Shoppable TV ads: how commerce formats work on CTV and what India offers

Shoppable TV ads enable the viewer to purchase a product or take a commercial action directly from a TV advertisement — without picking up a phone, visiting a website on a separate device, or leaving the TV experience. The ad shows a product; the viewer can navigate to a product detail page, add to cart, and complete a purchase using their remote control or a connected mobile wallet. Shoppable TV is one of the most-discussed emerging formats in global CTV advertising. In India, it is in an early stage — real but not yet at scale.

How shoppable TV works technically

There are two architectural approaches to shoppable TV. The first is full in-TV commerce: the TV app contains a complete commerce flow — product page, add to cart, checkout — navigable via remote. Amazon has built this on Fire TV through its Amazon Shopping integration. A user watching content on Fire TV can click on a product featured in an ad, see a product page, and complete purchase with their saved Amazon payment method — all without leaving the TV. This requires deep platform-level commerce infrastructure.

The second approach is TV-to-phone hand-off: the TV ad shows a QR code or triggers a phone notification, routing the purchase journey to mobile. The TV creates the intent; the phone completes the transaction. This is significantly easier to implement because it requires only a functional QR code or SMS trigger on the TV side, with the full commerce experience on the phone. In India, this second approach is more common because India's e-commerce infrastructure (Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho, Myntra) is well-developed on mobile.

Amazon shoppable ads on Fire TV in India

Amazon is the most advanced shoppable TV player globally, and Fire TV is its platform for shoppable CTV. In India, Amazon has integrated shopping features into Fire TV content — Prime Video ads can include product cards, and Amazon's DSP enables shoppable ad units for Amazon sellers and direct brands. The commerce handoff can go directly to the Amazon app on a paired phone (using Amazon's second-screen notifications) or to the TV-native cart.

For India advertisers selling on Amazon, Fire TV shoppable ads represent the most accessible shoppable CTV format available today. For non-Amazon commerce (D2C brands, other e-commerce platforms), QR code-to-mobile-cart is the practical route.

JioCinema and shoppable potential

Reliance Industries, JioCinema's parent company, operates JioMart (e-commerce), Jio Pay (payments), and Reliance Retail — a vertically integrated commerce stack. The theoretical infrastructure for native shoppable TV on JioCinema exists within the Jio ecosystem. As of 2025–26, integrated shoppable TV on JioCinema is not a standardised ad product, but the platform infrastructure makes it a plausible near-term development.

Hotstar and shoppable TV

Hotstar (Disney+ Hotstar) does not have a native commerce infrastructure equivalent to Amazon's. Shoppable TV on Hotstar currently means QR code-to-mobile rather than in-TV checkout. Disney's global partnership with TikTok Shop-style commerce is a development to watch, but India-specific shoppable TV on Hotstar is not yet a standardised product.

What shoppable TV needs to work

For shoppable TV to deliver full-funnel performance, it requires: a commerce-enabled TV platform (Amazon Fire TV is the clearest example); a connected payment method (Amazon Pay, saved card); low-friction product discovery (product tiles that load quickly with remote navigation); and a trustworthy brand/product context (the ad content must be product-focused enough that purchase intent is natural). All four conditions exist on Amazon in India. For other platforms, the QR-to-mobile handoff is the practical substitute.

India shoppable TV outlook

India is well-positioned for shoppable TV adoption for three reasons: high mobile payment adoption (UPI), a well-developed e-commerce ecosystem, and growing CTV penetration in households that are already comfortable with online shopping. The question is not whether India will develop shoppable TV but which platform builds the native commerce integration first. Amazon Fire TV has the lead. JioCinema has the infrastructure potential. 2026–28 will likely see the first standardised shoppable CTV products in India at scale.