Shoppable TV Has a QR Code Problem
Shoppable TV was supposed to change everything by allowing consumers to make purchases inspired by their favorite content.
Instead, it gave us a QR code problem.
QR codes have existed for decades but have only recently become a staple of advertising. Their big cultural moment came in 2022, when Coinbase ran a Super Bowl commercial featuring nothing but a bouncing code. Viewers scanned it in such large numbers that the company’s website briefly crashed, which convinced marketers the world over that television could be interactive.
Since then, brands have poured millions in media spend into making commercials “shoppable” by placing QR codes on screen. The logic seems simple: put your code in front of millions of viewers and they will scan it.
But many publishers have told me that widespread scanning just hasn’t materialized, with some even reporting that CTR hovers around 0.03%. Why so low? Because scanning a QR code takes viewers away from the content they love.
When attention gets misread
Here’s the disconnect: viewers connect with content, not with ads. That’s because they care about characters, storylines, talent, locations, and the emotional moments that make television powerful.
If a shoppable experience doesn’t directly connect with that emotional investment, it feels disconnected from the moment viewers are already enjoying. Instead of extending that engagement, the brand falls back on a generic prompt, which when scanned, takes viewers away from the experience.
Consumers already interact with the brands and products they see on TV. 62% discover new brands through TV, and the average viewer spends about $290 a year on purchases inspired by what they watch. But when they decide to act, most start elsewhere: 55% begin their search on a search engine, not inside a TV interface.
The industry has been slow to understand this distinction, refusing to let go of the dominant model that treats commerce as something disjointed from the content and bolted onto an ad that viewers aren’t invested in.
How content-first commerce captures inspiration
Once you start thinking beyond the QR code, shoppable media starts to look different. A digital storefront tied to a show becomes a place where fandom continues. Audiences explore what talent is wearing, cooking, or using. They discover filming locations. They browse products inspired by the stories they already love. In these contexts, viewers are actively searching for ways to bring inspiration from the screen into their own lives.
That shift changes everything for brands. Instead of fighting for attention during a 30-second break and hoping viewers scan their QR code, they show up inside moments of genuine affinity where product discovery feels organic and the path to purchase is shorter. And all of it is anchored in the trust and emotional energy audiences already place in the content. Of course, QR codes can be part of the experience, but they shouldn’t dictate how it unfolds.
The broader pattern is hard to miss. Commerce is migrating toward content everywhere: from Walmart acquiring Vizio, to Amazon weaving Prime Video deeper into its retail flywheel, to TikTok building an entire shopping layer into its feed. As media companies and advertisers take advantage of this shift, they’re showing up in the places that count (and convert).
We’ve seen this firsthand through our work with Bell Media in Canada, where content-driven storefronts have generated thousands of hours of audience engagement and meaningful lift for brands across categories. But the principle is not unique to any single partnership. Wherever commerce earns its place within content, viewers lean in rather than tune out.
The AI accelerant
These shifts are only being accelerated with AI-driven discovery, which is radically changing how consumers encounter products. Recommendations increasingly appear inside summaries, feeds, and conversational interfaces before a consumer ever visits a brand site or search results page. In other words, product discovery is happening inside the experience itself.
QR codes follow a very different logic: they ask viewers to pause the show, grab a phone, scan a code, and leave the emotional moment.
The environments gaining traction today keep discovery connected to the inspiration that sparked it. Viewers explore products in the same place where their attention already lives. This dynamic points to where shoppable TV can succeed: when it grows out of the content audiences care about and the moments that capture their attention.
[Editor's note: This is a contributed article from ShopSense AI. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]
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