Slink It CEO Mack Craft Talks Shoppable TV and Transforming CTV Monetization
Slink IT CEO Mack Craft joins Future Frames Podcast’s Doug Daulton at Streaming Media 2025 to discuss Slink It’s approach to shoppable ROI and product placement in streaming content (as well as Slink It’s transition from cinema to CTV), and ways that content creators can leverage Slink It’s “shop the show” approach.
Beyond 'Shop the Look'
Craft describes Slink It “media engagement technology. It's in the adtech industry sector, and what we created Slink It for is for users to have the opportunity to purchase items off of TV and get exactly what they see on TV at the time that they want it.”
Daulton asks if the approach is similar to “shop the look,” and Craft says it’s similar, but “it can be more than that,” and offers a rundown of what Slink It does and how it works.
In terms of "the technology itself," he says, "you use a second-screen experience, you use your smartphone, and if you see a program on television, you can literally trigger the video recording part of your smartphone. It records [the program] for a couple of seconds, and whatever's on TV at that time--no matter if it's the clothes, the chandelier, or the toaster--all of the items that are associated with that television show or that segment will appear on your smartphone. And then once the item is there, you have a number of options. You can purchase that item, you can Like it, or you can add it to your wishlist, and Slink It automatically saves for you as well. So you don't have to do too many things."
“So for the content creator, it's an entirely different revenue stream, a different way to monetize their content,” Daulton replies.
"Absolutely,” Craft confirms. “I believe that the new way of selling advertisement is through television shows and movies. And in order to do that, brands should place these items just like product placement, buy space in movies and television shows, and then give the audience of millions of people who watch it and opportunity to shop and just think about it. The way we created this is a residual for the brand because as long as that show lives, anyone could shop those items."
Daulton suggests that, perhaps even more than new inline ad formats like screen-shrinking squeezebacks, this type of in-show product placement represents a "less disruptive, less intrusive" to monetize shows and sell products to an audience without pulling their attention away from the content for a sales pitch. "You're not getting pushed, not being sold hard on a break where it takes you out of the show for a minute. It’s basically a non-intrusive embedded ad for whatever that product is. It's an interesting take on a new way of looking at product placement."
From Cinema to CTV
Craft notes, perhaps surprisingly, that Slink It began life as an in-cinema second-screen app before migrating to CTV.
“Believe it or not," Craft says, Slink It's first proof-of-concept "was doing it in the theater. We took a smaller project with a company from a friend of mine who has his own studio and he produced this movie and we had a red carpet event at the Chinese Theater. A lot of people came and he wanted the Slink It experience inside the theater. As that movie was going on, that audience had opportunities to trigger the trigger button. Now mind you, they couldn't shop while they were watching the show, but like I told you before, those items get saved when you trigger it. So long as you trigger it and it captures the items within that three to four seconds, it saves it for you."
The CTV-based at-home experience adds instant gratification and purchasing to Slink It's "save it" side. "At home it's just a great experience," Craft says. "You can act on it right then and there."
A Long View on Data and AI
Daulton asks Craft to reflect a bit on the Streaming Media 2025 show, key themes, and what he thinks the industry “might look like in a year.”
“Obviously, a lot of talk is around artificial intelligence," Craft says. "People are trying to figure out how AI is going to be involved in longevity. And we all know that it's all about the data. Everybody's trying to figure out a way to get their hands on data because as long as they can get their hands on data, then they can create a whole lot of things, including what I'm doing. It doesn't work without data."
“What do you think is the one major trend that people should be thinking about and how it's going to impact any of these businesses over the next 18 months?” Daulton asks.
“It always just goes back to AI," Craft says. "I think the trend is going to be people trying to figure out a way to monetize their data and what they have and how does it fit, how can they monetize it internally? How can it work for other companies that they're doing business with? Because really, to be honest with you, it's not hard to get your hands on a lot of the data because there's a lot of affiliate programs out there and people are always doing some sort of partnership. If they can't sell items or services themselves, they look for affiliates or publishers to do it for them. And so I believe that the trend is really just trying to figure out a way to do that more on an AI level.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” says Daulton.
Join us December 9-11 and tune in for more great conversations at Streaming Media Connect! Registration is free and open now!
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