Twitch Live Shopping
Livestreaming / E-commerce / Product Development
Though it has the power to moves billions of dollars of merchandise globally, the act of live shopping has remained very niche in both the United States and on Twitch. That means, for the vast majority of brands, Twitch is best utilized as an upper-funnel, awareness-and-affinity-driving play.
However, that never stopped brands from requesting more lower-funnel solutions (Twitch is owned by Amazon, after all).
So in 2021, I was charged with leading the creative development of a live shopping experience that was 1) uniquely “Twitch” in style and format, 2) executed in way that could work for brands across a spectrum of industries, and 3) was capable of scaling to our other regions around the globe.
A tall order for a short king, but I was up to the task. That meant taking the best of Twitch (entertaining Creators and live engagement from their Communities), combining it with what we knew has worked in the sphere of digital shopping (product variety, exclusive deals, immediate path to purchase), and adding a dash of QVC (iconic home-shopping production). I dubbed the resulting concoction: POG Picks.
Not only did I create a livestreaming format that’s globally still in use by the Twitch Brand Partnership Studio today (with a collective revenue total of more than $20 million), my efforts led to the development of live shopping tech that has now become a native product being offered on Twitch.
The Work
A sizzle that showcases several episodes of POG Picks and the impact it had in the U.S.
A look at how POG Picks took shape for Black Friday across EMEA.
And a look at how POG Picks measured up down under.
The Tech
Stream Picks is the first piece of “shoppable” tech we built. Operating as a Twitch Extension (read: a web-based app running over top of a broadcast that viewers can interactive with live), Stream Picks showcases a set number of products in a carousel format, allowing viewers to click on any one of them to open a browser tab directly to that retailer’s specific product page.
Stream Shop was our next iteration of live shopping tech. It took form when I learned of a development within Amazon called Amazon Anywhere, which condensed Amazon’s checkout APIs into a package designed to for buying real-life goods while remaining in a game. I knew it would be the perfect way to continue bridging the gap from upper-to-lower funnel, so I helped connect the cross-collaborative dots for the team to build a functional prototype and proof-of-concept. NOTE: There is no audio on this video.
Twitch leadership was so thrilled with our work on Stream Shop that they opted to have the Product team develop it into a native solution for advertisers on the platform, with e.l.f. Cosmetics being the exclusive brand partner for the Alpha test in late 2025.
But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to Mr. Sam Parham of 1DS Collective gush over how great this is.