YouTube Adds Lazada to Thailand Shopping Program as Creator Commerce Grows

Lazada joins a growing shopping channel on YouTube

YouTube has added Lazada to its Shopping Affiliate Program in Thailand, giving eligible creators another marketplace from which to recommend products in videos and live streams. The expansion follows the platform's partnership with Shopee in Thailand in 2024 and connects Lazada's catalog with an audience increasingly using video to decide what to buy.

YouTube says shopping related watch time in Thailand increased by more than 400 percent year on year, while more than 35 percent of eligible Thai creators have joined the affiliate program. A rise of more than 400 percent means that watch time became more than five times its earlier level. YouTube also cites 4.5 billion shopping search queries in June, illustrating the scale of interest in finding products through the platform.

Creators can earn a commission when viewers buy products through their recommendations. Viewers see product cards or links within the video experience and can complete purchases through Lazada without closing the YouTube app. For sellers, the partnership creates another route to LazMall listings and brand stores, with creator content helping turn interest in a product into a visit to its sale page.

The expansion comes during a year in which Lazada increased spending on creator collaborations and shopping tools powered by artificial intelligence. Its 11.11 Global Brands Festival included a regional investment of more than $25 million and a temporary increase in affiliate commissions. As of December 16, 2025, the partnership brings together three parts of the shopping journey: watching a recommendation, checking the product and making a purchase.

Thailand's figures show why both companies are investing in that connection. YouTube has a large local audience, creators are joining the program, and Lazada says its branded retail business is growing. The new integration gives those creators access to more products while giving brands another way to reach potential buyers.

How a video recommendation becomes a purchase

Creators enrolled in the affiliate program can browse eligible Lazada products and attach product tags to new uploads or existing videos. Those tags let viewers find an item while the creator is discussing it, instead of having to search for the product separately.

Live streams provide another setting for the same process. Creators can surface recommendations and pin product tags while broadcasting, making the item accessible as viewers watch a demonstration or hear buying advice. Product tagging therefore works across both videos available to watch at any time and live content.

A viewer who selects a product card or link can move into a Lazada purchase flow within the YouTube experience. Lazada handles the purchase, while the creator earns a commission based on the sale. An affiliate commission is a payment for helping generate a purchase: the recommendation is connected to the resulting transaction so the creator can be rewarded.

Lazada says eligible creators can promote products from their own stores or from other brands. This gives a creator who also sells goods a way to feature those items, while creators without their own inventory can recommend products sold by others.

Mukpim Anantachai, head of YouTube partnerships for Thailand, described creators as central to the platform's growing role in shopping and its efforts to support their businesses.

Creators are the heart of this momentum, and we are deeply committed to helping them thrive in today's vibrant digital economy.

AI connects product tags with the right moment

YouTube is adding artificial intelligence to reduce the work involved in connecting a product with the moment it appears in a video. Its auto timestamps feature displays a product tag when the item is mentioned, helping viewers find it while the discussion is still relevant.

Creators benefit because matching tags to the right moments can otherwise require editing time. For viewers, the practical change is that a recommendation can appear during the explanation or demonstration, rather than requiring them to look through a separate list of products.

YouTube also plans to test automatic identification and tagging of eligible products mentioned in videos later in 2025. This proposed feature would handle another part of the process: recognizing which eligible product is being discussed and attaching the relevant tag. No specific testing date was given.

The two features address different tasks. Auto timestamps determine when a tag appears. Automatic identification and tagging would help determine which product to attach. Together, they form part of YouTube's effort to make shopping recommendations easier to produce and easier to follow.

Why Thailand matters to the expansion

Thailand became an early market for YouTube's creator shopping program after launches in the United States, South Korea and Indonesia. Its partnership with Shopee in 2024 established a local marketplace connection before Lazada joined the program.

Google reports that YouTube had about 44.2 million users in Thailand in early 2024. That audience gives creators a substantial base of potential viewers, while the platform's survey findings point to trust as another part of its appeal for shopping.

In a YouTube survey, 88 percent of Thai viewers said they trust creators on the platform more than voices on other services when considering opinions about brands and products. A recommendation can therefore carry weight because viewers already follow the person explaining the item.

YouTube's enrollment and viewing figures show how that audience is connecting with commerce. More than 35 percent of eligible local creators have joined the affiliate program, and shopping related watch time has risen by more than 400 percent year on year. The enrollment figure refers to creators eligible for the program, rather than all Thai channels.

Thailand's ecommerce market is expected to reach about $30 billion in 2025 as its digital economy expands. YouTube's partnership with Lazada places creator recommendations within that growing market, linking video audiences to stores where viewers can act on their interest.

The figures behind the wider shopping push

YouTube's shopping expansion extends beyond Thailand. Globally, the company says YouTube Shopping gross merchandise value has grown about five times, and its affiliate program now counts more than 500,000 creators. Gross merchandise value is the total value of goods sold through a shopping channel, rather than the amount paid to creators in commissions.

Viewers worldwide watched more than 35 billion hours of shopping videos between February 2024 and January 2025. That period provides a measure of the attention devoted to product discovery, demonstrations and buying advice on the platform.

Indonesia offers another example of how the affiliate program can connect viewing with purchases. Daily orders attributed to YouTube content grew by more than six times after the program launched there. Attribution means a purchase is connected to the content or link that helped generate it.

Mobile phones and gadgets, home and living products, and beauty have performed well in other markets when creators demonstrate how products work and offer practical buying advice. These formats give viewers something more concrete than a product listing: a chance to see an item in use and hear an explanation of its value.

The main dates and periods behind the expansion are:

• Early 2024: Google reported about 44.2 million YouTube users in Thailand.
• 2024: YouTube's Shopping Affiliate Program grew in Thailand through a Shopee partnership.
• February 2024 to January 2025: Viewers globally watched more than 35 billion hours of shopping videos.
• November 1 to 15, 2025: Lazada's 11.11 campaign included doubled affiliate commission rates.
• December 16, 2025: YouTube's expansion with Lazada adds another marketplace to its shopping affiliate program in Thailand.

Lazada's 11.11 campaign ties creators to deals

Lazada earmarked more than $25 million for its 2025 11.11 Global Brands Festival across Southeast Asia. The campaign combined deeper discounts, more creator collaborations and interactive features, making product recommendations part of a broader effort to attract shoppers during the sale period.

The company also upgraded AI Lazzie, its shopping assistant powered by artificial intelligence. The tool helps users discover deals, combine LazRewards with seller vouchers and receive more personalized offers. Combining rewards and vouchers allows shoppers to bring different available savings together when choosing a purchase.

Lazada's creator incentive ran from November 1 to 15, when the company doubled affiliate commission rates. The temporary increase gave participating creators a larger reward for sales generated during the campaign, aligning their recommendations with the marketplace's major shopping event.

YouTube's integration gives Lazada another route to those shoppers. A creator can discuss an item while its product tag leads viewers toward the relevant listing, bringing the recommendation and the sale opportunity closer together. Lazada's campaign tools, meanwhile, help shoppers identify offers once they reach the marketplace.

The investment, commission increase and assistant upgrade show how Lazada is connecting its seasonal promotions with creator activity. Discounts appeal to buyers, commissions reward the people who generate sales, and the shopping assistant helps users navigate the available deals.

LazMall growth adds a branded retail opportunity

Lazada expanded LazMall in Thailand with millions of new products from global and local brands ahead of the 11.11 campaign. The company says the number of branded stores on LazMall grew by more than 60 percent year on year, while average order value increased by roughly 1,000 baht per basket.

Average order value means the average amount spent in a single order. An increase of about 1,000 baht per basket describes the change in spending, while the growth in branded stores describes the expansion in the number of shops. Together, the figures point to a larger branded retail operation with higher average spending per order.

Varitha Kiatpinyochai, chief executive of Lazada Thailand, said the YouTube expansion supports the company's approach to shopping and service.

The YouTube Shopping affiliate program underscores Lazada's commitment to delivering a seamless shopping experience.

Research by Momentum Works puts branded products at under 30 percent of Southeast Asia's ecommerce sales, compared with about 50 percent in China. Using those figures, the region's share is more than 20 percentage points below China's, suggesting room for branded retail to grow.

Creator recommendations can steer viewers toward verified brand stores and official distributors. For brands focused on quality, the connection with LazMall can support authenticity and reduce counterfeit risk, while creators help audiences consider price, warranty and value. The YouTube integration adds reach at the moment a viewer is interested in a product.

What changes for creators, brands and sellers

Creators gain a larger catalog without having to build separate content for each marketplace. They can add tags to an existing video, include them in a new upload or pin them during a live stream. A useful product demonstration can therefore become another opportunity to earn commission.

Brands and sellers gain a channel whose sales can be measured. Affiliate links connect transactions with the recommendations that generated them, allowing marketers to adjust commission rates and budgets by product, creator and campaign period.

Lazada's temporary commission increase during 11.11 illustrates how that system can be used during a sale. A higher rate changes the reward available to creators, while the campaign gives sellers a defined period in which to direct spending and assess sales.

Creators still need to choose products that suit their content and audience. A beauty demonstration, a gadget review or practical advice about a home product gives viewers a reason to consider the tagged item. The recommendation works within the content rather than requiring a separate shopping presentation.

Viewers gain another marketplace option within YouTube's affiliate ecosystem. Creators can draw from multiple catalogs, brands can spread their traffic sources, and audiences can compare deals while remaining in the video experience. The partnership expands the choices available at the point where entertainment, advice and shopping meet.

Who can join and where to check

YouTube Shopping Affiliate eligibility varies by market. In supported countries, the program typically requires membership in the YouTube Partner Program, a channel with more than 10,000 subscribers and compliance with content policies. Thailand is an eligible market.

Channels set as Made for Kids and Official Artist Channels are excluded. Creators should confirm the criteria and availability in the YouTube Help overview and check whether the Shopping tab appears in YouTube Studio.

For eligible Thai creators, getting started involves checking access, choosing suitable products and following the performance of recommendations. The practical steps are:

• Verify YouTube Partner Program membership and subscriber count in YouTube Studio.
• Enable Shopping affiliate features when available and connect a Lazada account where required.
• Select eligible Lazada products that match the channel's content and audience.
• Place tags at natural moments in the video, using auto timestamps to surface products when they are mentioned.
• Disclose affiliate relationships plainly and follow local advertising rules. YouTube provides a paid promotion label and space in descriptions for disclosures.
• Track clicks, conversions and earnings in analytics to refine product choices and the way they are presented.

Conversions are the purchases that result from audience activity, while clicks show how often viewers select a recommendation. Looking at both helps creators understand which products attract interest and which generate sales. Creators and sellers can also consult the Lazada Affiliate Program Thailand for local merchant guidance.

A crowded regional market for creator recommendations

TikTok Shop, Shopee, Lazada and newer entrants such as Temu compete for shoppers across Southeast Asia. YouTube's approach connects product discovery with creator opinions inside a video platform that audiences already use.

A study by impact.com and Cube found that 83 percent of consumers in the region had purchased through affiliate links. Marketplaces including TikTok Shop, Shopee and Lazada ranked highly for product discovery alongside influencer channels, showing how shopping platforms and creator recommendations can work together.

The same study observed declining influence among mega influencers, with audiences moving toward creators they find more authentic and specialized. For brands, that makes the fit between a creator, a product and an audience relevant alongside the size of the channel.

YouTube's Lazada expansion broadens marketplace access for Thai creators while giving brands another route to viewers. YouTube's planned automatic tagging test and Lazada's use of seasonal commission incentives are the next areas to watch in the program's development: one concerns how products are matched with content, and the other concerns how creators are rewarded for sales.

Key Points

• YouTube added Lazada to its Shopping Affiliate Program in Thailand, following its Shopee partnership in 2024.
• Eligible creators can tag products in new and existing videos and live streams, earning commissions when viewers buy through Lazada without closing YouTube.
• YouTube reports shopping related watch time in Thailand rose by more than 400 percent year on year, with more than 35 percent of eligible creators enrolled.
• Google reported about 44.2 million Thai YouTube users in early 2024; a YouTube survey found 88 percent trusted its creators more than voices on other services for brand and product opinions.
• Globally, YouTube Shopping gross merchandise value grew about five times, and the affiliate program includes more than 500,000 creators.
• Lazada committed more than $25 million to its regional 11.11 festival, upgraded AI Lazzie and doubled affiliate commissions from November 1 to 15.
• Lazada says branded stores on LazMall Thailand grew by more than 60 percent, while average order value increased by roughly 1,000 baht per basket.
• YouTube's auto timestamps align product tags with mentions; testing of automatic product identification and tagging was planned for later in 2025.
• Program eligibility typically includes YouTube Partner Program membership, more than 10,000 subscribers and compliance with content policies.