Retailers experiment with shoppable TV as consumers warm to the format

The insight: Shoppable ads are taking over TV as retailers look for ways to reach consumers and shorten the path between discovery and purchase.

• Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)’s new “Shop with Max” ad solution uses AI to identify items within films and TV shows and find similar products in an advertisers’ catalog. Viewers can navigate to those products by scanning a QR code, allowing them to shop without interrupting the viewing experience.
• Kroger’s holiday campaign includes a “Shop the Scene” experience on Hulu where customers in select geographies can scan an on-screen QR code to shop recipes inspired by “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
• The CW Network partnered with Shopsense AI to make its weekly coverage of ACC college football games shoppable. It plans to expand the capability to other live sports, scripted content, and unscripted shows.
• Shoppable ads will also be front-and-center during Amazon’s coverage of the Black Friday NFL game.

By the numbers: TV is a potent tool for product discovery.

• Nearly two-thirds (63%) of consumers find new brands or products through TV content, per an EMARKETER survey conducted with Shopsense AI.
• Over half (50.8%) of consumers have spent between $100 and $499 on TV-inspired purchases over the past 12 months.
• And 40.3% plan to increase their TV-inspired spending over the next year, while roughly one-third (32.8%) expect to spend the same amount.
• There will be 76.4 million shoppable media buyers in the US this year, up 5.5% from 2023; we expect that number to grow 4% next year to 79.5 million.

Growing pains: While shoppable ads are a lucrative opportunity for media companies and retailers alike, companies are trying to determine the best way to implement them without disrupting the viewer experience or creating too much friction.

• QR codes have boosted ad engagement for Peacock and Amazon because consumers are familiar with the technology. They also let companies take advantage of pervasive second-screening behaviors.
• But Roku found that engagement was more than 10 times higher when users were prompted to use their remotes rather than scan a QR code, the company’s director of ad innovation, Peter Hamilton, told Marketing Brew, because people are more comfortable with using their remotes to interact with their TVs.

Brands and streamers are also figuring out what types of content are most conducive to purchases. Shows and live events where fashion features heavily—like "Emily in Paris" or the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show—are obvious targets, along with reality TV shows. But viewers may be less inclined to pause an engrossing drama, no matter how much they covet a character’s outfit or home décor.

Our take: The biggest challenge that retailers and media companies face is getting viewers to become accustomed to the act of shopping from their TVs.

• WBD is trying to overcome that hump by letting watchers know ahead of time that their content will be shoppable and by using contextual targeting tools to deliver relevant ads.
• Amazon, meanwhile, is relying on formats like shoppable carousels and a seamless checkout process to encourage sales, which has worked for partners like Duracell.
• NBCU’s strategy includes taking advantage of behaviors like ordering food or beverages when consuming content—to drive conversions.

This article is part of EMARKETER’s client-only subscription Briefings—daily newsletters authored by industry analysts who are experts in marketing, advertising, media, and tech trends. To help you finish 2024 strong, and start 2025 off on the right foot, articles like this one—delivering the latest news and insights—are completely free through January 31, 2025. If you want to learn how to get insights like these delivered to your inbox every day, and get access to our data-driven forecasts, reports, and industry benchmarks, schedule a demo with our sales team.