NBCUniversal, PayPal Partner on E-Commerce Rollout

Need to Know

• PayPal will now allow users to complete their payments on NBCUniversal’s new digital sales platform, One Platform Commerce.
• One Platform Commerce unites the network’s various e-commerce initiatives, including online shopping, NBCUniversal Checkout, and ShoppableTV.
• The partnership with PayPal will offer users more confidence using NBCUniversal Checkout, which allows media companies to turn their programming into shoppable events.

Analysis

NBCUniversal is strengthening its foray into e-commerce and shoppable media, partnering with PayPal as its primary payments facilitator.

PayPal will allow shoppers to complete their transactions via a number of e-commerce initiatives from NBCUniversal, including shoppable gift guides hosted online by Bravo, E!, NBC Sports, Syfy Wire, Telemundo, and Today, among other NBCUniversal properties. PayPal will also back NBCUniversal Checkout, the newly-launched tool that allows media companies to turn their programming into shoppable events via QR codes embedded into television shows which can be scanned by viewers to purchase a selection of relevant, curated items.

The partnerhsip also allows consumers to instantly click-and-buy items through a dedicated NBCUniversal Checkout area rather than being redirected to other sites. The first shoppable program using NBCUniversal Checkout was aired by SyFy in July. PayPal will also be integrated into ShoppableTV, NBCUniversal’s advertiser-targeted shoppable media tool, as well as Shop Telemundo.

NBCUniversal launched One Platform Commerce earlier this year to unify its e-commerce initiatives, such as the ones mentioned above. In addition to the PayPal partnership NBCUniversal has also announced that it is working with more than 60 retail partners, including Koio, Our Place, Paravel and Pour les Femmes, as part of a new Retail Partner Network. These brands will sit alongside NBCUniversal brands on One Platform Commerce.

We know audiences want to engage with these kinds of content and commerce initiatives,” NBCUniversal’s EVP and Head of Marketing & Advertising Creative Josh Feldman wrote in a blog post announcing the PayPal partnership. “With PayPal, we’re able to provide consumers a marketplace with unmatched scale—and a seamless shopping experience that’s secure. Across linear, digital, social, branded, and editorial content in both English and Spanish, audiences can shop more stories than ever before, all with PayPal’s trusted payment solutions—and all just in time for the holiday season.”

NBCUniversal has suffered declining overall revenues this year, due to losses in its film and theme park divisions, but the spike in e-commerce use during the pandemic has solidified PayPal’s spot as a trusted—and leading—online payments processor. In the third quarter of 2020, PayPal and subsidiary Venmo reported record-breaking growth, growing by 36% and 61%, respectively. Over the same period, PayPal’s hit almost $247 billion in payments, and Venmo hit $44 billion. PayPal is not resting on its haunches, as the company debuted its own buy now, pay later option earlier this year, ensuring its users are offered competitive flexibility as they seek more diverse payment options during the pandemic.