Creative content meets in-platform shopping – how can interactivity enhance the streaming experience and in return bring more profit? New ways to interact with content can provide new revenue streams for the industry happening through data, recommendation systems, targeted ads and more – just ask social media. Join us on SEP 26 at #MTHCON24 for a deep-dive into the topic with Amazon and TikTok.
With the streaming competition getting steeper every day, streamers are looking for ways to get more ad revenue in order to stay on top and profitable. Every click outside of the platform means time spent away from the streamer, so we’re witnessing a surge in the merging of streaming and shopping with device manufacturers jumping in whenever they can. According to PWC’s Perspectives from the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2024–2028, “spending on connected in-stream TV advertising will double between 2023 and 2028. (…) The streaming world, the subject of so much attention in recent years, neatly encapsulates the industry’s broader challenge. Usage and consumer uptake of the core offering is continuing to increase—albeit at a lower rate than in recent years—but companies are having greater difficulty getting people to pay more for digital goods and services. As the number and range of streaming services proliferate, a form of market saturation has begun to kick in. (… ) This plateauing effect is already pushing leading streamers to reshape their business models and find new revenue streams beyond subscriptions.” As the report outlines, streamers have to get creative with their business models.
Enter social media, an inspiration to some streamers who would like to experiment with new business models: social media networks have already made in-platform shopping available to their users, generating revenue for the brands that choose to list their products on their apps, and theirselves. It has been allowing users to interact with content in ways which are just now being adapted by the traditional streaming world. Although platforms such as Instagram have also adapted social shopping, TikTok is definitely in the forefront, allowing users in the UK, America, and some southern Asian countries to buy advertised products directly within the app through:
- Product Integration in Videos: Creators and brands can tag products in videos, which appear as clickable links or icons leading to a product detail page within the app.
- Livestream Shopping: Hosts can showcase and sell products in real-time through livestreams. Viewers interact with the host and can purchase products directly from the livestream interface.
- Shopping Tab: Users can browse products in a tab which aggregates shoppable content and product listings, making it easier for users to discover new items.
- Seamless Checkout: The integrated checkout process allows users to complete their purchases without being redirected to an external site, increasing conversion rates by reducing friction.
- Influencer and Brand Partnerships: Brands often collaborate with TikTok creators to promote their products through sponsored content, product reviews, and exclusive offers.
- Advertising Integration: TikTok’s ad platform includes shopping ads that appear in users‘ feeds. These ads are directly shoppable, linking to product pages or collections within the app.
In the session Interactive Streaming: New Tech, New Revenue – but how?, taking place on September 26at 3PM on the Expert Stage, we’ll be joined by Nele Odzuck, Group Vertical Director Consumer Goods for Client Solutions at TikTok, to better understand the interaction between content and product. Odzuck will walk us through how TikTok approaches the subject of enhancing streaming with the new technology available.
Meanwhile, what are the streamers up to? In May Amazon unveiled three new interactive ad units for Prime Video, all of which are shoppable. Until now, shoppable ads on Prime Video were limited to live sports programming. The real selling point for advertisers is being able to target and measure their performance using Amazon’s first-party shopper data. Linking shopper data to Prime Video subscribers gives ad buyers a way to serve more targeted ads to a growing viewer base. According to Amazon, 200 million people watch Prime Video with ads every month. (src)
Users will be able to shop an ad on Prime Video with their remote through (src):
- Carousel ads, which will show a swipeable lineup of products from a brand during a commercial. Users will be able to add as many products as they want to their Amazon cart.
- Interactive pause ads, which will play whenever someone pauses a movie or show they’re watching. These ads will include a translucent banner with products.
- Interactive brand trivia ads, which will allow audiences to navigate the ads to learn more about that brand — expect this to be huge during live sports events.
According to research conducted by Amazon, advertisers running both interactive and non-interactive video ads for their Amazon product listings found interactive ads to be more effective in boosting engagement rates across the customer shopping journey, driving 10x more product page views and conversions than non-interactive formats. We will be joined by Tom Frazer, Head of Streaming TV, APS International, Amazon, who will help us better understand the intricacies and benefits of using interactivity for new revenue streams.
So why are you not planning on repurposing your content for new streaming revenues? Make sure not to miss this session which will prepare you for the upcoming in-stream shopping surge.
