Entertainment

Shopping live streaming heats up amid the holidays – The Hollywood Reporter

Jason DeRulo frosted some cookies. He just doesn’t know how to decorate them. So he turned to his audience.

“Should I decorate them with an ornament? A gift? Or a snowflake? ” he asks. The singer-songwriter has not performed any music, nor has participated in a TV show. Instead, he went live on Twitter on November 28, as part of a live shopping event the platform is hosting in conjunction with Walmart. DeRulo’s job? Showcase Walmart products and interact with stream followers (cookie dough made with a Kitchen Aid stand mixer).

As for their frost selection? “Snowflakes? Ya will go and pick the hardest one for me to make,” said DeRulo, before trying (and failing) to freeze a sugar cookie.

The merging of shopping and TV is not a new concept (The Home Shopping Network was founded in 1982), but the emergence of social platforms and the ease of one-click purchases through via PayPal, Apple, Instagram, and TikTok have transformed the experience into one that allows for seamless interactions, unusual entertainment concepts, and less “call now!” hard sell.

It’s not just Twitter; TikTok, YouTube and NBCUniversal have been exploring the space this holiday season, using it as a testing ground for formats and betting that in-person shopping, already a huge business in China and elsewhere , is about to explode here.

“If you look here in the United States, we’re at the tipping point of direct commerce,” said Josh Feldman, CMO of NBCUniversal ad sales and partnerships. “The stats I’ve seen are that we’re going to hit $11 billion in revenue as a country this year, and that number is likely to double pretty quickly.”

NBCUniversal has been active in the space this holiday season on both linear and digital TV platforms, tapping influencer Remi Bader to host a live shopping event called Impulse Try on the internet. corporate social media, Peacock and Comcast Xfinity over Thanksgiving weekend. There is also a live shopping program Great American Deals, which is broadcast on the US Network.

The connective tissue in these efforts is the talent that generates sales. Bader was joined by “Bravo-lebords” during her live stream, while Great American Deals based on its star, Joy Mangano. Meanwhile, YouTube has had a series of week-long live streams led by the likes of chef Gordon Ramsay and celebrity creator MrBeast.

Tony DiSanto, CEO of Diga Studios, production company Great American Deals. “It’s not just an idea, it’s a combination of ideas and talent that gives it credibility.”

One thing that unites these efforts is the desire to create something interesting, but the ultimate goal of making a sale and balancing those needs is crucial.

“As you begin to branch out into bringing content like this to traditional entertainment-based networks, it is essential to ensure that commerce is integrated into a compelling piece of content,” says DiSanto. .

This helps capture a consumer base that is increasingly accustomed to making purchases through Instagram, TikTok or other digital channels (during New York Advertising Week in October, the Hudson Yards neighborhood was packed with shoppers). tote bag distributed by TikTok with the tagline “TikTok made me buy it”).

Sean Strickland, president of Diga, notes that during the pandemic, many restaurants have turned to QR code menus, which in itself can change behavior.

“It teaches people how to bridge the gap between the offline world and the online world, and I think that’s an indicator of the potential to see a number of new formats and programs emerge from the first attempt,” he said. this.

But it’s still early days, and even with some of the biggest players in space exploration technology and entertainment, the expectation is that the format is still in its infancy, with a long way to go. .

“The convergence of media and commerce, entertainment and commerce, is now just the Wild West,” says DiSanto. “I think we’re going to see things in the next few years that would surprise us right now.”

A version of this story appeared in the December 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to sign up.

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