YouTube is Launching the Next Phase of its Program to Tag Items Within Video Clips

This new article on Social Media Today says that Bloomberg reported back in October that YouTube had started working on a new process to allow creators to tag products displayed in video clips. The update enables publishers to provide direct shopping options, and that facilitates broader eCommerce opportunities within the app.

In a new development, YouTube just moved to the newest stage of trials and has launched live testing of its product tags. The feature is only available to specially selected publishers on the platform. YouTube had this to say:

It's perhaps a little surprising it's taken YouTube this long when its parent company, Google, has been engaged in developing this functionality for a long time - as far back as 2017, in fact.



Rivals, too, are looking to gain a slice of this particular pie. Pinterest is also actively developing a similar option. Its Product Tags provide more ways for brands to present their items to potential buyers using Pins. Pinterest's Lens tool also showcases similar items based on those displayed in an image.



YouTube has the rather hefty weight of Google behind it, so it will no doubt end up being a major player in this and most other fields of competition. When that gets coupled with the sheer volume of material on the platform, new eCommerce opportunities become abundant.