Amazon brings shopping into streaming

Amazon is adding new e-commerce integrations to Prime Video. Viewers can now browse and buy products tied to movies and TV shows directly through X-Ray and Amazon Lens.

“The retail giant on Thursday announced a series of new features that will allow customers to discover products across thousands of Prime Video titles”

Moving past clunky search prompts

Last year Amazon launched Shop the Show, but viewers had to manually type the phrase into the search bar. The updated experience makes recommendations much more obvious.

“Instead of interrupting your viewing experience or displaying product information on-screen, this feature would take you to products”

Streamers chase new ad dollars

Amazon is not alone in pushing interactive retail. YouTube, Peacock, Roku, and Disney have all tested shoppable TV features to create fresh revenue streams.

“Amazon joins a number of services that are working to integrate shopping suggestions into the viewing experience to create an additional revenue stream.”

How the X-Ray shop tab works

Pausing a show and hitting up on your Fire TV remote opens a dedicated Shop tab. Opening your phone app automatically syncs to that exact moment in the episode.

“To make a purchase, you would then open the Amazon Shopping app, which recognizes what’s playing and drops you into a feed synced to that moment”

Match outfits with visual search

A feature called Shop the Scene uses Amazon Lens to scan images for similar products. Even if an exact actor outfit is unavailable, it suggests lookalikes.

“This feature, called “Shop the Scene,” won’t always lead to an exact match; characters are often wearing clothing that Amazon or its sellers don’t stock”

Expanding across thousands of titles

Shop the Scene is live on U.S. mobile apps for over 600 titles. Meanwhile, the broader Shop the Show experience is expanding from 1,300 to more than 8,000 titles.