TVN Warner Bros. Discovery starts Zoku, a shop-from-the-show service on Player

TVN Warner Bros. Discovery has started a service called Zoku. The company describes it as “entertainment-to-commerce”, which means linking its programmes with online shopping. Zoku works on Player, the company’s streaming platform. When viewers pause a show in the Player app, they see products that the system spotted in that scene. If it does not find anything, viewers get the full list of products from that episode. Parts of a show with items for sale carry a Zoku logo. There is also a separate site, Zoku.pl. There people can browse products by programme and episode, and are then sent to a shop’s own site to buy.

The part that recognises products uses AI. The broadcaster says the system looks at the picture on screen and matches it with items in partner shops’ catalogues. It shows either the exact product or one that looks like it. Adam Sawicki, group senior vice president for digital at TVN WBD, told Press that AI opens up new options, including choosing the content itself. At the start, Zoku.pl lists reality and lifestyle shows such as Hotel Paradise, Zakup w ciemno, Top Model and Ostre cięcie.

TVN WBD does not run the shop itself. The shops that take part handle payment, stock, delivery, returns and customer service. The company says the range will grow as more shops sign up. It has not said which shops are taking part, or how it will charge brands.

Zoku recognises products on screen instead of hand tagging

Zoku is one of the first times a big broadcaster in the region has turned its programmes into a shop using computer vision, meaning software that recognises things in pictures. Until now this was done by tagging products by hand. For advertisers it creates a new kind of space to buy. It sits between product placement and retail media, meaning ads sold by online shops. A product does not have to be written into the script to be for sale. But a brand that wants to be matched for certain will probably need to be in a partner shop’s product feed. It also gives TVN WBD its own data on what viewers want to buy. Polish TV companies have not had that, while Player competes with Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon for ad money.

Poland tried this in 2020 with Insbay, and labelling was the issue

Wirtualne Media notes that Poland has tried this before. The Insbay app offered shopping from scenes in 2020. Telewizja Republika ran a shop called Goryla.pl, and the regulator asked how product placement was being made clear. The test for Zoku will be whether the AI matches products well enough to avoid odd or misleading suggestions. A second test is how the broadcaster labels these shopping tips under Polish media law and under the AI Act, the EU’s new rules for artificial intelligence, which ask for openness. TVN WBD has not said how much of Player’s catalogue is covered, or whether the feature will also reach its ordinary TV channels.