Amazon has a chance to completely alter TV viewing behavior by making ads shoppable

Many have tried to make commercials interactive. They didn't have Prime.

The two hottest media/advertising sectors of 2021 have clearly been connected TV and retail media.

I’ve been wondering what would happen if somebody could bring these two worlds together. Perfectly targeted shopping ads plus streaming? That could be as lucrative and game-changing as anything we’ve seen in a long while.

If anybody could pull this off, it’s Amazon.

And if they ever do- well the rest of the TV business might want to duck.

Last week, I was invited to stream an Amazon Advertising-produced virtual event called unBoxed. It was one of those ginormously salesy informercials that companies put on occasionally, and I went in convinced I wouldn’t write anything about it.

Then I watched the video ads part.

I don’t know how much of this was breaking news, but Amazon showed off how it is on working on making TV ads not only interactive, but dead-simple to shop from.

For example, let’s say you are watching TV and see an ad for a stain remover aimed at pet owners. In a demo Amazon showcased, a little banner appeared at the bottom of the screen prompting viewers to ‘learn more’ or ‘add to cart,’ using either their Amazon Fire remotes or a quick voice command using Alexa.

Amazon even has a studio (news to me) that helps brands easily make shoppable ads using existing or new creative. The ads can feature typical Amazony info like the number of stars a product has received as well as real customer reviews - helping to seal the deal.

In laying out this functionality, Kendra Tal, Amazon’s Senior Audio Ads Partnership Manager talked about how common it is for customers when browsing social media to shop right from ads, or save them for later.

This doesn’t happen in TV, but “you can see how it could become second nature,” she said.

Yeah, you could.

It’s pretty wild to imagine the possibilities. Because this sort of direct commercial action is nothing like we’ve seen in television advertising to date.

It’s not for lack of trying. Outsiders have been trying to make TV ads interactive for at least 20 years. I remember going to an early TiVo presentation circa 2000 during which they showed off how brands could make create ads that let people go deeper or get more information with a few remote clicks (deeply ironic from a company that was primarily being sold a way to not have to watch ads).

Over the years we've seen many other attempts at his sort of thing from various platforms and startups, often involving ads with polls or clunky remote clicks, or even ‘second screen’ TV ads (ask people are NBCU about their experience with Zeebox.

I don’t know about you, but on the rare occasions I’ve encountered any TV ad that offers an interactive option, I never engage. I suspect most people don’t which is why brands eventually got wise and started sending people to their phones, with shortcodes and text-to-win featuresand more recently QR codes.

Since nearly everybody watches TV with their phones in hand, this works pretty well. I sometimes find myself seeing a TV ad and conducting a search for a product right away, maybe even buying something.

But mostly, I just sit there and watch, if I’m not avoiding ads entirely

That’s why Amazon’s plan feels so radical - they are trying to get people to fundamentally change 60 year’s worth of ingrained behavior. TV ads are to be watched and absorbed and make you laugh and cry. You don’t usually feel obligated to respond then and there (unless you are calling an 800 number to get something while supplies last).

Now TV ads could be connected directly to your credit card via Amazon Prime. That’s medium altering.

It’s true that millions of people are doing all they can to avoid TV ads. And who knows if those that are watching ad-supported streaming will ever show a propensity to respond?

Right now, Amazon’s plan seems limited to a few test ads on random shows on IMDB TV, well. So sure, this could all go nowhere. There are tons of ifs and obstacles here - you need brands to participate. You need lots of inventory and exposure for this habit to kick in, which means that media companies are going to have to let Amazon do this in their ad space and distribution vehicles at some point.

As of now, shoppable TV ads would only theoretically work in homes that have Amazon Prime, Fire TV, Alexas, and they are logged into everything they need to be logged into via their smart TVs.

Yes, it’s possible that companies outside of Amazon could try to make this work. Both Apple and Google have hooks into CTV, and they have Wallet products. Neither one has a shopping cart that you add stuff to every other day.

Still, despite that advantage, there are lot of hurdles for Amazon to clear. The ecommerce giant hasn’t been all that daring with what they’ve done with TV ads so far. But it does have Thursday Night Football all to itself next year. Certainly more big content rights are coming - plus Amazon will soon have its own TV.

Again, I know shopping via TV sounds very QVC-not-for-me, except what Amazon is asking people to do is pretty dead simple. And they have such potent data, chances are they’ll be able to show you ads for stuff you care about. Who’d have thought ten years ago that you’d be in the habit of clicking that ‘buy now’ now button on Amazon so easily without every thinking beyond “we need more detergent?” Habits can change fast.

As Tal put it, “just like that, you see an ad and you’re done.”