YouTube to launch its 1st-ever official shopping channel this month

Google-owned YouTube will launch its official shopping channel in South Korea for live commerce later this month for the first time in the world, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The new channel, set to open on June 30, will provide a live commerce platform to companies and plans to livestream shopping content with about 30 brands at launch, according to the people.

This is the first time YouTube is opening an official shopping channel in any country in the world.

"YouTube is committed to building an engaging, informative and entertaining shopping experience for all users, including in Korea. To do this, we may experiment with a variety of YouTube Shopping features from time to time as we continue to work hard to optimize and deliver the best experience for our users," a YouTube official told Yonhap News Agency, without providing details.