According to PWC’s qualified forecasts, overall online advertising investments in Italy will go from a consolidated amount of about 5 billion euros in 2021 to just under 7 billion. A growth of 38.4%.
To dominate are, and will increasingly be, video ads, which PWC estimates will grow by 49%, reaching around a third in 2026 [31.8%] of total online investments in our country. Growth from which traditional broadcasters will also benefit in part thanks also to shoppable TV. The concept of “Shoppable TV” is nothing new, but the convergence of traditional TV, OTT streaming, smart TV advertising and mass online retail is now laying the foundation for so-called “Shoppable TV 2.0”.
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Broadcasters may have kicked off the renewed interest in shoppable TV, but digital operators Google and Amazon seem set to dictate the guidelines for their future. In 2021, YouTube announced “brand extensions”, a new type of advertising for smart TVs, which are the fastest growing device in terms of viewing time of the platform. Brand extensions allow viewers to use the TV remote control to send a smartphone notification containing a link to a product advertised on the TV screen.
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This is similar to the QR codes used by broadcasters but able to offer a simplified experience for both viewers and advertisers, thanks to YouTube’s domain on mobile devices. Amazon also increased its shoppable TV business through the Amazon Freevee AVOD service (the rebranding of IMDb TV). Although not currently available in Italy, in April 2022 Amazon announced the introduction of the service in other markets by the end of the year. In addition to a series of new ad-supported original shows, Amazon has revealed a new interactive CTV advertising format for Amazon Freevee: “actionable video ads”.
These allow viewers to actively purchase an advertised product with a simple click on the remote or by interacting with the company’s virtual assistant, Alexa. The potential here is enormous, especially when you consider Amazon’s access to its users’ shopping data and its vast online retail infrastructure. In May 2022, Amazon also announced that both the Prime Video and Freevee platforms will feature virtual product placements. This harmonious combination of TV, commerce and smart home is the long-term future of shoppable TV.
This, in a nutshell, is what emerges from the PWC report, “Entertainment & Media Outlook in Italy 2022-2026″, released in these days, from which we have extrapolated the data of the underlying infographic with the consolidated 2017 – 2021 and the 2022 forecasts – 2026.
