At the dawn of television, turning up the volume and buying something were two actions that required getting off the couch. Not anymore.

Enter: Shoppable ads, through which viewers can purchase onscreen products with the click of a button or the scan of a QR code, continue to grow in popularity: This spring, AMC, Condé Nast, and Roku unveiled new features that allow viewers to purchase products directly from the ads they see on TV.

Numbers: It’s a move driven in part by the success of social commerce, as well as the potential for promising engagement. “I like to look at the data, and when we see that we can get a 0.5% response rate on a CTV ad with the remote control, that is sort of mind-blowing to me,” Peter Hamilton, head of television commerce at Roku, told Marketing Brew. By “combining [TV] with some of these digital marketing and performance-oriented aspects that give us more data,” he added, “that gives us a better ability to target and to learn, and I think it’s a really winning combination.”

Hype: As shoppable offerings become more widespread, though, some industry leaders seem skeptical that TV can live up to the social media standard—and warn advertisers to tread carefully. 

Click here to read more about the effectiveness of shoppable TV ads and if buyers think they have legs.—KH

Just like your eyebrows, TikTok and Reels are sisters, not twins. Case in point: The two social video formats weren’t born in the same year. TikTok rolled out in 2016, with Instagram Reels following in its footsteps in 2020.

So it’s no surprise that some marketers haven’t figured out how to drive lower-funnel conversions, like sales and email signups, on the two-year-old feature, no matter how much Instagram love-bombs users with Reels content.

• Perhaps CreatorIQ COO Tim Sovay put it best: “The vast majority of brands are still learning TikTok, let alone Reels,” he told Marketing Brew.

Big picture: It’s possible that Reels isn’t consistently driving lower-funnel metrics, not only because many marketers are still learning about the relatively new social-video format, but also because of how they’re approaching influencer marketing on it. Several experts told Marketing Brew that influencers need to act more like TikTokers than Instagrammers on Reels in order to drive lower-funnel success.

Test and learn

A lot of education has to happen around what makes great Reels content, Sovay said. Advertisers need time to learn what drives different results and how the product functions generally, he explained (it’s worth noting that only about a year has passed since ads rolled out fully on Reels).

That, of course, takes time: “It’s not to say that there’s a certain reason why Reels would be failing compared to, say, TikTok or Stories,” he told us. “There’s a lot of experimentation that needs to happen when focused on commerce and affiliate solutions on these platforms,” Sovay said, adding that it’s also up to the social platforms themselves to do the heavy lifting around educating marketers.

Read how other marketers are using Reels here.—PB

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There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Short stories: Instagram is testing out a new UI for its stories. Here’s what that means for marketers who use them.

Cash or credit: TikTok added a new feature to give credit to trend creators.

Stream for good: Here’s how you can optimize YouTube videos to help Ukraine.

Slam dunk: How’d the Atlanta Hawks drive 7X ROI on their Connected TV ad spend? They tapped MNTN Performance TV for the assist. For AI-driven optimization that reaches your most valuable viewers across the top 150 streaming channels, click here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• During upfronts week, new research sheds light on representation on-screen
• Snap is trying to court and fund creators—but some are struggling to break through on the app
• Why are agencies always ‘partnering’ with platforms?

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2. Skechers and New Balance collaborate to create the ‘ultimate dad shoe’
3. Pepsi spins cola-infused pepperoni pizza in latest ‘Better with Pepsi’ push
4. Cheez-It taps Pandora to produce ‘sonically-aged’ cheddar crackers

Keep scrolling for the answer.