UBT from YouTube Shorts: Platform Features and Examples

YouTube Shorts has an audience of 1.5 billion monthly users. That makes Shorts one of the largest placements for working with organic traffic. We dove into the Shorts feed to see what verticals affiliates are running with organic traffic, what approaches they use, and which verticals they choose. Read on and get inspired.

We covered how to avoid spending money on traffic and run OGT from TikTok in our previous article. 

Examples presented in Russian are listed for reference purposes only. The editorial team encourages readers not to replicate them, but to draw ideas for running traffic to tier-1 countries. If this content resonates with you, we'll make it our goal to find more examples of organic traffic campaigns targeting international markets. Drop a reaction under the announcement of this article on Telegram so we know whether to produce tier-1 examples or not.

What is YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts is a dedicated short-video section of the platform that competes directly with Instagram Reels and TikTok. Shorts launched on YouTube relatively recently, but affiliates are already actively leveraging its advantages to generate organic traffic.

YouTube Shorts stand out because they're easier to create than full-length videos, yet the traffic potential is just as strong. Some short videos rack up millions of views, which can be converted into clicks to an affiliate landing page.

What we know about how YouTube Shorts works

YouTube Shorts is watched by over 1.5 billion people. The feature launched only in the summer of 2021, but it gained popularity extremely fast. Around 1–5% of creators produce short-form content, while the audience is essentially all of YouTube. Any content can make it into the feed — from oatmeal recipes to low-quality TV show clips. It gets in and racks up millions of views.

The YouTube Shorts algorithm works like this: a user publishes a video, and it's immediately pushed to roughly 1,000 viewers with similar interests (determined by hashtags, description, and objects within the frame). The AI tracks the CTR — if it's high, the video is shown to another 1,000 viewers. This cycle continues until the CTR starts to drop.

"70% of viewers who saw a product on YouTube purchased it" © Google

On targeting:

• average audience age — 25–44;
• over 50% — mobile traffic;
• the largest share of the audience, 16.6%, comes from the US, 9.4% from India, and 4.9% from Japan. That said, the algorithm doesn't differentiate. A Canadian English-language Short can easily surface for a Ukrainian user, and vice versa.
• virtually all users aged 22 to 42 watch news, entertainment content, product unboxings, and content that may influence their spending or income on YouTube.

Publishing content related to violence, weapons, fights, conflicts, prohibited substances, and pornography is banned. Dating and adult content is a particularly grey area: YouTube prohibits publishing videos that may cause sexual arousal. This includes scenes of a sexual nature — even those cut from films — kissing, pulling down strangers' pants, and sex toys. 

All content policies for YouTube Shorts are listed at this link.

E-commerce with TikTok unboxings

A case study in this funnel — the channel "Shopaholic Maxim." The approach: find unboxing or product demo videos featuring fun items from AliExpress on TikTok, then download them without a watermark using Ssstik. Uniquify the content using Canva or another graphic editor — add text, your own watermark, reactions, etc. In principle, YouTube will accept repurposed content from other platforms as-is, but modified videos carry a lower risk of getting a strike from another affiliate who uploaded the same Short earlier. In this particular example, the webmaster also added voiceover reviews.

For additional monetization in this example, the affiliate created a private Telegram channel dedicated to AliExpress products. The posts are kept as simple as possible: a headline, a product photo, and an affiliate link below it. This way, earning from YouTube Shorts as an additional income stream is entirely realistic.

We create a YouTube channel and upload Shorts. We leave a clickable product link in the comments and pin the message — and if we're redirecting the audience to TG, we also add it to the profile. In the description, we include the product name and relevant hashtags.

Video examples from the channel:

As we gathered from the channel examples reviewed, the optimal posting frequency is 3+ videos per day — but this needs to be tested.

Gambling and sports betting via children's cartoons and movies

In autumn 2022, a trend built around cartoon and series clip compilations gained momentum fast. Videos using this format were hitting 100,000 views within just a couple of weeks, as they align with the interests of a broad audience. Affiliates quickly picked up on this approach and are currently using it to drive traffic to esports, sports betting, and gambling offers.

Here's how the funnel works: we upload highlight clips from popular cartoons, series, and movies with matching hashtags until we've built up a large audience. Once videos start hitting 50,000+ views, we start adding a bonus badge to new uploads or a hook like "Strategy to earn 100,000 UAH per month. Find the link in the comments." In the comments, we write the cartoon's name followed by a link to a full-length video with a caption along the lines of "Everyone who watches this video will earn 100,000 UAH." In that video, the author walks viewers through a working scheme for making money through gambling or betting.

Another option — using a watermark with a bonus, and leaving your promo code and a cloaked link to the landing page in the comments.

Examples:

Keto diet via "Before/After" videos or direct recommendations

We found a channel in YouTube Shorts that was driving traffic to a landing page like this one.

An affiliate was uploading TikTok-style weight loss videos — fairly basic ones at that: a two-photo before/after slide with a caption saying a personalized plan could be found in the comments or bio. They would then drop the offer link in a pinned comment.

Examples: 

They post several videos a day until they hit a shadowban or the funnel stops converting. Based on the channels observed, keto diet campaigns typically ran for about two weeks on average.

Worth noting, though: cloaking/redirects aren't required here. YouTube has no problem letting direct keto diet recommendations through. For example, someone is actively running traffic to an offer from an affiliate network right now. The videos use the same voiceover explaining what a keto diet is and why it works, while the creative itself is a mix of before/after footage, food visuals, and doctor faces:

Examples:

For nutra, however, a cloaker and a pre-lander are mandatory — even though the funnel is roughly the same. The creative is a weight loss story with a CTA to check the comments for a link to the "miracle" product, while the comments contain a shortened link via goo-gl.me or a bridge page disguised as a CAPTCHA (essentially a giant full-screen button with the YouTube logo and the text "Click if you are not a robot"). From there, it's a standard pre-lander — either a news-style article about an incredible remedy discovered by doctors, or a personal story. The second option converts better, but in that case the girl from the video must match the one featured on the pre-lander.

Video examples:

Mainstream Dating: the Desire to Meet Someone & Girls in Bikini Videos

We covered a similar funnel for the CIS market in our manual on organic traffic from TikTok. The approach: upload videos from TT featuring girls dancing, tagged with #dating, and overlay text like "Just broke up. Looking for a man" along with a call to action asking users to reach out via the link in the comments. Videos of everyday girls you'd pass on the street perform best. Both twenty-somethings and women 35+ tend to go viral.

Leave a link to the offer's pre-lander or to a smartlink in the comments or profile bio.

Video examples:

For the US market, videos of girls in bikinis work well. Use hashtags like #dating #bikini #girls. In the comments with a link, try: "Write me 👇🏻😘", "Dating girls from your city" or "More girls". Even workout videos where the outfit accentuates the figure can perform well.

Examples:

Summary

YouTube Shorts is a great platform for driving free organic traffic across virtually any vertical. At the very least, the platform itself delivers 1,000 views right out of the gate, and with a strong creative the algorithm will push your video to a much wider audience. The key is to pick trending hashtags, use trending music — just make sure it's not copyright-protected — and don't forget to pin a comment with your link so it doesn't get buried under the rest. Traffic arbitrage on YouTube is a solid opportunity to diversify your traffic sources.