Branding

The concept of shopping through your TV has been popular since the 80s, when consumers saw the launch of the Home Shopping Network and QVC. With shoppers staying at home during the pandemic just as the streaming wars are really heating up, some streaming providers are reimagining this kind of service through innovative content solutions and new partnerships with brands and retailers. For streaming platforms, this can bring in additional revenue similar to what standard networks would get from advertisers. For brands and retailers, this could be an innovative and effective way to reach consumers where they are, and it also gives them a partner to develop more sophisticated content that is capable of driving engagement.

Netflix Partners with The Container Store for Get Organized

Netflix’s new show Get Organized is a series that features Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, two professional consultants that make over different rooms to make them more organized and make the most efficient use of space. According to Mashable, “no matter how different the space, no matter how colossal the task, and no matter how intimidating the obstacle, Shearer and Teplin always have a powerful solution to go with each and every room they enter. They’re ideal solutions…often sold exclusively at The Container Store.”

Since the release of Get Organized, The Container Store’s sales have soared. Content that inspires consumers to think about their organizational strategy is pretty niche, but a high-profile platform like Netflix is a great way for the retailer to expand their reach beyond the limited audience that would be inclined to search for that kind of topic.

Amazon’s Making the Cut Shows the Making of a Garment – Then Sells it to the Audience

Similar to Project Runway, Amazon Prime’s Making the Cut is a reality fashion design competition series featuring Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn. The key difference, however, is that the winning outfit at the end of each episode features a link to purchase it on Amazon.

While this isn’t a partnership with an outside brand, this show (which premiered in late March, just as most Americans began locking down) is an important piece of effective original content from a retailer. Amazon Prime has the benefit of being attached to a massive ecommerce operation, and in this case, highlighting and distributing their products this way makes a lot of sense. It also raises expectations for other streaming providers to offer their audiences the same level of engaging shoppable programs.

YouTube Pilots New Program for Products Featured in Videos

YouTube has been getting increasingly ambitious with their content offerings over the past few years. They first launched original series back in 2016, on a platform was called “YouTube Red” at the time (it’s now known as YouTube Premium). Four years later, YouTube is asking their content creators to tag and track products that they feature in their videos, which can be aggregated into a shoppable digital catalogue through Google. Part of this experimental new program will also involve testing an integration with Shopify, a popular ecommerce company.

This new trend is an interesting mashup of targeted product placement and the home shopping programs that were so popular in years past. Effective content is becoming a more important selling tool as consumers limit their time out of the house, and this kind of strategy could be the future for both winning retailers and top streaming platforms.