Amazon is making more content on Prime Video shoppable, expanding its second-screen mobile “Shop the Show” experience to more than 1,300 titles in the US.
Amazon announced the move Wednesday, which it said was created with fan and viewer behavior in mind, allowing users to browse and shop products related to the program they’re watching on Prime Video by searching “Shop the Show” on the Amazon Shopping app.
Prime Video’s implementation is different from on-screen shoppable TV content as it doesn’t include any prompts or interactive features on the TV screen – such as rotating product carousels, QR codes or other mechanisms that have been used for shoppable TV and T-commerce. Instead, Amazon has integrated hubs featuring products inspired by original and licensed content found on Prime Video within its massive online shopping platform.
Amazon is pitching this both as a non-disruptive way to shop items inspired by TV shows and films while simultaneously watching, as well as aligning with consumer behavior where most tend to multi-task and use a mobile device as they consume TV content – while also showing interest in products seen on screen.
The so-called Shop the Show feature is available today across both select licensed and original TV shows and films on Prime Video, including Barbie, The Boys, Fallout, Mean Girls, PAW Patrol, Star Wars and The Summer I Turned Pretty, as well as live sports, like NFL, National Women’s Soccer League, NASCAR.
By way of example, searching “Shop the Show” for the film Wicked on the Amazon Shopping app pulls up a wide array of results like branded board games, T-shirts, sleep masks, wands and other title-specific merchandise, while a shop hub for unscripted title America’s Test Kitchen features roughly a dozen product results for kitchen appliances and tools. For content like sports, users can shop by the sport itself or by specific live events. NASCAR for example, users can “shop” the NASCAR Texas Practice & Qualifying race taking place May 3 and filter by drivers participating in that race to get product results for fan-specific gear (as well as a clickable icon to port users over to the sports programming itself in the Prime Video mobile app).
“At Prime Video we’re always looking for ways to invent, simplify and enhance our customers’ experience,” said Michelle Rothman, VP of Shopping for Prime Video, in a statement. “The magic of Shop the Show is its ability to allow customers to shop products related to what they’re watching without impacting their viewing experience.”
In announcing the expansion, Amazon cited consumer survey findings from market research firm Russell Research supporting the notion that consumers are interested and making purchases based on items they’ve seen in TV content.
Here are the stats Prime Video called out:
- 94% of adults have browsed, shopped, or made a purchase inspired by something they watched on TV.
- 89% of viewers who are inspired to shop begin their search the same day—often immediately after watching.
- 81% of target adults have made a purchase inspired by what they watched; this includes clothing, the most common category.
- 76% agree they’d be more likely to purchase if it were easier to find products featured on TV or in movies.
Research from others also supports the trend of viewers seeking out products from TV content and the consumer behavior of typically engaging with a second-screen like a mobile phone while watching TV.
LG Ad Solutions earlier this year released a CTV report that found a whopping 95% of CTV viewers multitask while watching TV – with more than a quarter saying they always multi-task while watching TV, up 8% yoy. And as they multi-task, 44% said they’re shopping online.
Additionally beyond products in content on streaming, it showed that among LG TV users, many take action after seeing streaming TV ads, including searching for a product (39%), visiting a website (38%), buying an item (21%), and discussing a product with family or friends (20%).
Shoppable TV is something several streamers have taken interest in and are exploring in various ways.
Some are making ads and content on streaming more shoppable with interactivity that comes with new formats and tech, like that from KERV Interactive or rotating retail product carousels among other formats from BrightLine.
NBCUniversal is one of the companies working shoppability into programming itself. The Comcast-owned company’s Peacock SVOD previously injected shoppable elements into select episodes of series from Bravo, including an earlier pilot with Walmart. Then there are some like free streamer Tastemade, which has delivered a second-screen mobile shopping experience for viewers to browse and purchase products from its original titles in partnership with Shopsense AI. Paramount Global and TelevisaUnivsion have also tapped Shopsense AI to help power shoppable experiences from programming via second-screen mobile storefronts.
Still, with its massive e-commerce shopping platform and status as a leading streaming service with Prime Video, Amazon just might be best positioned to make the marriage of content and retail a reality.