As television becomes more interactive, cable companies are testing ways to make it easy for viewers to shop without leaving the couch. Impulse purchases can now be made with a remote control or by aiming a smartphone at an on-screen QR code.
A recent edition of Get Elastic outlined 11 innovations in television commerce (t-commerce). Here’s an example of the cable channel FX’s approach, according to the blog:
For its Sons of Anarchy series, fans can buy jewelry and clothing worn by cast members, plus other swag, through an iPad app. The app uses QR codes and leverages ACR (automatic content recognition) that syncs with the show’s broadcast to show which products are available for which scene. It also uses BD-Live technology to support t-commerce that syncs with Blu-ray discs.
Synced with Mobile Content
Many of the other t-commerce “innovations” also include sending viewers to specially designed m-commerce sites.
T-commerce sounds like an opportunity for merchants to take the stellar content they’ve produced for sites such as Amazon and create a mobile-friendly version of their product pages tailored to our inner couch potatoes. After all, even Sons of Anarchy viewers need product information if they’re going to know whether that dog tag will go with their favorite summer wear.
You can read more about t-commerce at getelastic.com.
