Fitting for a trade show long associated with the latest and greatest television sets, this year’s CES featured a panel titled “The Future of Immersive TV.” The panelists, led by moderator Rick Kowalski, senior director of business intelligence for the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), underscored the biggest current challenge for home entertainment is the fragmentation of platforms on which consumers view content. Multimodal content delivery is impacting production workflows and advertising services. From trends in consumer behavior to emerging technologies, the panel speculated about interactive TV, shoppable TV, and the need for consistent experiences. Continue reading CES: TV Industry Adapts to Expansion of Platforms and Devices

Although TikTok has been carrying ads since 2018, it hasn’t really caught on as an advertising vehicle. Now the company is trying to change that by launching Smart+, an AI-powered ad buying tool that is the ByteDance company’s version of Google Performance Max, Meta Advantage+ or Pinterest Performance+. The idea is that by automating campaign management, marketers may be inclined to spend more. Smart+, which launched last week, automates everything from creative development to bidding, targeting and measurement, making ad buying easier on the short-form video app. Continue reading TikTok Intros AI-Driven Ad Campaign Automation with Smart+

YouTube has expanded its relationship with Shopify, allowing more merchants to make their products available for creators to tag in their shopping content. All eligible Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants in the U.S. are now able to sign up for YouTube Shopping’s affiliate program through the Google & YouTube app on Shopify, which is expected to significantly increase the number of participating brands and products. According to YouTube, viewers watched over 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos in 2023. Broadening the scope of its Shopify deal is expected to make YouTube more competitive with TikTok Shop. Continue reading YouTube Expands Retail Relationship with Shopify in the U.S.

In 2023, viewers watched more than 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos on YouTube, according to the platform, which reports “a 25 percent increase in watch time” for videos that help people shop. The uptick coincided with the introduction of tagging features for creators, and now YouTube is expanding its retail involvement even further by allowing creators to set up storefronts and sell products in-app, as yet another way to monetize the service. The move comes as TikTok seeks to grow TikTok Shop as high as $17.5 billion in the U.S., a tenfold increase. Continue reading YouTube Adds Shopping Features for Products, Virtual Stores

In its continuing effort to expand in-app shopping activity, TikTok is testing an option to allow users to automatically identify products in their uploads — a march toward making all objects shoppable. The test lets select users toggle to “Identify Similar Objects” within a video. When activated, the AI-powered ISO highlights matching products that can be purchased in-app. TikTok has been exploring the feature for deployment in the United States this past year. TikTok parent ByteDance has for some time been using the in-stream shopping feature in the platform’s Chinese sister platform, Douyin. Continue reading TikTok Tests Feature Designed to Streamline In-App Shopping

TikTok is testing a feature designed to make all posts shoppable as it goes all-in on creating what the company hopes will be a multi-billion-dollar U.S. e-commerce business. The new technology uses machine learning to identify objects in a video then prompts viewers to “find similar items on TikTok Shop” using links and in-app search. The ByteDance-owned social platform is also reportedly planning to launch multiple live-streaming studios in cities including Los Angeles where creators can go to stream shopping-themed content. The facilities are expected to be able to host multiple studios servicing dozens of creators per day. Continue reading TikTok Tests a Feature That Tags Videos with Shopping Details

Amazon continues its push into social shopping, partnering with Snapchat to allow sale of some products to U.S. users directly through the app. Amazon’s Snapchat ads will display real-time pricing, Prime eligibility and delivery estimates, as well as product details. Snapchat users will be able to link their Amazon accounts via a one-time set-up, with purchases defaulting to their preferred Amazon payment method and shipping address (unless otherwise specified). Both Amazon products and those through the e-commerce giant’s independent sellers will be included in the program. Continue reading Snapchat Latest Social Site to Link Amazon for In-App Sales

TikTok had a high-profile at New York Fashion Week, courting the marketing departments of companies including Gucci, Madewell and H&M at a splashy event at the East Village restaurant Cathédrale, decorated with mannequins bedecked in TikTok-inspired togs and a video wall featuring the “little luxuries” touted by TikTok users. While TikTok has succeeded in making itself a mandatory advertising outlet for many brands, the Fashion Week outreach was part of the platform’s effort to transition to a sales platform in its own right as after a year of testing it finally rolls out TikTok Shop for all U.S. users. Continue reading TikTok Shop Rolls Out to U.S. Users Following Year of Testing

TikTok is making a big push into e-commerce with a plan to sell made-in-China products to consumers. The move sets up a rivalry with popular shopping platforms Shein and Temu to bring Chinese goods to the U.S., while the overall approach replicates the successful “Sold by Amazon” program. As with leading online marketplace Amazon.com and the companies it represents, TikTok will warehouse and ship items — ranging from clothing, electronics and kitchenware — for Chinese merchants, handling checkout, marketing and after-sale services. TikTok plans to debut its American shopping program in August. Continue reading TikTok Offering Chinese Goods via U.S. E-Commerce Market

TikTok is testing an in-app shopping feature in the UK called Trendy Beat. The products offered for sale are primarily things that have appeared in trending videos, like tools to remove pet hair from clothing or ear wax extractors. The items are shipped from China by Seitu, a Singapore-based subsidiary of TikTok parent ByteDance, according to recent reports. Trendy Beat offers a range of items manufactured and promoted by TikTok for which ByteDance keeps all proceeds. Its preexisting e-commerce pipeline, TikTok Shop, allows third-party vendors to sell merchandise in exchange for a commission to ByteDance. Continue reading Trendy Beat: TikTok Testing White Label In-App Online Store

TikTok is targeting a massive four-fold increase in global e-commerce revenue this year, aiming for $20 billion in sales. The social media platform reported gross merchandise activity of $4.4 billion last year, which reflects the total sale of goods via the TikTok Shop e-commerce solution. TikTok is banking on significant growth in markets including Indonesia, where influencers live-stream shopping pitches for everything from denim jeans to lipstick. The U.S. and Europe account for a tiny portion of the projected goal, but TikTok is hoping for modest gains in those areas as well. Continue reading TikTok Is Aiming for $20 Billion in Global E-Commerce Sales

Although TikTok’s U.S. shopping rollout has gone slower than planned, the company continues to add features, with invited brands fielding an in-app checkout test. Clothing firms PacSun, Revolve and Willow Boutique as well as beauty line KimChi Chic are reportedly participating in the test for TikTok Shop. The brands have a small shopping bag icon on their profiles, which users can click to explore products through images, video and text. The TikTok cart can accept items from different stores, providing a centralized shopping experience. The move comes as Gen Z increasingly uses TikTok as a search engine. Continue reading More Brands Are Participating in In-App Test for TikTok Shop

TikTok is closing in on its downward revised 2022 ad revenue target of $10 billion, according to research firm Insider Intelligence. The ByteDance company had initially projected $12 billion but adjusted the forecast due to a digital advertising downturn that’s affected everyone from Alphabet to Meta Platforms. Despite the hedge, TikTok’s ad haul this year will nearly double that of 2021, and is expected to surpass the performance of Twitter and Snap. However, it still trails advertising on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, which generated more than $84 billion in the first nine months of 2022 (essentially flat). Continue reading After Doubling Ad Revenue, TikTok Turns to In-App Shopping

TikTok is said to be partnering with Los Angeles-based TalkShopLive to handle its live shopping initiative in North America after an in-house UK effort produced lackluster results. Due to hit the U.S. in time for the holiday season, TikTok Shop will be built on technology and support from TalkShopLive as it positions live-stream shopping hosted by influencers, brands and retailers selling products on the short-form video platform. Launched last year, TikTok Shop UK was the ByteDance company’s first such effort outside of Asia, where it is available in countries including Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines. Continue reading TikTok May Team Up with TalkShopLive for a Holiday Launch