Pinterest is looking to lean into the rising live-stream commerce trend, which has already gained huge traction in China, with its own series of live shopping events, via a new initiative called ‘Pinterest TV’.

As explained by Pinterest:

“Today we’re announcing Pinterest TV, a series of live, original and shoppable episodes featuring creators right on Pinterest. Pinterest TV episodes are refreshed each weekday and will be recorded and available for Pinners to view on-demand, and save and rewatch later.”

The new series of shopping-focused live-streams, beginning on November 8th, will give Pinners the opportunity to take up exclusive deals in the app, via engaging, immediate live-stream broadcasts.

“Each Friday, products will drop in a live shopping setting where Pinners can take advantage of discounts from brands including Patagonia, All Birds, Crown Affair, Melody Ehsani, Outdoor Voices, Mented and more. Simply click the TV icon in the upper left corner of the Pinterest app to view episodes, interact with hosts, ask questions via chat, and get answers live.”

Pinterest has been exploring its own live-stream options as a means to maximize its eCommerce push, with the platform recently launching a series of celebrity-led live-streams in the app as part of its ‘Creators Connect’ event.

Pinterest TV is the next evolution of the same, bringing a new level of immediate interaction and shopping activity direct to the app - just in time for the holiday shopping push.

In addition to this, Pinterest's also launching a new initiative to help more creators launch their own shopping live-streams in the app.

“Along with Pinterest TV, Pinterest is launching a virtual studio where Pinterest producers work directly with each creator to develop unique content, providing “backstage” A/V support, and go live with engaging episodes.”

That will help expand the platform’s live shopping focus, and give more creators more opportunities to sell within the app.

eCommerce is the key trend of focus for virtually every social app, based on the rising interest in online shopping, as a result of the pandemic, and the opportunities that in-stream buying can then facilitate for direct revenue, revenue share for creators, usage behaviors, etc.

Pinterest had actually made product discovery and shopping its key focus long before the pandemic, with CEO Ben Silbermann noting back in 2016 that it was ‘not a social app’, but that instead, Pinterest had evolved to become ‘a catalog of ideas’. As part of this, shopping has always been the logical progression, and it’s been working to facilitate its eCommerce vision ever since, with streamlined catalog ingestion tools, shopping platform integrations, AR product display options, improved discovery and more.

As such, it’s little surprise to see Pinterest also leaning into the live-shopping push, which, as noted, is already huge in China, and has also already been taken up by Instagram, TikTok and YouTube among others.

And it could well become the next big shift. Indeed, according to McKinsey, China’s live-commerce space is on track to become a $423 billion market by the end of next year.

It’s immediate, it’s engaging, and it can spark impulse buying behavior, while also helping to boost brand awareness and connection.

And maybe, it will become a key part of the Pinterest shopping process as well.