Amazon expands shoppable features on Prime Video

Amazon is making it easier to shop while watching TV. The retail giant announced Thursday a series of new features that let customers discover products across thousands of Prime Video titles through integrations with its existing X-Ray experience, which already displays real-time actor bios, character names, soundtrack music, and more. It’s also introducing a new way to “shop the scene” using Amazon’s Lens visual-search technology, along with other updates.

The changes build on last year’s “Shop the Show,” a second-screen shopping experience available through the Amazon mobile shopping app that took users to products tied to a movie, show, or live sporting event when they typed “shop the show” into the Amazon Search app — a feature that was arguably easy to miss. The new features aim to make product recommendations more prominent and easier to access.

Amazon joins a number of services integrating shopping into the viewing experience as an additional revenue stream. YouTube has long offered creators a merch shelf and shoppable connected TV ads; Peacock added a “Must ShopTV” feature in 2023 that lets viewers buy products appearing in its content; Roku offers a way to shop with its remote; and Disney has experimented with shoppable TV, including streaming ads on Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN.

To shop via X-Ray, users press up on the Fire TV remote to launch the experience as usual, then visit a new “Shop” tab showcasing products related to what’s playing. To make a purchase, they open the Amazon Shopping app, which recognizes what’s on screen and drops them into a feed synced to that moment where they can browse products.

The second-screen experience beyond X-Ray has also improved: instead of typing “shop the show,” users can just open the Amazon Shopping app while watching and get taken directly to that title’s storefront. Tapping an image lets Amazon Lens identify other products inspired by characters’ outfits, home decor, and other items in the scene — though it won’t always find an exact match, since characters often wear clothing Amazon or its sellers don’t stock, including high-end or handmade pieces.

“Shop the Scene” is live today on iOS and Android in the US and works with more than 600 titles. “Shop the Show” is expanding from 1,300 titles to more than 8,000 in the US, including Prime Originals, select licensed favorites, and live sports.

Why it matters

As streamers look for revenue beyond subscriptions and ads, Amazon’s unique advantage — owning both the video platform and the retail storefront — turns every scene of a show into a potential product page, a model rivals without an in-house marketplace can’t easily replicate.