Marketing
19 July 2022
Love Island USA adds a new twist for viewers: It's shoppable
Peacock will feature QR codes to browse products that are on view in the reality show.

Shopping is coming to Love Island. (Image via ITV)
Peacock will feature QR codes to browse products that are on view in the reality show.
Shopping is coming to Love Island. (Image via ITV)
On the reality TV show Love Island, participants hope to find a match. For viewers, there’s now a chance to bring home new products.
When the new season of Love Island USA debuts on the NBC-owned streaming platform Peacock on July 19, it will include features that allow viewers to shop products displayed on the show. To make this possible, NBC says it is tapping the ShoppableTV offering from its One Commerce Platform. Here’s how it works:
This new "temptation" on the island makes shopping a part of the viewing experience, while offering brands a new way to reach potential customers. Advertising has long been a part of the TV viewing experience, while product placement embedded potential buys within content. Shoppable content represents an evolution in this approach. The ability to quickly browse and buy an item takes the passive experience of watching TV, and opens up a way to actively shop.
“We’re providing audiences with a way to engage with the series by bringing them into the iconic islander fashion and extending the viewing experience,” said Jenny Groom, EVP of entertainment unscripted content at NBCUniversal, in a statement.
Centered on island themes consistent with the show, the products on view will span apparel, home décor, cosmetics and haircare. Featured brands include Quay, Yellowpop, and Kenny Flowers, Overexposed, Ghost Democracy, and Laguna Beach Textile Co.
NBCUniversal SVP of Commerce Partnerships Evan Moore called the Love Island initative “the perfect opportunity to blend together content and commerce in an engaging way for our audiences.”
"In collaboration with ITV, we had the unique opportunity to redefine shoppable, premium video by identifying which products to place in each episode, how to extend the love for the show across One Platform, and more specifically deliver what looks, or styles fans will want to re-create themselves,” Moore said. “And, Peacock has given us the ability to take ecommerce to new heights for both our audiences and partners."
Love Island USA is the stateside extension of the dating series, which was created by UK network ITV. Along with winning fans, the show has set the stage for bringing ecommerce into content in the UK, as well. Last year, ITV debuted a first-of-its-kind Shoppable TV service on Love Island in the UK. This allowed viewers to select onscreen products using their remote and buy products on a brand or retailer's website.
As the approach evolves, there’s clearly an interest in bringing all of the shopping activities into one ecosystem. With QR codes, a link to sister site E! and NBC’s checkout service, Peacock is aiming to keep viewers within its own platforms and tools. For the viewer, this can also make the process easier to navigate, and reduce steps from product discovery to checkout. Embedding the capability within an entire season also makes it a fixed part of the series, rather than an ad. It has the makings of an experiment evolving into a feature.
It’s clear that streaming services and retailers recognize opportunity in shoppable content. Another recent example is a partnership between Roku and Walmart that creates an experience in which viewers can shop in-stream ads using a remote. It also has integrations with Roku’s payment service for checkout.
Increasingly, the lines between entertainment and ecommerce are blurring.
The grocer is expanding a partnership with Cooler Screens.
(Photo courtesy of Cooler Screens)
You may have heard of offsite retail media. How about offline?
Retail media holds out the opportunity that brands and marketplaces can reach customers with advertising, anywhere that there’s a screen. Through a new partnership, that capability is extending to the store.
Kroger is set to add smart screens to 500 stores, bringing retail media activations to aisles and checkout lines.
It’s the result of an expanded partnership with Cooler Screens, a company that developed software and enabling hardware to provide advertising and analytics on in-store screens. The company started by developing screens for the cooler doors of frozen food sections, but has since expanded to other areas of the store, like endcaps, banner aisles or existing screens.
Kroger and Cooler Screens piloted the technology for three years, and set out to determine whether they could improve customer experiences through interactive media and digital merchandising. The companies now have conviction that the content available on screens can enable consumers to make “better-informed decisions based on their own preferences, diets, health needs, budgets and lifestyles,” according to an announcement detailing the activation.
In turn, providing in-store retail media allows brands to reach consumers while they are shopping at a brick-and-mortar location. It extends the digital ad opportunities available via ecommerce to a new channel. Unlike a traditional static display ad, digitally-powered retail media is measurable, and Cooler Screens said it offers tools that help brands provide contextually relevant promotions and product information, as well as analytics on performance.
Kroger has made retail media a central part of its digital strategy. The grocer provides advertising through the Kroger Precision Marketing arm, and customer insights through its 84.51° data science team. Executives have talked about how retail media is helping the company unlock new, high-margin business lines, and see the growth of available data as a key driver of the company’s proposed merger with Albertsons.
“We’re excited about this continued collaboration as it extends our vision for the future of retail media, offering brands another powerful marketing lever inside the store,” said Cara Pratt, senior vice president at Kroger Precision Marketing, in a statement. “Cooler Screens shares and further enables this vision by bringing the best of digital experiences directly into our retail stores while integrating with our 84.51° data science platform to create an engaging and valuable experience for our customers, associates, and brands.”
Cooler Screens said it reaches more than 90 million viewers monthly in stores. Along with Kroger, customers include Walgreens and Giant Eagle’s GetGo convenience stores.
While retail media is primarily a means of advertising on ecommerce marketplaces today, the expanded appearance of advertising on in-store screens underscores how the first-party data that powers it can be foundational for a growing range of channels.