How to Find YouTuber Affiliates - My 6 Top Tactics

YouTube is the world's second-largest search engine, and video content converts SO MUCH better than blog posts.

A 10-minute YouTube video talking about your product is basically a mini VSL.

AND, since it's created by someone their viewers trust, using your product - it's a level of social proof that a written blog review just cannot reach.

The problem? Finding the right YouTubers to promote your products is painfully slow and manual. (Or at least it used to be…)

I used to do YouTube affiliate research by opening dozens of tabs, scanning YouTube video descriptions to find affiliate links there, and then spending hours completing Captchas to try and find their email address.

This genuinely took up to 15-20 hours of my week - just for the research part.

I've been doing this for 7 years now, and have built up a set of strategies I use when doing fresh YouTube affiliate partner recruitment to build my list.

Here are my 6 best methods to find YouTuber affiliates to promote your brand:

1. Use an affiliate discovery tool like AffiliateFinder.ai
2. Spy on your competitors' YouTube affiliates
3. Search YouTube with niche keywords and filters
4. Use Google to find YouTube affiliates
5. Use SEO tools to find YouTube backlinks
6. Tap into communities, forums, and social media

1. Use an Affiliate Discovery Tool Like AffiliateFinder.ai

If you want to find YouTuber affiliates without spending your entire week researching, start with AffiliateFinder.ai - and use the 7-day free trial to test it.

Affiliate discovery tools scan platforms like YouTube, surface creators based on niche relevance and existing affiliate promotions, and find you their verified emails so you can actually reach out.

Obviously I'm biased, because I built it.

But AffiliateFinder.ai is definitely the strongest YouTube affiliate discovery tool right now.

All you have to do is enter all your main competitors, and your main topics, and AffiliateFinder surfaces all the YouTubers creating content on these topics, as well as those who are promoting your competitors right now.

And finds their verified email addresses for 91%+ of them.

With a one-click email system and AI email outreach generation that references specifics from their content - so it sounds like you've been deep-diving their content for hours.

Here's the workflow:

1. Enter your niche keywords, and your main competitors (e.g., "protein powder review" or "best project management tools", and "Hubspot")
2. AffiliateFinder surfaces YouTubers already creating affiliate content in your space
3. Filter by engagement rate, audience size, or which brands they're an affiliate of
4. One click to get their email (no more hunting through YouTube "About" pages and completing Captchas!)
5. Email them directly within AffiliateFinder, and manage all your affiliates with our built-in CRM

And, AffiliateFinder does this across websites, TikTok, and Instagram as well - so you'll find hundreds of affiliates (most users find thousands) across channels beyond YouTube.

We built AffiliateFinder originally as an in-house tool for this exact use case.

We got tired of spending 15-20 hours every week manually scrolling through YouTube, Google SERPs, and TikTok to find these creators. And have spent the last 2 years perfecting this via automation and AI.

YouTube affiliate discovery tools like AffiliateFinder show you hundreds of perfect-fit YouTubers in minutes - saving you dozens of hours scrolling through YouTube trying to find them yourself manually.

And because AffiliateFinder tracks more than 50 affiliate networks 24/7 with all the affiliates using their referral codes, you're not just finding YouTubers who review products - you're finding ones who are already monetizing with affiliate links and know how to convert.

Every affiliate surfaced has a score from 0 to 100 based on their specific fit for your brand.

This algorithm includes more than 30 data points, including their relevance to your brand and niche, how many competitor brands they've promoted, how engaged their audience is, if their audience is from countries you are targeting - and much more.

Like I said - we built AffiliateFinder because our team was spending 15+ hours per week manually doing this research. After 7 years recruiting affiliates, and having sent over a million outreach emails to influencers and affiliates, we turned all of our processes into an AI tool that recruits YouTubers for you.

We have had dozens of customers tell us how many YouTubers and other types of affiliates and influencers they have recruited using AffiliateFinder. You can read their stories, such as how Stock Analysis recruited 50 new affiliates in 68 days.

Pricing: Starts at $69/month, with a 7-day free trial so you can see the results before committing.

AffiliateFinder is the only YouTuber discovery tool purpose-built for affiliate recruitment - from discovery through to email outreach and pipeline management.

Find every YouTuber promoting products in your niche — start your 7-day free trial at AffiliateFinder.ai →

2. Spy on Your Competitors' YouTube Affiliates

The approach is simple: search YouTube using your competitors' brand names as the keyword.

Try these searches:

• "[competitor name] review"
• "[competitor name] tutorial"
• "[competitor name] unboxing"
• "[competitor name] vs [other brand]"
• "[competitor name] honest opinion"
• "is [competitor name] worth it"
• "Best alternatives to [competitor]"

However: not every YouTuber who mentions a competitor is an affiliate.

You need to check. Open the video description and look for:

• Affiliate links: Amazon Associates links, or affiliate network links, for example CJ, ShareASale links, Impact tracking URLs, or any link with tracking parameters
• Discount codes: "Use code CREATOR20 for 20% off"
• "Use my link" language: Any phrasing that signals a tracked referral

If a creator has affiliate links in their description, they're already monetizing.

To scale this:

Make a list of 5–10 competitors, run each through this process, and you'll build a prospect list of 50-100+ creators in an afternoon.

However: When you reach out, don't badmouth your competitor.

Focus on what makes your program better: higher commission rates, better product, exclusive content for affiliates, faster payouts, or dedicated affiliate support. But keep it positive.

Again, this is still quite a manual process. If you're an AffiliateFinder user, we already do this for you! When you enter your keywords when you signing up, AffiliateFinder automatically searches all of these competitor review terms to find all the affiliates talking about your competitors - and order them for you based on how good a fit we think they are for your specific brand.

AffiliateFinder even tells you which competitors each video has an affiliate link pointing to in their video descriptions.

And then every week we find the latest YouTubers reviewing those same competitors - so you're always kept up to date.

See who's promoting your competitors on YouTube — start your 7-day free trial →

Another tip: if it's a popular brand with a lot of reviews, set the YouTube filters for videos posted in the last 30 days. They're the most actively promoting the competitor.

You can also read my blog post on specifically finding affiliates promoting your competitors.

3. Search YouTube With Niche Keywords and Filters

This method is about discovering creators through category and niche searches - not competitor brand names.

YouTube is a search engine - so use it like one!

Search queries that find affiliate-ready creators:

• "[product category] review" — e.g., "standing desk review"
• "[niche] best [product type] 2026" — e.g., "best CRM software 2026"
• "honest review [product category]"
• "[niche] top picks" — comparison/roundup creators ("tier list" also works really well in some niches like video games, and skincare)
• "[product type] comparison" — head-to-head review content

Once you've got search results, use YouTube's filters:

• Upload date → This month/This year — for really recent reviews and active creators
• Sort by view count — finds content that's actually getting traction

You can also use these filters in AffiliateFinder to find the YouTubers who have posted in the exact date range, and with the right view count, for your campaign.

The sweet spot:

YouTubers with 10K to 200K subs, getting 1K-100K views are perfect targets.

They're active enough to drive real traffic, responsive to outreach (unlike mega-creators who ignore cold emails or ask for $20,000 to get started), and more likely to do affiliate deals if you don't have the budget for sponsorships.

(HOWEVER: It IS difficult to do affiliate-only deals with YouTubers generally. Most ask for a sponsorship. It takes a lot of time to create a good-quality YouTube video. And especially if you're not a well-known brand yet that can prove how well you convert, a hybrid approach of up-front sponsorship plus affiliate is a good approach to test with them.)

For each promising creator, open their last 3-5 videos and scan the descriptions.

If you see affiliate links, discount codes, or Amazon Associates URLs, that creator is already monetizing their content. They understand the affiliate model and are far more likely to say yes to your program.

This method works well for small-scale discovery, but it doesn't scale. If you need to find 50–200+ YouTuber affiliates across your niche, use AffiliateFinder to automate this process.

Again, if you're an AffiliateFinder user, we also do all this for you. We're listening for YouTubers creating this type of content 24/7, and keep filling your influencer pipeline with these creators, and their email addresses so you can contact them.

4. Use Google to Find YouTube Affiliates

Here's a technique most affiliate managers don't think of: use Google to find YouTube content.

Google indexes YouTube videos, which means you can use Google's advanced search operators to surface YouTube affiliate content that YouTube's own search algorithm might bury.

Search queries to try:

• site:youtube.com "[your niche] affiliate" — finds videos with "affiliate" in the title or description
• site:youtube.com "[your niche]" "discount code" — surfaces creators using discount codes
• site:youtube.com "[your niche]" "use my link" — finds creators with referral language

Bonus method: Search Google for "[your niche] best YouTube channels" or "top [niche] YouTubers." Blog roundup posts often list exactly the creators you want - and someone else has already done the curation work for you!

You can also set up ongoing monitoring with Google Alerts:

1. Go to google.com/alerts
2. Create alerts for: your brand name + "YouTube", your competitors' names + "review", and your product category + "YouTube affiliate"
3. Set delivery to "as it happens" or "once a day"

5. Reverse-Engineer YouTube Backlinks Using an SEO Tool

This is actually very underrated for discovering YouTube affiliate links. But you'll need an active subscription to a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush, which cost around $150/month. But if you already have a subscription then this works well.

Basically, you go to your competitor's domain, for example in Ahrefs' Site Explorer, and go to all their referring links pointing to them.

Then, filter for ONLY the links coming from youtube.com.

This isolates all the YouTube content pointing to their competitors' website - including all the affiliate links. For example, here's the 1,039 YouTube videos linking to Semrush, by filtering Ahrefs for the links from YouTube pointing to their website:

Often this can surface videos and YouTubers that you wouldn't yet have found from the other keyword and competitor search methods.

It's a more advanced tactic, but can work really well. It doesn't filter out very old (5+ years) links, so you'll have to prune this list a bit first. But it's a great tactic.

Also: yes, we already do this for you in AffiliateFinder, and our prices start at $69/month so it's cheaper than using a standalone SEO tool like Ahrefs if you don't already have a subscription. We already pull all the backlinks from all websites with referral codes to your competitors, including the YouTubers.

6. Tap Into Communities, Forums, and Social Media

Sometimes the best way to find YouTuber affiliates is to go where they hang out.

Reddit:

• r/affiliatemarketing — active community of affiliates sharing tips and looking for programs
• r/youtubers — YouTube creators discussing growth, monetization, and partnerships
• r/juststart — affiliate marketers building niche sites and channels from scratch

Facebook Groups: Search for "affiliate marketing" and "YouTube creator" groups. Many have thousands of active members, and you'll find creators openly asking for programs to join.

LinkedIn: For B2B and SaaS affiliate recruitment, LinkedIn is underrated. I personally see a lot of YouTubers I've worked with for different clients over the years still actively posting on Linkedin, and it's underrated for doing deals.

Search for "YouTube content creator" + your niche. Many professional creators list their YouTube channel on their profile. LinkedIn outreach also tends to get higher response rates than cold email for B2B niches.

Affiliate Conferences: Events like Affiliate Summit (US), PI LIVE (UK/EU), and Affiliate World put you in the same room as hundreds of active affiliates, including YouTube creators. Affiliate World is a bit more paid ads focused though from my experience - so it depends if you're looking for just organic YouTuber affiliates, or paid affiliates.

Mistakes to Avoid When Recruiting YouTube Affiliates

Finding YouTuber affiliates is one thing. Actually recruiting them is what drives you revenue and brand growth.

Here are the mistakes to avoid when finding the right YouTubers to recruit as affiliate partners:

1 - Chasing subscriber count over engagement

A 10K subscriber channel where every video gets 5K views and dozens of comments will outperform a 500K subscriber channel where videos get 2K views and zero engagement.

(And, they'll probably be cheaper to work with.)

And it's not just view count: working with YouTubers with close relationships with their audience, and who actually have the right audience that would be interested in your products, is the most important thing.

These smaller, niche YouTubers often have more "Superfans" - those hardcore fans who watch every video and respect and listen to every recommendation they make.

2 - Sending generic outreach emails

If you send an email like: "Hi, we'd love to partner with you on an exciting opportunity!"

…congratulations, that email just got deleted along with the other 50+ slop emails that creator received this week.

The key is to show you've done your research, be very clear on why they're a great fit for your specific brand, what you can offer them (what's in it for them?!), and how you'd work together.

We use our RWOR framework to create emails that get responses, and you can use it:

• R – Reason you're reaching out (and how you found them, be specific) - Ideally even cite specific quotes or references from their content that you particularly liked, to build the connection
• W – Why you should work together (why you're worth it, with social proof) - Why are you such a good fit, what specifically in their content / funnel is perfect for you to work on? And why is your brand good for them: what celebrities use it, influential brands that are customers, etc.
• O – Offer - what can you offer them to make it a no-brainer? - Your EPC data, proof of high-performing affiliates earning $XXX per month, and anything else like spotlight in their content, content collaborations that get them more views, or anything else.
• R – Reply-bait - make it as low-friction as possible to reply to you, to get the deal started - "Let me know which email you want me to set up your free account on and I'll get it sorted"

If you don't want to learn and memorise this entire framework, then don't worry. We trained our AI on this framework (and over 1M+ outreach emails we've sent over 7 years), so you can instantly send these excellent outreach emails tailored for your brand and the YouTube partners you want to work with.

All you have to do is sign up to AffiliateFinder.ai, connect your email account, and click "Generate Email".

Our AI deep-dives the YouTuber's content before writing the email, and the emails sound like you've spent hours going through all their content - they're very detailed, and even reference specific things they've said in specific videos.

I know this sounds a bit too good to be true. So, give it a spin for yourself: we have a 7-day free trial.

3 - Offering only commission with no upfront value

Top creators get pitched constantly. If all you're offering is "10% commission," you're competing with dozens of other programs offering the same thing.

Stand out by offering: free product, exclusive discount codes for their audience, early access to new features, co-created content, or higher introductory commission rates.

And, if you have budget, this makes things a lot easier. Most YouTubers work with upfront sponsorships and then affiliate on the backend.

If you do a first partnership and the video performs really well on the affiliate side, then they'll often be OK doing just affiliate commissions for future content.

But the key is to de-risk them for the first sponsorship so they have these guaranteed earnings for the first one. This helps them - and then when it works, you can proceed from there and scale!

4 - Not having an onboarding process ready

Nothing kills a new affiliate's momentum faster than signing up and then... silence.

Have your welcome email, affiliate dashboard, creative assets, and product info ready before you start recruiting.

I recommend a 4-6 email sequence that introduces them to your brand, helps them with the exact hooks and styles of content that have performed well (SPECIFICALLY ON YOUTUBE), your exact ICP and how to talk their language, and anything else that can help them convert best.

How to Evaluate Whether a YouTuber Is Worth Recruiting

Not every YouTuber is worth recruiting. Before you spend time on outreach, run each prospect through this quick evaluation.

Metrics that actually matter:

• Views per video (not subscribers) — A channel with 5K subscribers and 3K views per video is more valuable than one with 50K subscribers and 500 views per video
• Engagement rate — Look at likes, comments, and the quality of comments. Is it real, engaged people, or bots or low-quality customers.
• Upload frequency — Active channels (at least 2-4 videos per month) are more likely to make more content in the future promoting you.
• Do they actively promote brands in your space with an affiliate link – If you're looking for affiliates specifically, and not influencers, then this is the key metric

I spoke to well-known affiliate manager Martyn Slack while planning this article, and he agreed with this. He specifically said:

"Don't just focus on YouTube channels with big subscribers. Subscriber count doesn't really matter, its all about the views and the engagement. Someone with low subscribers can still pull in high numbers when it comes to views."

He also gave me another great tip for any affiliate manager wanting to recruit YouTubers to join their affiliate program:

"Learn atleast the basics of being a YouTuber. Find out what works or what doesn't work when it comes to thumbnails, titles and the overall packaging of videos. Learn about hooks and retention.

Sharing these tips with potential YouTube affiliates is a great way of building trust and increases the chance of them joining as an affiliate."

This is great advice: if you have been in their position, you'll understand them better, and be able to help them more. If you've gone through the process of creating content (ideally as an affiliate yourself!), you'll know best how to equip the affiliates you're managing with what they need to be successful.

This is why so many of the top affiliate managers have been affiliates themselves previously - and why keeping active keeps you on the cutting-edge for managing affiliates, too.

FAQs

How many YouTube affiliates do I need to see results?

You do not need 1,000 partners: 10 engaged YouTubers can already transform your business. This is why I always say start small, and pick your top 10-30 channels, and then go all-in on building deep partnerships with them. If they don't work, then go broader - and then measure which send the most conversions, and scale your recruitment based on finding more people like them.

Should I recruit big YouTubers or micro-creators?

Both have their place, but micro-creators (1K-50K subscribers) typically deliver better ROI for affiliate programs. They have higher engagement rates, more responsive audiences, and are more willing to work on commission-only deals. Save the big names for when you have a proven program and bigger budgets for hybrid deals.

How much commission should I offer YouTube affiliates?

Honestly, this really depends on your industry. To benchmark: look at the commission rates and structures that your competitors offer, and see if you can offer slightly higher.

If you're a newer brand, you may have to go higher since you don't have the brand recognition. Especially if you haven't locked in your conversion funnel yet, as if you don't convert well, no amount of commissions will help you.

Everything links back to your EPC - or "Earnings Per Click" - which is your AOV, multiplied by your conversion rate, multiplied by your commission rate. You need to lock in all three metrics to grow a massive affiliate program.

What's the best way to contact YouTubers for affiliate partnerships?

YouTubers are best to email. You can use AffiliateFinder to get their emails instantly, or if you want to do it slower, you can click the "About" section in their channel, complete a Captcha, and wait a few minutes. Whichever method you use, personalize every email. Reference a specific video, explain why your product fits their audience, and lead with value. Our RWOR framework for outreaching affiliates helps with this.

How long does it take to build a successful affiliate program via YouTubers?

The deal-making and onboarding process will be slower than you think. You need to find them, reach out to them, hook them, negotiate the deal, onboard, and activate them. Deals often take a month in total in back-and-forths to get done - so don't expect to see huge results within the first 1-2 months. At the 3-6 month point you'll have a stable of reliable partners creating videos and sending sales.

Can I find YouTube affiliates for free?

Yes. You can search your competitors, and your main keywords, on YouTube to find YouTuber affiliates. But, it just takes longer. If your time is worth more than $69/month, AffiliateFinder (Method 1) pays for itself after finding just one quality affiliate.

Start Finding YouTuber Affiliates Today

You now have all the proven methods to find YouTuber affiliates: from manual techniques you can start in the next 5 minutes to automated tools that surface hundreds of creators in your niche.

The fastest path?

We built AffiliateFinder because we were tired of spending 15–20 hours a week doing this manually. After 7+ years in affiliate recruitment, we turned everything we learned into a tool that scans YouTube, Google, TikTok, and Instagram, finds verified emails for 90%+ of creators, and lets you manage your entire outreach pipeline from one dashboard.

Start your 7-day free trial at AffiliateFinder.ai →