Analyze YouTube Affiliate Performance (Alpha)

You can retrieve key performance metrics for your products participating in the YouTube Affiliate Program using the Reports API. This guide explains how to query YouTube-specific affiliate data, such as sales, commissions, orders, views, and clicks, attributed to different creators, video content, and individual products.

You can use MCQL to select metrics and dimensions from dedicated YouTube Affiliate "views," which function like tables in your queries.

Prerequisites

Before using this guide, ensure that:

Query the alpha endpoint

Note that given this is in public alpha, the endpoint differs. To retrieve YouTube Affiliate performance data, you need to send the POST request to the v1alpha endpoint. Here's a sample request:

HTTP

POST https://merchantapi.googleapis.com/reports/v1alpha/accounts/{ACCOUNT_ID}/reports:search

cURL

  curl -X POST \
  'https://merchantapi.googleapis.com/reports/v1alpha/accounts/{ACCOUNT_ID}/reports:search?key=[YOUR_API_KEY]' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer [YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN]' \
  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
  --compressed

See performance by creator

To understand which YouTube creators are driving the most engagement and sales, you can query the youtube_creator_performance_view. This view aggregates metrics by individual YouTube creators and includes creator titles and channel IDs.

Here is an MCQL SELECT statement example you can use to get the top 3 performing creators by sales between May 1st and May 2nd, 2025.

SELECT
  title,
  channel_id,
  sales,
  commissions,
  orders,
  clicks,
  views
FROM youtube_creator_performance_view
WHERE date BETWEEN '2025-05-01' AND '2025-05-02'
ORDER BY sales DESC LIMIT 3

This query fetches the creator title, channel ID, and key performance metrics for the top 3 creators ranked by the sales metric within the specified date range.

See performance by content

To see which specific YouTube videos are performing best, you can query the youtube_content_performance_view. This view aggregates metrics by individual YouTube videos and includes video titles and IDs.

Here is an MCQL SELECT statement example you can use to get the top 3 videos by views between May 1st and May 2nd, 2025.

SELECT
  title,
  video_id,
  views,
  clicks,
  sales
FROM youtube_content_performance_view
WHERE date BETWEEN '2025-05-01' AND '2025-05-02'
ORDER BY views DESC LIMIT 3

This query retrieves the video title, video ID, and key metrics for the top 3 videos ranked by the total number of views in the specified date range.

See performance by product

To analyze the performance of individual products within the YouTube Affiliate Program, you can query the youtube_product_performance_view. This view aggregates metrics by product and includes product titles and offer IDs.

Here is an MCQL SELECT statement example you can use to find the top 3 products by sales amount between May 1st and May 2nd, 2025:

SELECT
  title,
  offer_id,
  sales,
  commissions,
  orders,
  clicks
FROM youtube_product_performance_view
WHERE date BETWEEN '2025-05-01' AND '2025-05-02'
ORDER BY sales DESC LIMIT 3

This query returns the product title, offer ID, and performance metrics for the top 3 products, ordered by the sales metric, during the specified period.

Important considerations

  • Dates: Always filter your queries by date using WHERE clauses to specify the reporting period. Dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format.
  • Latency: The latency of queries will depend on the volume of data requested. Large queries will take longer and may cause timeouts.