Tastemade Says Multitasking Presents a Big Contextual Commerce Opportunity

Consumers are increasingly engaging across multiple devices even for formerly passive activities, such as viewing films, creating a commerce opportunity for brands that can provide a frictionless shopping journey.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Evan Bregman, general manager of streaming at food and lifestyle media company Tastemade, described the way the company is seizing on this trend to drive purchasing via its new shoppable TV partnership with Shopsense AI.

“In general, I’m of the belief that there’s really no such thing as a lean-back experience anymore. Even when you are sitting and watching the largest screen, you’re interacting with your second screen,” Bregman said. “You’re interacting with the thing in front of you, even if you’re just talking to the people next to you about it. And so, the opportunity to be able to increase that interactivity seamlessly is something that’s always been interesting to us.”

Certainly, connected devices are creating new ways to multitask, as highlighted by PYMNTS Intelligence’s report, “How We Will Pay Report: How Connected Devices Enable Multitasking Among Digital-First Consumers.” This study, which surveyed over 4,600 U.S. consumers, revealed that 76% of them had used connected devices while partaking in leisure activities over the past month.

Additionally, many consumers are receptive to shoppable media. The same report showed that among the 95% of consumers who own connected devices, one-third are interested in an internet-connected shopping experience wherein, while watching a live-streamed series on an iPad or mobile device, they could touch the screen to purchase clothing or jewelry worn by an actor, directly navigating to the product page to complete the purchase.

Tastemade, for its part, has the advantage of specializing in media that is especially well suited to drive commerce, having always focused on informative content that is within reach for at-home viewers rather than on shows that have the glossiest look.

“A big way that we [increase interactivity] day to day is by including recipes,” Bregman said. “Basically, for every single cooking show that airs on Tastemade, their viewers can use a QR code to link to the recipe that you’re watching right now.”

Indeed, recipes have historically been a point of inspiration for shoppers, proving to be fertile ground for innovation in contextual commerce.

Tastemade’s partnership with Shopsense AI focuses on homeware, however, rather than food, centering on the launch of the new series, “Kitchen Glow Up.” Each episode of features shoppable content related to products for kitchens and pantries, and new items are added weekly. The move comes as businesses race to integrate commerce into more parts of consumers’ day-to-day routines, adding shoppability to everything from their social media apps to their appliances.

“This is largely an extension of a content strategy that already existed. We aim for inspiration. A lot of our competitors don’t. They do very well aiming for competition and pageantry, for aspiration — things that are a little less tangible to an average consumer,” Bregman said. “We’ve always been about having our having our consumers try to make stuff with their hands, and so this [shoppable streaming launch] is really a natural thing.”

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