Instagram adds Reels affiliate tools

Instagram has started rolling out affiliate product tagging in Reels, giving creators in India a built-in way to earn commissions from sales. (affiversemedia.com) The new Reels flow lets creators add products before posting, either by pasting a product Uniform Resource Locator or by selecting items from a brand’s Meta commerce catalog. Instagram allows up to 30 products in a single Reel. (buzzincontent.com) (retaildive.com) Meta is rolling the feature out in 22 countries this spring, and recent coverage says India is among the first live markets alongside the United States, Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand. Shopify Collabs is one of the affiliate systems that can plug into the new setup. (homenewsnow.com) (affiversemedia.com) (collabs.shopify.com) The change moves shopping closer to the video itself. Instead of sending viewers to a profile page or a “link in bio,” creators can attach the product to the Reel where the recommendation happens. (retaildive.com) (joinbrands.com) That fits the way India’s creator economy has been developing. Boston Consulting Group said in a May 2025 report that India had 2 million to 2.5 million monetized creators influencing $350 billion to $400 billion in consumer spending. (bcg.com) Boston Consulting Group also said only 8% to 10% of those 2 million to 2.5 million creators were monetizing at the time, leaving a large gap between audience reach and actual income. A built-in affiliate tool gives smaller creators another revenue option beyond flat-fee brand deals. (web-assets.bcg.com) The commerce backdrop is large enough for Meta to chase. The India Brand Equity Foundation says India’s e-commerce market is expected to reach $163 billion by 2026, while its 2024 sector infographic projected social commerce at $37 billion by 2025. (ibef.org 1) (ibef.org 2) Meta has been building the brand side of this system for more than a year. In February 2024, the company expanded Instagram’s Creator Marketplace to more countries and added recommendation tools to help brands find creators for campaigns. (about.fb.com) The new Reels tags do not mean Instagram is handling every checkout itself. Recent trade coverage says many purchases still route to a merchant’s own checkout, including Shopify stores, even as Meta keeps the product discovery inside the app. (joinbrands.com) (ecommercefastlane.com) For Indian creators, the practical shift is simple: a Reel can now function as both a recommendation and a tracked sales link, with commission terms set by the brand and the affiliate platform behind it. (buzzincontent.com) (shopify.com)