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YouTube will launch its first official shopping channel for live commerce in South Korea on June 30, Yonhap news agency reported citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The new channel will provide a live commerce platform to companies and intends to livestream shopping content with about 30 brands at launch, the report added.
This would be the first time YouTube, a unit of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), is launching an official shopping channel in any country.
“YouTube is committed to building an engaging, informative and entertaining shopping experience for all users, including in Korea,” said a YouTube official to Yonhap.
In its Q1 earnings call on April 25, Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler had said that to support YouTube’s growth the long-term effort will be to make YouTube more shoppable, among other initiatives.
“It’s still super early days. One highlight. Last year, we brought shopping to more creators and brands by partnering with commerce platforms like Shopify. Now more than 100,000 creators, artists and brands have connected their own stores to their YouTube channels to sell their products. We’re excited about the potential ahead,” Schindler had noted during the call.