Creators HQ and YouTube Plan First Regional Shopping Incubator
The two-year programme will train more than 1,000 MENA creators through YouTube Academy masterclasses, following the affiliate rollout in three markets.
Creators HQ and YouTube have announced plans for a regional incubator aimed at helping creators across the Middle East and North Africa earn money through YouTube Shopping. It is billed as the first of its kind in the region. The programme is to train more than 1,000 creators over the next two years.
Teaching runs through YouTube Academy, which has trained more than 5,000 creators since it launched in 2025. Sessions take the form of masterclasses devoted to the shopping tools creators use to monetise their content.
Creators HQ describes itself as the first dedicated hub for creators in the UAE and the Middle East. The two-year target is a measure of the ambition: 1,000 creators equals a fifth of the 5,000 the Academy has handled since 2025, and this programme is confined to shopping rather than general creator skills.
The shift toward transactions rather than audiences alone is the wider story. Scale in the region was long measured in subscribers and views; product tagging turns that attention into a checkout. For creators, the number that matters moves from watch time to conversion.
The incubator follows the rollout of the YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Under that programme, eligible creators can tag products inside videos, Shorts and livestreams, and collect a commission when a viewer buys through a tagged item. Amazon is the first affiliate partner for the scheme in the region.
Javid Aslanov, head of YouTube in the Middle East and North Africa, said the masterclass extends the company's joint work with Creators HQ and is meant to help regional storytellers build long-term careers on YouTube.
The reference to joint work points to a relationship that predates this announcement. YouTube Academy and the affiliate programme are the two pieces already running; the incubator adds a structured curriculum on top of both. Creators HQ brings the creator base, YouTube brings the training and the checkout.
A YouTube Shopping showcase will sit inside the fifth 1 Billion Followers Summit, which the UAE Government Media Office will hold on Jan. 8-10, 2027.
The summit takes place at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, the Dubai International Financial Centre and the Museum of the Future, and carries the theme “Content for Good.”
Alia Al Hammadi, vice chairperson of the UAE Government Media Office and deputy CEO of the summit, said the collaboration reflects Creators HQ's commitment to strategic relations with global platforms and to giving regional creators the tools to scale their businesses, adapt to the digital economy and monetise sustainably.
For creators in the three markets, the route from a tagged product to a commission runs through a single named affiliate partner. Payment depends on viewers completing a purchase, not simply watching. The incubator's test is whether masterclasses alone turn an audience into a business.
