Instacart Offers Shoppable YouTube Ads for CPGs
Online grocery platform Instacart is offering its first-party retail media data on YouTube, with the aim of driving even more shoppable reach for its advertisers. Certain brand partners will be able to engage and convert consumers watching YouTube directly to buy products for same-day delivery. This latest capability builds on the Instacart-powered Google Shopping Ads collaboration rolled out earlier this year.
The offering will help brands turn their YouTube ads into instantly shoppable experiences backed by Instacart’s retail media technology and fulfillment network. Clorox and PR firm Publicis Media are among the first partners to pilot the capability. Pilot partners’ shoppable video campaigns on YouTube will employ Instacart’s first-party data to find and reach high-intent consumers, and receive closed-loop measurement. Viewers can click directly from these YouTube ads to an Instacart product page to buy the featured items for same-day delivery.
“We’re proud to continue bringing our world-class advertising capabilities to more platforms and unlocking innovative new touchpoints to connect brands and consumers,” said Fidji Simo, CEO and chair of San Francisco-based Instacart. “By expanding into shoppable YouTube ad formats, we’re merging the power of video creative with our valuable first-party data and seamless shopping experience. Today’s announcement marks an important next step to make grocery shopping effortless by helping consumers more easily go from discovery to purchase.”
“Clorox has been a longstanding Instacart Ads partner,” noted Tiffany Tan, senior director, eCommerce Growth Accelerator at The Clorox Co., based in Oakland, Calif. “We’ve been quick to test new pilot offerings, including Instacart’s shoppable video ads on their platform, because we see the value of retail media to reach our target consumers. We are excited to pilot these new Instacart-powered shoppable YouTube ads off of Instacart to test and learn alongside the Instacart team. Instacart’s first-party retail media data layered on top of our video creative will help us create engaging, shoppable ads to better reach, inspire and drive purchases from YouTube.”
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“Retail media networks are a meaningful channel for our CPG clients because of their high-intent audiences at the point of purchase,” observed Joel Lunenfeld, CEO of Paris-based Publicis Media Exchange (PMX). “We look forward to piloting these new shoppable ads to help our clients power greater connected commerce experiences for their customers and reduce the path to purchase. This is another powerful retail media capability we can provide clients that delivers rich, first party data and fulfillment capabilities that can be scaled, ultimately helping them grow their business.”
The YouTube pilot grows Instacart’s wider retail media collaboration with Google Shopping. This past January, Instacart rolled out a new partnership to deliver Google Shopping Ads for its CPG partners, making use of Instacart’s rich first-party retail media data. Brands such as Danone and Nestlé USA were among the first to pilot the new offering. Instacart’s AI-powered merchandising combines nutritional preferences, past purchases and real-time trend data to connect with high-intent consumers across Google’s properties and facilitate purchases via Instacart.
According to a recent Google/TalkShoppe study, YouTube is the No. 1 platform used by consumers to research products and make buying decisions, with viewers watching more than 30 billion hours of shopping-related content in 2023.
Instacart works with more than 1,500 national, regional and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from 85,000-plus stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace.
