Connected TV platforms revolutionized how people consume content while opening new opportunities for marketers to reach their target audiences. With targeting and measurement capabilities generally exceeding linear TV, CTV gives marketers a better view and control of their TV ad spend. Yet there’s still one untapped goldmine for retail media – shoppable TV. A blend of entertainment and e-commerce, Shoppable TV enhances viewer engagement on connected TVs, shortening the path to purchase for viewers and offering new revenue streams for brands and retailers.

What is Shoppable TV?

By using tools like QR codes to integrate directly into the viewing experience, shoppable TV ads seamlessly transform viewers into customers.

Several leading brands and retailers are already turning to CTV and unlocking the potential of shoppable TV ad campaigns, with data uncovering a rise in consumer engagement.

How Brands are Using Shoppable TV To Drive Consumer Engagement and Convert Leads

As brands increasingly recognize the potential of shoppable TV to revolutionize consumer engagement, several industry leaders have embarked on innovative campaigns to harness this newfound power. Walmart, Home Depot, and Amazon stand out as pioneers in this realm, each employing unique strategies to transform traditional TV viewing into dynamic, interactive shopping experiences.

Walmart is one the largest retail pioneers in shoppable TV ads and recently partnered with NBCUniversal on Bravo’s “Below Deck Mediterranean” to offer Peacock viewers the option to shop products on Walmart.com used or inspired by the cast. Consumers can use a combination of navigating with a remote to browse interactive product carousels and then scan a QR code to checkout.

Home Depot, another retail giant, worked with Visio to create a holiday-themed content series, inspiring viewers with shoppable TV ads and driving home decoration purchases through QR codes. According to Visio, the campaign achieved a higher click-through rate (CTR) than other homescreen hero content.

Riding the successful momentum of Coinbase’s QR-code-integrated Super Bowl ad, Amazon launched another watershed moment for shoppable TV ads with the first-ever Black Friday NFL game. Nearly every ad during the game included a shoppable component and QR code call to action. Bose even used Amazon’s plethora of shopping data to target different audience segments and personalize the ads based on their prime status, showcasing the personalization capabilities of shoppable ads on CTV.

Additionally, a recent Samsung Ads survey further validated the growth of shoppable TV. The survey found that 50% of viewers interacted with a QR code-enabled ad and a further 80% purchased directly from these ads. Along with 55% of viewers remembering seeing a shoppable ad, this highlights the growing consumer acceptance of the new ad format.

These campaigns not only showcase the effectiveness of shoppable TV ads but also point to how it can transform the programmatic CTV landscape by blending data-driven insights and customization with direct consumer engagement.

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Current Challenges of Shoppable TV

While some brands are finding success with shoppable ads, there’s still room for improvement. Shoppable TV ads, as they continue to evolve, currently face three major challenges.

1. Non-disruptive viewer experience

First, shoppable TV ads must ensure a non-disruptive viewer experience. We, as marketers, must carefully consider the balance between the engaging potential of shoppable TV ads and the content they’re featured in. Misguided placements risk viewer annoyance or distraction, while potentially forming negative brand perceptions.

As a starting point, brands and marketers can stick with the traditional 15-30 second ad slots while taking advantage of connected TVs’ capabilities, by implementing a QR code or direct purchase through the TV remote.

2. Content and product relevancy

The second challenge is that maintaining content and product relevancy is critical. For shoppable ads to remain effective and authentic, it’s paramount that they align with the viewing context. For example, advertising camping gear during an outdoor survival show resonates more with viewers than unrelated kitchen equipment. Brands and marketers can use the data gathered by CTVs to effectively align content and product relevancy.

3. Device compatibility

Lastly, universal device compatibility remains a roadblock. While capabilities can differ greatly between CTV models, advertisers require a one-size-fits-all solution. QR codes can not only overcome these compatibility issues but also provide a familiar purchase experience for viewers who are used to phone transactions. Ultimately, more native platform capabilities may prove even more powerful though scalability and standardization will be a challenge.

Future Opportunities of Shoppable TV for Brands and Marketers

The good news is that these challenges pave the way for future innovation in shoppable TV. From AI to video shopping galleries, here are a few potential ways shoppable TV will evolve.

1. AI integration to personalize ads

The growth of AI can naturally extend to CTV and shoppable ads, providing unrivaled personalization. AI can tailor shoppable ads with granular precision by analyzing viewers’ previous shopping behaviors and content preferences. For example, as viewers are watching their favorite reality TV shows, they’re shown shoppable ads for fashion items that match their style preferences. Additionally, AI can personalize call-to-actions to further improve viewer engagement and conversion rates.

2. Streamlining path to purchase

CTV’s lack of rich interactive capability is a handicap.  QR codes are a great lowest-common-denominator solution, but we can expect more innovation here. CTV platforms storing user shipping and payment data in a secure way, using push notifications to mobile apps, or other new paradigms can help streamline the interest-to-purchase path for CTV viewers.

3. Interactive experiences

Interactive experiences in shoppable TV ads can greatly increase viewer engagement. Keeping viewers active with interactive elements like quizzes or polls during ad breaks and offering discounts or other incentives can keep viewers engaged and help form deeper brand connections.

4. Video shopping galleries

Lastly, shoppable TV ads can inherit the success of carousel ads on web and social media. By capitalizing on connected TVs capabilities, we can create interactive and dynamic shopping video galleries, allowing viewers to learn more about products within a line by simply using their remote the same way they would browse for content.

These innovative potential solutions can not only improve the viewing and shopping experience but also bring forth a new era of shoppable TV ads that are more interactive and highly personalized while overcoming the challenges that marketers are currently facing. The brands and retailers that are experimenting with shoppable TV ads are seeing the results – shoppable TV is redefining the future of brand engagement, and there’s no doubt that we’ll see more growth and investments in shoppable TV in the years to come.

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