Shoppable Video: Unlocking Outcomes in Retail Media
Shoppable video embeds commerce directly into video content so viewers can click, scan, or tap to buy without leaving the experience. For retail media networks, it turns attention into measurable transactions and shortens the brand-to-commerce journey. Momentum is strong, but fragmentation across platforms, inconsistent measurement, and budget ownership questions remain barriers to scale.
The Interactive Consumer Journey
Consumers interact with shoppable video through overlays, QR codes, in-player product cards, and native buy buttons. These touchpoints reduce friction: a QR or click takes a shopper from inspiration to cart in seconds. Standardization efforts, including work from IAB Tech Lab, are helping define interactive specs and common metadata so experiences behave predictably across publishers and devices.
AI is accelerating conversion by personalizing recommendations, generating product tags, and powering visual search from frames of video. Machine learning can auto-identify featured products, match inventory, and serve the right creative variant to the right shopper in real time, which improves conversion rates and attribution signals.
Addressing Fragmentation and Measurement Gaps
The ecosystem remains fragmented: Connected TV, publisher video platforms, and retail media networks operate on different stacks and measurement rules. RMNs are responding by acquiring video platforms and striking streaming partnerships to capture attention where viewers watch. Yet standard metrics for viewability, cross-device attribution, and sales lift are not uniform, creating friction for budgets and campaign evaluation.
Budget ownership is often unclear. Brand teams treat video as awareness, while commerce teams want direct ROI. The solution is outcome-based collaboration: align KPIs, agree on unified measurement approaches, and allocate blended budgets tied to sales and incrementality.
Strategic Imperatives for an Outcome-Driven Future
- Publishers: Adopt interactive formats and publish common metadata. Invest in cross-device measurement and tie video engagement to on-site conversions.
- Retailers/RMNs: Leverage first-party data to personalize shoppable moments. Build or partner for CTV and streaming integrations to capture living room attention.
- Brands and Agencies: Shift toward outcome-based briefs. Test shoppable formats on CTV and digital video with commerce KPIs, and demand transparent attribution.
Shoppable video will be a cornerstone of omnichannel commerce if the industry commits to standardization, interoperable tech, and shared outcome metrics. That alignment lets attention flow directly into measurable sales and sustainable budget models.
