Amazon’s Creator Connections: 50,000 Brands Now Open to Indian Creators

Digital platforms in India are scrambling to give creators more ways to earn beyond the classic brand‑sponsorship model. After travel sites MakeMyTrip and Cleartrip rolled out creator‑centric schemes earlier this year, Amazon has jumped on the bandwagon with its own programme called Creator Connections.

Launched on a Tuesday just before the Amazon Great Indian Festival, Creator Connections is essentially a marketplace where creators can browse brand campaigns directly from their Amazon creator dashboard. The initial roll‑out features 50,000 brands and about 5,000 creators, with plans to open the doors to the broader ecosystem of roughly 165,000 creators on the platform.

How does it work? Brands set a budget for each campaign, and creators earn money each time a user clicks on their content – a cost‑per‑click (CPC) model. That’s on top of the regular affiliate commissions they already collect when a purchase is completed. In practice, a beauty vlogger might promote a new lipstick, see clicks roll in, and still collect a slice of the sale if the viewer decides to buy.

The timing is intentional. Historically, creator‑driven sales on Amazon spike about five‑fold during the festive shopping season, so Amazon is testing the programme when both traffic and spending are at their peak. The company says creator‑led discovery has already helped sell more than 6 crore products on Amazon.in this year, and roughly 70 % of those purchases come from non‑metro cities, underscoring the rising clout of regional creators.

"The launch of Creator Connections ahead of the Great Indian Festival is incredible for creators who do a lot of organic content," says beauty and lifestyle influencer Scherezade Shroff. "It lets us earn from sales driven by our content and talk about products we genuinely love."

Amazon isn’t alone in this shift. Earlier in the year, MakeMyTrip expanded its affiliate programme to turn travel creators into booking partners, while Cleartrip recruited influencers to recommend trips, hoping that trusted voices would translate into actual bookings. The common thread? A move from one‑off sponsorships to performance‑based models that reward clicks, discoveries and sales.

For many nano and micro creators, the payoff may not immediately match the six‑figure deals landed by top‑tier influencers. Still, the addition of CPC earnings and affiliate commissions creates a more steady, diversified revenue stream – a welcome change in an economy where most creators still earn irregularly.

"Brand deals were the primary monetisation route six years ago," notes Nidhi Thakkar, Head of Social Commerce – Emerging Countries at Amazon. "Today, creators are looking for multiple income streams. Affiliate‑first and mid‑size creators are likely to be early adopters because they already know how to drive product discovery through content."

Categories such as beauty, parenting, tech, home improvement and fitness appear to be the early adopters, given their creators’ knack for influencing purchase decisions more effectively than mass‑market celebrity ads. If the festive season proves successful, we could see the CPC model expand well beyond the initial 50,000 brands, further embedding creators into the Amazon shopping journey.