Shoppable media refers to any digital content that enables consumers to make a purchase directly from the media they consume, whether through social posts, connected TV (CTV) ads, livestreams, or retail website integrations. As retailers and platforms expand shoppable formats, marketers face new opportunities to compress the purchase funnel and achieve closed-loop measurement. This FAQ examines how shoppable media works, where consumers engage with it, and how marketers should evaluate these emerging formats.

What is shoppable media?

Shoppable media is any form of digital content that includes a direct call to action leading to a purchase, either within the platform or through a retailer's site. Examples include social commerce posts on TikTok and Instagram, CTV ads with QR codes, livestream shopping events, and online recipes linking to ingredient purchase pages.

More than 30% of US internet users made at least one shoppable media purchase in 2025, according to a November 2025 EMARKETER forecast. Most shoppable purchases occur through social platforms, where content discovery and transaction increasingly happen in the same session.

The format offers marketers two primary advantages: funnel compression (allowing purchases at the point of discovery) and closed-loop measurement (directly attributing ad placements to sales).

How does shoppable media differ from social commerce?

Shoppable media is the broader category; social commerce is one form of it. Social commerce specifically refers to purchases made on or through social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, or Pinterest. Shoppable media encompasses social commerce plus other formats: CTV ads with QR codes, shoppable video content, livestream shopping, and retail site integrations.

Social platforms have become the dominant channel for shoppable transactions because discovery and purchase happen naturally in the same interaction. Other shoppable formats, particularly CTV, require more deliberate action from consumers (scanning a QR code, visiting a separate site) and remain earlier in adoption.

Where are consumers most receptive to shoppable media?

Social platforms dominate consumer adoption. TikTok Shop has emerged as the fastest-growing channel, reaching $15.82 billion in US sales in 2025 (up 108% from 2024) and capturing 18.2% of total social commerce, according to EMARKETER. Nearly half (49.7%) of TikTok social shoppers purchase at least monthly, more frequently than on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.

CTV shoppable formats are gaining traction with younger audiences. Nearly 18% of 18-to-34-year-olds have made a purchase through shoppable CTV media, compared with 10% of general audiences, per EMARKETER's Shoppable Media 2025 report. QR codes in TV ads have the highest visibility: over 60% of consumers have encountered them, and 31% do not find them intrusive.

What is driving shoppable media adoption?

Four factors are accelerating marketer interest in shoppable formats:

• Closed-loop measurement. Shoppable ads connect impressions directly to transactions, providing attribution that traditional brand advertising cannot offer. This appeals to marketers under pressure to demonstrate ROI.
• Retail media network expansion. Retailers including Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, and Albertsons have launched shoppable video formats on CTV and social platforms, expanding inventory beyond on-site placements.
• Platform investment. Amazon launched shoppable ads on Prime Video and partnered with TikTok. Walmart acquired Vizio and expanded shoppable formats through NBCUniversal, per EMARKETER.
• Marketer prioritization. 38% of US ad buyers planned to focus more on shoppable ads in 2025, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

How are CTV platforms integrating shoppable features?

CTV platforms are adding shoppable capabilities through QR codes, remote-control interactions, and retailer partnerships. Amazon's Prime Video introduced shoppable ads that allow viewers to add products to their Amazon cart. Walmart partnered with NBCUniversal to run shoppable linear TV ads using QR codes. Instacart launched shoppable formats on YouTube and Roku, while Albertsons' retail media network introduced "Collective TV" with shoppable YouTube integrations, according to EMARKETER's Shoppable Media 2025 report.

CTV engagement is growing: engagement per impression reached 1.94% in Q2 2025, up from 1.0% in Q2 2024, per EMARKETER. Adoption barriers remain: 71% of CTV viewers keep phones nearby while watching and 62% are open to scanning QR codes, found LG Ad Solutions, but the action requires more effort than tapping a social post.

What role do retail media networks play in shoppable media?

Retail media networks (RMNs) are leading the expansion of shoppable formats beyond on-site sponsored products. Off-site retail media spending is growing at twice the rate of on-site through 2026, according to a December 2025 EMARKETER forecast, with some of that investment flowing into shoppable video.

Retailers use shoppable media to extend their first-party data advantage to premium video environments. Amazon and Walmart control over 80% of retail media ad spending combined, per EMARKETER, giving them resources to invest in shoppable CTV and social integrations. Smaller RMNs face pressure to differentiate through measurement quality and unique inventory partnerships.

What challenges do marketers face with shoppable media?

Despite growing investment, shoppable media presents specific obstacles:

• Measurement complexity. Retailers are still standardizing retail media measurement. Adding off-site shoppable ads enhances some lower-funnel metrics but complicates full-funnel attribution.
• Format fragmentation. Each platform (Prime Video, TikTok, Roku, YouTube) has different ad formats, buying interfaces, and performance reporting, increasing operational overhead.
• Consumer behavior gaps. Social commerce succeeds because discovery and purchase happen together. CTV and linear TV require consumers to take secondary actions (scanning codes, visiting sites), limiting conversion rates.

Marketers should prioritize working with retailers offering transparent, standardized measurement to assess true incrementality.

How should marketers evaluate shoppable media opportunities in 2026?

Start with social commerce, where consumer adoption is established and conversion paths are frictionless. TikTok Shop's rapid growth makes it a priority channel for brands targeting Gen Z and millennial shoppers.

For CTV shoppable formats, test QR-code integrations in brand campaigns where clickthrough rates (rather than direct conversions) serve as the primary KPI. QR codes have high visibility and low perceived intrusiveness, making them suitable for upper-funnel experimentation, according to EMARKETER.

When evaluating RMN shoppable offerings, assess:

• Measurement transparency. Can the retailer provide incrementality testing or holdout experiments?
• Data access. Does reporting include impression-level data or only aggregated summaries?
• Integration. Can performance data flow into existing marketing analytics systems?

Allocate test budgets but prepare to shift investment if ROI does not scale.

We prepared this article with the assistance of generative AI tools and stand behind its accuracy, quality, and originality.

EMARKETER forecast data was current at publication and may have changed. EMARKETER clients have access to up-to-date forecast data. To explore EMARKETER solutions, click here.