Online video content has grown significantly in the past decade. It’s true that consumers are now likely to spend more time watching YouTube rather than in front of a TV screen.
The rise of online video content also means more people are able to conveniently access various sources of entertainment and infotainment. What adds to this are smartphones becoming a leading platform for videos, as they are relatively more affordable and portable than bulky PCs or laptops. Beauty live streaming has now become a trend. What started as a fun concept for individuals to share their experiences with friends has now become a marketing tool for businesses and influencers.
Beauty live streamers showing makeup techniques during beauty live shows on YouCam Makeup.
Apart from just marketing products, live streaming is a billion-dollar industry, whereby live streamers generate an income by interacting with their audiences.
How Shoppertainment Is Transforming Beauty E-commerce
No one could have predicted the extent to which the coronavirus pandemic could have affected our everyday lives with lockdowns, physical distancing, and of course, the infamous mandate masks.
As we’ve discussed in our earlier blog post, the restrictions brought by COVID-19 has caused a large chunk of the population to turn to online shopping.
Many beauty brands with a strong online presence are increasingly witnessing their websites flood with visitors, and their online flagship stores inundate with purchases.
This rising trend is seeing surges of new marketing and engagement techniques, as e-commerce businesses and beauty brands attempt to use various novel concepts and technologies to draw in more makeup lovers for an online shopping experience.
One way in which businesses are driving traffic during the coronavirus is by producing more product-oriented video content.
In fact, Cisco estimates that 82% of all created content will be exclusively in the video form by 2022. The rise of video in light of the recent global events is therefore unarguable.
And with a staggering 80% rise in content consumption since the start of this year, watch times are expected to be higher than any time before.
And it’s not surprising. With stay-at-home and remote work mandates, as well as other COVID-19-related measures, it’s only natural that consumers will lean towards various entertainment sources in the form of video consumption.
The figures show. Netflix has reached over 16 million new subscribers and YouTube sees a surge of 98% in views, with 300 billion views in just the first quarter of 2020.
YouTube in-stream augmented reality virtual try-on experience powered by Perfect Corp. Check out our YouTube channel for more >
In fact, Youtube has been recently upping its video content with AR-powered technology brought by Perfect Corp.
The cosmetics industry has been making the most of this year’s lockdowns, too. In-store makeup testers are no longer a safe option, which is why more consumers are shifting their spending to online personalized beauty try-on experiences. In fact, video content and AR technology are increasingly used in tandem to attract and engage with online makeup shoppers.
The New Interactive Video Experience
Beauty brands have long seen the potential of beauty bloggers, live streamers, and online makeup artists in marketing their products.
For instance, live video sessions provide viewers with a closer look at beauty products and allow them to observe how these products are used.
Augmented Reality (AR) Live Streaming service developed by Perfect Corp.
This might be the reason why beauty influencers have the unique ability to attract tens of thousands of viewers within one sole video, be it a beauty tutorial, a product review, or a new makeup look.
What makes this experience interactive is the ability of viewers to ask questions or leave comments live as their favorite MUA artist is addressing them in the video. Oftentimes, the beauty streamer responds to viewers’ comments immediately, which makes this interaction fun and lively in many ways.
Unarguably, live stream beauty videos are becoming increasingly popular. This two-way engagement fulfills a social need that can’t be achieved by conventional online or offline shopping.
Live Streaming Comes To Life With Augmented Reality (AR)
Seeing the crowds that they attract, many beauty personalities and influencers have turned their live streams into marketing sessions, in a concept similar to TV shopping channels. The key difference is of course that live streams tend to be more personal and much more interactive for the participating viewer.
This is why the choice to integrate the AR experience into live streams is both practical and profitable.
Check out our Beauty Tech channel on YouTube for more >
Providing viewership with free makeup tutorials is great, but partnering up with a beauty brand to unbiasedly promote their products as part of the live streaming experience is a move that spells marketing genius.
The benefit of this move is amplified at an even greater rate when AR-powered technology tools come into the mix. For instance, with Perfect Corp’s powerful AR Virtual Makeup technology, beauty brands are able to enhance viewers’ experiences with virtual makeup available right next to the video.
No matter what platform the beauty try-on app is incorporated on - brand's website, YouTube, or a social platform like Snapchat - the uniquely immersive experience virtual makeup offers won’t leave consumers bored for a single moment.
Shoppertainment: Shop While You Watch
And with beauty AR-powered technologies in place, live streams can be turned into unique virtual shopping sessions like never seen before.
Brand product integration to live stream content, for virtual try-on and to enhance online purchase experience.
That’s because shopping online no longer has to be a solitary experience, as viewers can enjoy watching video entertainment produced by their favorite makeup artists, virtually try on the said cosmetics items, and then purchase them - all within one page.
For instance, Perfect Corp’s strategic partnership with Youtube is allowing beauty brands to promote makeup products through InStream Youtube videos, all the whilst offering viewers the unique abilities to virtual try-on and purchase the said beauty items within the same window, right from their phones.
This built-in feature offers extremely realistic virtual beauty try-on effects that can greatly enhance the consumer shopping experience.
This way, beauty fanatics can watch the products being used in the video, apply them on their faces simultaneously by choosing preferred shades and colors, and then have the option to make an immediate purchase, without exiting the screen.
The possibility of sharing the looks with friends on social media is right there, too. How cool is that?
This entirely new, unique experience unarguably represents the epitome of the notion of shoppertainment.
Create a Playable, Fun, Interactive AR Beauty Experience
Beauty AR Live Streaming might as well be the ultimate future of online cosmetics shopping. It offers an experiential aspect to online marketing that has never been seen earlier.
It ultimately comes down to offering the most immersive and entertaining shopping experiences that grab the attention of modern consumers and leave them asking for more.
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