Amazon Prime Video Launches New Feature Letting Viewers Shop On-Screen Products Directly While Watching Content

Amazon has rolled out a suite of new shopping features for its Prime Video streaming platform that allow users to more conveniently purchase products tied to on-screen content while watching movies, TV shows and sports programming, foreign media reported.

The update comes one year after Amazon first launched its in-content shopping tool Shop the Show. The original version of Shop the Show operated as a second-screen shopping experience: users had to enter specific commands in the search bar of Amazon’s mobile shopping app to access the product page tied to the movie, show or live sports event they were watching, a function with a low-visibility entry point that was hard for users to notice. With the new set of features, product recommendation entry points are placed in far more prominent positions, cutting the access path significantly.

When viewers pause playback, they can press the up button on their Fire TV remote to pull up the X-Ray interface. Previously, the X-Ray panel was mainly used to display real-time information including cast bios, character names, and on-screen soundtracks. The update adds a dedicated shopping tab to the interface, which centrally showcases products tied to the currently playing content. When users open the Amazon shopping app after that, the system will automatically identify the content they are viewing and redirect them to a product feed page synced to their current playback timestamp, where they can browse and place orders directly.

The second-screen shopping experience has also been upgraded in sync. Users no longer need to manually enter search commands; if they open the Amazon shopping app mid-viewing, they will be taken directly to the dedicated product page for the content they are watching.

The newly launched Shop the Scene feature is powered by Amazon Lens visual search technology. When users click on an on-screen screenshot on the corresponding page, the system can identify items appearing in the frame such as character outfits and home decor, and match them to relevant products sold on the platform. Due to supply constraints for categories including high-end branded apparel and custom handmade costumes, the feature cannot guarantee all search results are exact matches to items seen on screen, but serves as a reference portal for users looking for similar style products. The feature is now live on iOS and Android in the U.S., supporting more than 600 titles.

Following the upgrade, coverage of the in-app Shop the Show feature in the U.S. has expanded from 1,300 titles to over 8,000, including Prime Original content, curated licensed hit movies and TV shows, and live sports programming.

Integrating in-content shopping entry points has become a widely adopted revenue growth strategy across the streaming industry. YouTube has long offered merch display shelves for creators, alongside shoppable connected TV ads. Peacock launched its Must ShopTV feature in 2023, enabling users to purchase products featured in the platform’s content. Roku has also rolled out features that allow direct shopping via remote control. Disney previously tested shoppable TV formats in ads across its Disney+, Hulu and ESPN streaming services.

This article was first published on the official website of Ebrun.