Livestreaming has become a prominent feature across the social media and digital video landscapes. Here’s how marketers are taking advantage of opportunities within the space.

Livestreaming Expectations Grow. Advertisers believed livestreaming, particularly surrounding live commerce events, would be a growth area on social platforms in 2022. However, shopping livestreams have just started to emerge on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube within the past couple of months.

TikTok Will Challenge Instagram in Brand-Sponsored Livestreaming. Creator interest in shoppable livestreaming is rising in the US. Only 10.9% of US creators in the November 2021 Mavrck survey had participated in a shopping livestream, and many of those were organic, not brand-sponsored, sessions.

TikTok is leaning in hard to livestreaming. It has added livestreams to the For You tab so that they appear among other videos in the main feed, which users see as soon as they open the app. And several major retailers, including Walmart, have already partnered with TikTok to host shoppable livestreams in the US. US social media users are warming up to the idea of livestream shopping.

Invest in Emerging Formats like Livestreaming to Stand Out from the Crowd. Consumers are eager to embrace livestreaming ecommerce.

On today's episode, we discuss which ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services Americans are using, why they're using them, and if these types of viewers are different from those using subscription video-on-demand (SVOD). We then talk about what livestream TV could do to help users sign up at a faster clip, how SVOD players can reduce churn, and what to make of Disney+ considering an ad-supported tier. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna.

But there will be two silver linings: Livestreaming ecommerce will increase 60.0% in China next year with social livestreaming sales growing 61.1%. Government interventions will create a mixed outlook for ecommerce. Over the past 18 months, Beijing has undertaken an anti-monopoly regulatory blitz against China’s most successful platform economy players.

Twitter expands social commerce offerings to catch up with competitors: The social media platform won’t be a shopping destination anytime soon, but that won’t stop it from experimenting.

As the lines continue to blur between digital and physical channels, retailers will need to master both to entice consumers to continue to return to their brand. Here are five trends they should keep an eye on.

On Google’s end, that meant pushing into social commerce with features like livestream shopping on YouTube, as well as improving its Google Shopping product with visual search integration and better filtering options.

YouTube is the most popular platform for non-TV video content in the US, with 65% of the country’s short-form video viewers using the service to watch user-generated content, video game livestreams, and the like.

Integrations related to livestreaming and social commerce. More video and interactivity. New ways for creators to make money from exclusive content and social commerce, but also the potential for more scrutiny of sponsorship disclosures. Livestreaming and Social Commerce Integrations. Stories and livestreaming are getting more complementary.

Marketer Takeaway: Livestreaming is poised to be a major driver of social commerce growth, but it’s still in its early days in the US. Brands that are ready to experiment in the livestreaming commerce space should start with a curated selection of products and remember that it’s not only about sales: Livestreaming can also be an excellent brand awareness and customer engagement tool.

Twitter has started testing a livestream shopping feature, while Pinterest recently launched Pinterest TV, which the company describes as “a series of live, original, and shoppable episodes featuring creators right on Pinterest.”.