• by Alex Weprin , May 30, 2019

NBCUniversal will officially launch its “shoppable” interactive ad format at the French Open this weekend.

Apparel company Lacoste will be the first company to utilize the format, which allows viewers to buy goods based on what is on screen.

For the launch weekend, the format will be tied to the match featuring tennis star Novak Djokovic, a Lacoste brand ambassador. During Djokovic’s match’s at the tournament, NBC Sports will place alerts on screen, letting viewers know to hold up their phones to purchase items from the Lacoste X Novak Djokovic Collection. 

Users that complete the action will be taken to Lacoste’s website to finish the purchase.

NBCUniversal says this is the first time such an interactive feature will be utilized on national TV. NBCU announced the format earlier this year, and tested it out during the “Today” show.

The Lacoste deal is the first major sponsorship deal to use the technology, which delivers directly measurable purchase data.

Because of how it is deployed, the technology works on both traditional linear TV and streaming. While streaming video has allowed for users to click through to purchase for some time, the usage in linear TV is new.