Ecommerce has emerged as an enticing opportunity for media companies as advertisers seek to drive engagement and business outcomes through lower parts of the purchase funnel. Livestream shopping marks the next stage in the evolution of direct-response television amid as content and commerce intermix among a wider variety of media channels.
“Livestream shopping is something that is going to blow up here in the United States over the next year or two,” Josh Feldman, chief marketing officer of NBCUniversal advertising sales and partnership, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “We sit at a very unique crossroads in being able to offer up livestream shopping in a way that most other media companies cannot.”
He pointed to NBCUniversal’s combination of content, technology, distribution and ecommerce support as key differentiators in livestreaming shopping. Though shopping channels have existed for years in the United States, marketers are looking at China as a window into the possibilities for livestream shopping. Ecommerce giant Alibaba has shown how it can generate billions of dollars in sales in a few hours with its Taobao Live video streams.
NBCUniversal last year launched its Impulse Try shopping livestream that was featured on the Bravo and E! handles on social networks Facebook and Instagram, and Google’s YouTube video-sharing site. It also distributes livestream shopping content on Peacock, among other platforms.
“It’s this unique opportunity for us to create original content made exclusively to sell products. At the end of the day, proof of sale is going to be what’s important as we move forward in this industry,” Feldman said. “We’re willing to put our money where our mouth is, and get our products’ brands first and foremost in people’s minds by creating new opportunities for them.”
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