If you watch the latest drama unfold inside the Love Island villa on ITV Hub, you’ll miss out on an exclusive new feature from ITV. Dubbed Shoppable TV, the UK broadcaster has partnered with South Korean technology firm LG to allow viewers to instantly add products featured on the show to their shopping basket – without taking their eyes off the latest re-coupling.
Boots is one of the first brands to sign-up to the innovative new system. So, when viewers with an LG spot a product used in the show they’d like to use – a tap of a button will bring up an overlay with extra information on the item. Similar products available from Boots will also be suggested to put the product into context. Additionally, users can also choose to view all products available from the episode of the show that they’re watching. If anything takes your fancy, an extra tap will send the item to your basket.
Paying for the item isn’t handled through your telly – so you don’t need to worry about typing in a credit card number with your remote. Instead, a link is shared to your smartphone, so you can securely checkout with Google or Apple Pay in seconds.
Love Island fans with LG Smart TVs can initiate the shopping interface at any time by using their telly remote. However, you’ll need to proactively opt-in to receive the notifications and use the shopping service, so those who don’t want to spend any money while bingeing reality telly won’t be bothered by pop-ups to add items to your basket.
To make its new “see it, shop it” system function, ITV is relying on code from TheTake – a contextual product discovery company that specialises in AI. No updates are needed to make the functionality work in millions of homes throughout the UK as TheTake’s technology is built into LG TV sets in the UK by default. However, this new partnership with ITV marks the first time that it has been activated.
Launching initially in Love Island, ITV has already confirmed plans to roll out its new shopping service on other shows across different genres throughout the rest of 2021. The Take technology is already live in the USA on 2021, 2020, and 2019 LG TVs.
In the UK, all 2021 LG TVs have the technology integrated as standard, while TheTake can be added via software update to 2019 and 2020 models.
ITV Director Digital and Creative Partnerships, Bhavit Chandrani said: “This is a unique commercial opportunity and the next natural step in what we can offer to brands. Love Island has been a fantastic platform for innovation in how we work with commercial partners over the past few years and is the perfect show to introduce shoppable TV before we roll it out across other programmes.”
Meanwhile, Pete Markey, Chief Marketing Officer Boots UK, added: “We are very excited to be partnering with ITV and TheTake on the new and innovative opportunity. Launching shoppable TV as part of our wider partnership with Love Island is a great way to help customers easily shop the products they spot in the villa and recreate iconic islander looks from the show.
“It will simplify the customer journey and bring the Boots brand even closer to the Love Island audience.”
