagging, it’s important to follow a few key rules to maximize your earnings and avoid issues. Here are five principles every creator should keep in mind:
Product Tagging is a way to earn more on YouTube — turning even a simple video into a sales entry point, even if monetization wasn’t your original goal. This tool lets you make money from content that’s already grabbing attention, adding extra revenue streams without relying on brand deals or ad integrations.
To use Product Tagging effectively, it’s not just about tagging products — it’s about understanding which elements on screen or which topics truly influence your viewers. That’s where we use SubSub Analytics to make data-driven decisions.
In SubSub Analytics, you can build a custom tag tree and group elements into categories like “host’s outfit,” “toys in the frame,” or “intro greeting” — anything that changes in the video or that you want to test. Each category gets its own tag, and you label your content on YouTube accordingly. The system then tracks which on-screen elements actually grab viewers’ attention.
Consistently testing even the smallest details — like object colors or background styles — helps uncover subtle audience behavior patterns. Over time, you’re not just filming creatively, but with insight into which visual choices have real monetization potential.
Product Tagging, combined with SubSub Analytics, turns passive income into strategic earning. It’s not about chasing random brand deals — it’s about building a system that works.
