YouTube Makes Its Shoppable Ads Widely Available In Time For Holiday Season

What Happened
YouTube’s two latest shoppable ad formats – “TrueView for Shopping” and “Shopping Ads on YouTube” – are now out of beta and available to all advertisers using Google’s AdWords. First introduced in May, TrueView for Shopping allows retailers to create interactive video ads that contain actionable shopping cards that can direct viewers to purchase pages. Meanwhile, Shopping Ads on YouTube, which debuted in late September, enable retailers to overlay shoppable cards in all contextually relevant YouTube videos, not limited their own videos.

What Brands Need To Do
By extending the general availability of its shoppable ad formats, YouTube is ramping up its video ad products for retailers just in time for the holiday shopping season. YouTube currently leads the digital video ads market with its ad revenue set to reach $2.2 billion this year, according to eMarketer (paywall). And retail brands should consider utilizing these buyable ad formats to help move potential consumers down the sales funnel.

 


Source: Marketing Land

Header image is a promotional image courtesy of Google’s Inside AdWords Blog

Amazon To Launch Shopping Channel On Fire TV

What Happened
Amazon has been the undisputed leader in ecommerce, but can it conquer TV shopping as well? After quietly rolling out buyable banner ads on the homepage of its Fire TV set-top box in the past few weeks, the Seattle-based company announced on Wednesday its plan to launch a QVC-style home shopping channel exclusively on Fire TV. Expected to roll out sometime next year, the channel will allow viewers to purchase products directly from the screen.

What Brands Need To Do
Amazon enjoys some unique advantages in transforming TV into a direct sales channel, given that it can seamlessly integrate ecommerce functionality into the Fire TV devices by syncing up users’ Amazon accounts and enabling one-click purchases. The new Apple TV, which hits retail this Friday, allows ecommerce brands to reach viewers via dedicated apps. For brands that are currently selling on Amazon, it may be worthwhile to tap into these new TV shopping initiatives to get a better understanding of the emerging shoppable TV experience.

   


Source: GeekWire

H&M’s Shoppable TV Spot

H&M will be running a Super Bowl spot promoting some lovely briefs donned by David Beckham. Even more interesting than David Beckham’s Bodywear, is the T-Commerce integration which will allow viewers receive more information in addition to purchasing items directly from their Samsung Smart TV. If QVC is any indication, the marriage of content and commerce could be very lucrative for brands and advertisers.