SAN MATEO, Calif.—In what promises to be a major expansion of interactive features and personalized content on the DirecTV platform, the operator and Glance have announced that they will launch Glance AI on DirecTV Gemini devices in early 2026.

The two companies said that the deployment will significantly change how consumers experience idle TV screens and notably expand DirecTV’s personalized consumer experiences. Glance AI offers interactive AI-powered content and commerce screensavers on idle TV screens that provide access to new entertainment, shopping, and creative experiences.

A video of the experience can be found below and on YouTube.

"Glance AI unlocks a new two-way relationship between TV watchers and their idle screens," said Naveen Tewari, CEO and founder, Glance. "Whether its sparking creativity in a family room using Glance's AI looks on TV, or creating an AI feed of your favorite sports leagues on your idle-screens, or helping your kids discover their next dream vacation, or letting your partner instantly select a brand & reimagine themselves in the brand catalog right from their living-room TV itself, Glance AI makes it all come alive."

"With Glance AI, TV screensavers become a smart content discovery, personalization, and AI-commerce experience", said Vikash Sharma, senior vice president product marketing at DirecTV.. "DirecTV audiences who stream TV through our Gemini devices will now get the opportunity to reimagine their interactions with their TV screen, with personalized content, entertainment, news, and shopping recommendations in real time."

Powered by advanced on-device AI developed in collaboration with Google, Glance AI will allow consumers to access a wide variety of interactive experiences, including capabilities that will allow viewers to:

• Engage in interactive screensaver experiences across lifestyle, travel, health, auto, seasonal events, and local trends, directly on the TV screens.
• Stay up to date in real-time with live weather and sports scores tailored to their interests.
• Shop smarter by discovering and engaging with products and brands in an AI-led virtual and visually immersive shopping experience that feels native to TV.
• Seamlessly go beyond the TV with new commerce experiences that extend via mobile devices.

For more, visit glance.com and inmobi.com.

A video of the experience can be found below:

BENTONVILLE, Ark. & SAN JOSE, Calif.— Walmart and Roku have announced a major partnership that hopes to make connected TVs the next big e-commerce shopping destination. 

As part of the effort, consumers will be able to purchase featured products from shoppable ads on Roku’s streaming platform and have them fulfilled by Walmart. 

To buy goods, Roku users would simply press “OK” with the remote on a shoppable ad and proceed to checkout with their payment details easily pre-populated from Roku Pay, Roku’s payments platform. 

From there, tapping “OK” on the Walmart checkout page places the order. A Walmart purchase confirmation is then emailed with shipping, return, and support information. 

While companies have long been interested in turning TV into a shopping platform, such t-commerce efforts have not successfully challenged the dominance of online retailers like Amazon, in part because it is much easier to navigate through websites on a PC or a mobile phone. 

The two companies hope that their new partnership will push TV shopping beyond QR code and change the way customers shop and interact with video content by making it easy to discover products and by providing a seamless checkout experience that enables purchases directly at the time of inspiration. 

The effort could help Roku and Walmart, which is already a major ecommerce player, get a leg up on Amazon, Google, Facebook and Pinterest in their connected TV and ecommerce offerings. 

It also poses additional competition to companies like NBCUniversal that have been expanding their own shoppable TV experiences. 

“We’re working to connect with customers where they are already spending time, shortening the distance from discovery and inspiration to purchase,” said William White, chief marketing officer, Walmart. “No one has cracked the code around video shoppability. By working with Roku, we’re the first to market retailer to bring customers a new shoppable experience and seamless checkout on the largest screen in their homes – their TV.” 

The partnership draws on Walmart’s expertise in evaluating customer behaviors and then ramping up those commerce offerings to customers where and how they want to shop, including during moments of entertainment. 

In addition, Roku’s purpose-built advertising tech stack will bring all the benefits of streaming TV advertising – targeting, optimization, and measurement – to the commerce partnership, the companies said. 

“We’re making shopping on TV as easy as it is on social,” said Peter Hamilton, head of TV commerce, Roku. “For years, streamers have purchased new Roku devices and signed up for millions of subscriptions with their Roku remote. Streaming commerce brings that same ease and convenience to marketers and shoppers.” 

OneView, Roku’s ad-buying platform for TV streaming, will have the exclusive capability to activate and measure these shoppable ads. Additionally, marketers will be able to use Roku Brand Studio to design custom creative and branded content built for TV streaming and shopping.  

NEW YORK—With retailers shut down nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, NBCUniversal announced the launch of a new eCommerce platform that brings interactive shopping via TV closer to reality. 

“NBCUniversal Checkout” will give retailers of any size the opportunity to offer their products and services through a “storefront,” allowing viewers to purchase via several methods, be it through clicking a remote or scanning a QR code from their smart device. Part of the network’s “Shoppable TV” initiative, NBCU’s “Creative Partnerships team” will serve as a production resource to help retailers build and distribute new marketing assets. From now until the end of the year, NBCU will waive technology and cart fees on “Shoppable TV” and digital branded experiences. 

NBCUniversal Checkout transforms any piece of content on the NBCUniversal platform into an interactive shoppable experience, according to the company. Whenever fans see a product they want as a part of the content they watch—whether it’s on digital, linear or social—they will be able to instantly click and buy it. They will also be able to scan the NBCU code on their television screens to add all their products to a universal cart, powered by NBCUniversal Checkout.

The service will be available across all NBCU/Telemundo channels and will also provide social media marketing strategies as well. NBCU will set up the electronic storefronts and pass the information along to the retailer to fill the orders. While NBCU will get information about the customer, the relationship is owned by the retailer, according to TVT’s sister publication Broadcasting & Cable. 

“With NBCUniversal Checkout, both audiences and advertisers will benefit. Our viewers will get better viewing and easier shopping across our platform—and research shows when we improve the content experience for people, marketers see more impact, too,” the network said. “By bringing together creativity, innovation and intention, NBCUniversal Checkout can help our retail partners adapt to these challenging circumstances, stay connected to customers and remain open for business.”

SAN FRANCISCO--Connekt, a Silicon Valley-based provider of ecommerce and smart TV technology, has been awarded a patent for its proprietary technology, enabling audiences to research and purchase items viewed on TV and video. The patented technology is already in use by top consumer brands, TV networks and their agencies.

Connekt’s patent allows viewers to interact with and purchase items showcased on TV, in real time. When an ad is displayed on screen, viewers can purchase directly via a wide array of devices, such as remote controls, phones and voice-activated assistants.

“With unprecedented levels of connectivity in the home, consumers now have the ability to engage and transact securely with content across devices, and brands have new ways to interact with them,” said David Rudnick, CTO of Connekt. “Our patent uniquely simplifies interactive TV buying by converging video advertising, content and commerce practices.”

The platform-based SaaS solutions patent enables brands to safely conduct commerce on video to increase revenue. Partners across verticals have already seen their TV investments become more targeted, engaging, transactable and measurable, the company said.

“Connekt’s patented technology is allowing us to create smarter video and TV ad experiences for our brands,” said Bre Rossetti, SVP, Director Strategy & Innovation from Havas Media. "With an unparalleled market offering, Connekt’s platform helps us provide rich, detailed insights - backed by data - about consumer viewing habits to help our clients make more informed buying decisions.”

With Connekt’s new patent, it’s now possible for audiences to discover and purchase the specific brand of tennis racket a world-class tennis player is using during any given match. Similarly, if a TV ad for pizza appears during a college football game, audiences are now able to initiate an order through the remote or voice control.

Connekt’s clients include LG, Sony, Nielsen, ABC, CBS, Showtime, each of the agency holding companies, and dozens of brands, like Chipotle, Eli Lilly, P&G and Target.

Connekt recently announced an initiative to add "Buy Now" buttons to Sony smart TV and is working with Verance to develop ecommerce apps for ATSC 3.0 (aka Next Gen TV)