NBCUniversal struck a new deal with Facebook and Instagram as part of its larger efforts to scale its e-commerce opportunities, the company announced at its One21 developer conference on Monday.
The new partnership will bring NBCU’s commerce tools and its retail partner network alongside Instagram and Facebook’s shoppable capabilities. This will allow consumers to shop products from NBCU’s 100-plus retail partners directly in posts, stories and livestreams on NBCU’s social channels. For example, if a Real Housewife is curating her favorite accessories, NBCU can share a shoppable article or video on Instagram and create a shopping experience around it.
This was one of several commerce deals NBCU showcased during the event today, which was designed to serve as an “open invitation for development partners to plug in to One Platform and help evolve and make it interoperable with the rest of the ecosystem,” says Krishan Bhatia, president and chief business officer, advertising sales, NBCU.
NBCU has been building out its shoppable offerings over the past few years and it has become a key part of it and other media companies’ strategies as the pandemic accelerates the shift to e-commerce.
To this end, the peacock is also working with The Trade Desk to make shoppable ads available to be bought programmatically across connected TV and digital. As part of this, they will introduce new engagement ads which allow users to interact with the ad units and connect directly to products. Opening up shoppable ads to the programmatic marketplace could invite new types of advertisers.
NBCU will also roll out commerce opportunities for its local stations and extend shoppable capabilities on Peacock.
NBCU debuted One Platform—the company’s tech stack—last year.