Twitter to test first live shopping show ahead of Cyber Week
- Hope King, author of Axios Closer
Jason Derulo at Hard Rock Stadium in June in Miami Gardens, Fla. Photo: John Parra/Getty Images
Singer Jason Derulo is set to host a prime-time live shopping show on Twitter on Sunday, just ahead of Cyber Monday and Cyber Week, featuring products from Walmart.
Why it matters: Shoppable video formats sit at the intersection of entertainment, e-commerce and social media — a combination that retailers and tech platforms find hard to resist given how hot each category has grown during the pandemic.
What’s new: The show will be Twitter’s first test of its Live Shopping format, the company announced today.
- Viewers will be able to watch the livestream while browsing or buying the products mentioned and tweeting.
The holiday ramp-up: Walmart has been actively testing live shopping formats for about a year — with 15 "shoppable" livestreams since last December on its own website and other platforms including TikTok.
- Macy’s, in addition to regular live shopping shows launched earlier this year, is planning Black Friday-focused livestreams starting this Tuesday.
The big picture: Interactive video ads in the form of shopping shows are seen as a way to hook people for longer periods of time and generate more sales.
- Twitter now joins YouTube and Facebook in pushing the format of live shopping.
Details: The show starts at 7pm ET Sunday and runs for 30 minutes.