ITV launching Shoppable TV with Love Island

ITV is going to let viewers buy on-screen products while they watch their favourite TV shows such as Love Island with Shoppable TV.

The interactive Shoppable TV service is the first of its kind to be trialled in the UK following success in the US. It uses AI technology built directly into LG TV sets in the UK developed by The Take, a contextual product discovery company.

The service identifies and tags featured products during programmes and notifies viewers that products on-screen are available. If a viewer is interested, they can select to view more info with their remote and make a purchase via the vendor’s site or a link sent to their phone.

Using the on-screen shopping interface, viewers can scroll through products, which will refresh when different products and characters are shown during a programme. Additionally, users can also choose to view all products available from the episode of the show that they’re watching.

Paul Ridsdale, ITV, acting chief marketing officer, said in a statement: “Shoppable TV is a wonderful innovation to allow ITV viewers to be able to shop directly from their TVs, filling a real gap currently in the market. We know ITV viewers enjoy being able to purchase items featured in our programmes and this makes doing that smoother and easier than ever before.”

The first Shoppable TV programming launches during Love Island on ITV2 with Boots UK as the first confirmed launch partner. ITV adds that they will roll out the service on other programmes across different genres throughout 2021.

Bhavit Chandrani, ITV director of digital and creative partnerships, said: “This is a unique commercial opportunity and the next natural step in what we can offer to brands. Love Island has been a fantastic platform for innovation in how we work with commercial partners over the past few years and is the perfect show to introduce Shoppable TV before we roll it out across other programmes.”

Pete Markey, chief marketing officer at Boots UK, added: “We are very excited to be partnering with ITV and TheTake on the new and innovative opportunity. Launching Shoppable TV as part of our wider partnership with Love Island is a great way to help customers easily shop the products they spot in the villa and recreate iconic islander looks from the show. It will simplify the customer journey and bring the Boots brand even closer to the Love Island audience.”