How to Make Shoppable TV Work

Last year, Peacock gave viewers of the Bravo reality show “Below Deck” a reason to pay attention when the commercials came on-screen.

For the first time, the NBC Universal-owned streaming service launched an in-show shopping feature, where, during the ad breaks, a QR code would appear on-screen. Those who scanned it would be taken to a page on Walmart.com featuring a curated assortment of products inspired by the outfits on-screen.

It was a hit, with 379 percent higher engagement than regular ads, according to NBCU Global CMO Josh Feldman; Peacock has since rolled it out to six shows, including “Southern Charm” and “Summer House.” NBC Universal is planning to add more shopping features to its programming, including a makeup detection tool (in partnership with a yet-to-be-revealed cosmetics brand) that will identify makeup shades worn on-screen and match them to specific products.

Product placement in TV and film has long been an effective tactic for getting more eyes on fashion and beauty brands, but actually getting consumers to buy the items they see on-screen (and tracking those purchases) has historically been trickier. Nowadays, though, there are more ways to buy the clothes you see on TV. Streamers like Peacock, Prime Video, Hulu and Netflix are using retail media providers such as Shopsense AI and Kerv, which powers Peacock’s “shop the look” feature, that use AI to make videos shoppable by surfacing items worn on-screen (or similar products), whether it’s by QR code, image-scanning technology or just a product widget that pops up when the screen is paused.

As brands and streamers invest further in these programs, they must balance making it simple for viewers to shop without making the whole thing feel like a never-ending ad.

There’s real incentive to get it right. According to market research company Emarketer, consumers spend an average of $290 on products seen on TV annually; that number only stands to go up if it’s as simple for consumers to find and purchase the products they see on TV as it is to buy the garments they scroll past on TikTok or Instagram.

“The big screens are trying to catch up to the little screens,” said Brad Quinn, SVP of publisher partnerships for Kerv. The real question is “how do we get people to actually buy things? We don’t want to interrupt a viewer’s content.”

When It Works to Make TV Shoppable

Streamers are increasingly embracing shoppable TV — but are still determining what content is best suited to these sorts of features.

Putting shoppable features in a drama where viewers are on the edge of their seats, for example, could prove to be too much of a distraction. Reality series and live events, on the other hand, offer key moments for shopping inspiration without interruption. During the recent livestream of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show earlier this month, for instance, viewers were fed cues to open their Amazon app to shop the show as part of an effort to make the show more “accessible,” said Sarah Sylvester, EVP of marketing at Victoria’s Secret.

Red carpets, too, can be a good fit, even if providing an exact link to a custom designer gown isn’t possible.

“You’re never going to find a one-off outfit that someone’s wearing on the red carpet to the VMAs like Taylor Swift, but we were able to surface additional items,’” said Bryan Quinn, president and co-founder of Shopsense.

It also helps when fashion is already a part of the conversation around a show, like “Sex and the City” or “Emily in Paris.” For the fourth season of the latter, which premiered this summer, Netflix launched a partnership with Google Lens that allowed viewers to use image-based search to find links to shop characters’ exact outfits (or if unavailable, similar items). Kerv’s Quinn pointed to a recent partnership with Peacock’s “Bel-Air” as another example.

“[’Bel-Air’] is produced beautifully, there’s nice furniture, the outfits are beautiful, the earrings, the accessories, everything looks great,” he said. “That show just lends itself to [wanting] to find out more.”

For shows where shoppable content isn’t the best fit, there are other options. Hulu, for example, teamed up with Free People to create a collection tied to the second season of its hit show “Tell Me Lies,” with several of the items worn by characters on-screen, like the lace-trimmed “Better Not” cami and the sheer “Lady Lux” layering top. While it wasn’t shoppable, the launch was a success: Conversion for the collection was 22 percent higher than the average product page, according to Free People. Hulu promoted the partnership on TikTok and Instagram, and the retailer, in turn, drove awareness for the show, highlighting the collection on their homepage, in email marketing and stores.

“You have these moments when your content is in the zeitgeist and your fans are naturally engaging,” said Adia Matthews, vice president of brand partnerships and synergy at Hulu. “It became a moment to say, ‘Okay, how do we collaborate together and find this opportunity to drive conversion or to be a part of this conversation?’”

Adjusting to the Learning Curve

If adding “shop the look” features detracts from — rather than enhances — the viewing experience, then it’s likely doing more harm than good.

Streamers should make the experience as easy as possible for consumers, such as making it possible to bookmark items for later (if they’re not ready to shop at the exact moment an item appears on-screen) and allowing shoppers to pre-save payment details for faster check out. Shopsense also connects retailers’ inventory with streaming partners’ websites and apps, said CEO and co-founder Glenn Fishback, so viewers won’t be directed to out-of-stock products.

They also have to get consumers in the habit of shopping while watching and should tell viewers that items are shoppable — whether with a QR code, URL, ad break or social post. The Warner Bros. Discovery platform Max, set to launch the first of its shoppable ad campaigns in early to mid December, will alert viewers before a show or film starts that the forthcoming content will be shoppable. During ad breaks, it will include shoppable carousels with products related to the show, and occasionally, pause ads to offer a second screen shopping experience.

“The core focus of what we’re trying to do is that everything is optimised towards the content that the viewer just watched,” said Derek Gatts, vice president of ad products at Warner Bros. Discovery.

In the meantime, Gatts said that sometimes it’s best just to direct someone straight to a brand’s website, since that’s where they are already accustomed to doing their shopping.

Shoppable content is only the beginning. Google, for instance, doubled down the “Emily in Paris” partnership, running ads starring Lily Collins to drive awareness of the Google Lens feature, serving as the series’ title sponsor and hosting an activation at a pop-up in LA for the new season’s premiere where visitors could scan iconic looks from the show using Lens for the chance to win a trip to Paris.

Going forward, brands and streamers alike will have to experiment to determine what strategy works best, which may differ depending on the show or tech in question.

“Everybody’s still in that learning phase before there’s an industry norm,” said Kerv’s Quinn.