Twitch is letting third parties sell their favorite products live on stream. The first company to receive that opportunity is Refinery29, which is debuting a shoppable version of its Most Wanted feature.
The Most Wanted broadcast went live on June 15 on the Refinery29 Twitch hub. Notably, it’s not the first time that a Twitch stream has been presented in a fully shoppable manner. The Amazon-owned platform rang in the 2022 holiday season by sharing some of its POG Picks. Sponsors of Twitch’s ecommerce events have included Samsung and Google.
Thanks to its parent company’s vast empire of affiliate marketing links, Twitch is well-positions to enter the crowded field of social shopping. The beleaguered streamer is looking to bounce back after its community revolted over unpopular branded content policies.
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Refinery29 has also dealt with its own troubles. The one-time digital media giant has struggled to find its footing in the social video world. After enduring controversy, Refinery29 was acquired by Vice in 2019. Its new parent company has since filed for bankruptcy.
Despite that bumpy road, Refinery29 is still looking to try out formats that could spark interest — and social sales — among its fashion-forward community. “The media industry is struggling because of ad sales, right? The media buys for those things have been lacking, not just digitally, but in print, too. So I want to push back on the idea of, ‘why innovate?'” Refinery29 Entertainment Director and Twitch Lead Melissah Yang told Digiday. “Live shopping is a business case to be able to diversify your revenue streams — so, to me, it just makes perfect sense for us to be doing this.”
Digiday noted that Twitch will be the main focus of Refinery29’s live shopping efforts. At the same time, the media brand will experiment with similar initiatives across other platforms.
