BCE Inc.’s BCE subsidiary Bell Media recently collaborated with Shopsense AI to offer millions of Canadian viewers a cutting-edge second-screen shopping experience. Shopsense, a pioneer in shoppable TV technology, is expanding its reach beyond the United States for the first time, integrating its innovative Commerce OS into Canadian programming. The partnership, debuting on CTV’s The Good Stuff with Mary Berg and Etalk, is poised to bolster Canadian audiences' engagement with television content.
With this deal, Bell Media joins a strong list of Shopsense partners, including industry giants such as Paramount, Univision, Tastemade and Nexstar Media Group (The CW). Through its collaboration with Shopsense AI, Bell Media aims to elevate the television experience by integrating interactive shopping opportunities into its programming. The initiative leverages Shopsense AI’s Commerce OS technology, which empowers broadcasters to seamlessly integrate shoppable features into TV content.
The Shopsense Lens lets viewers shop by snapping screen images with their phones, backed by AI technologies. Other features of Commerce OS include AI-curated Storefronts for swift online store deployment, SEO tools to boost Organic Store Traffic and Retail Media Ad Units for shoppable sponsorships throughout websites and applications. The Shopper Intelligence feature offers robust insights into consumer behavior, tracking every step of the purchase journey from consideration to conversion.
For Bell Media, this technology unlocks opportunities to partner with leading U.S. and Canadian retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Canada Goose, Roots and SSENSE. It aims to expand the feature to award shows, scripted dramas and unscripted programs. In addition, custom brand partnership opportunities will be offered by the Bell Media Brand Partnership team, featuring collections inspired by specific brands.
Strong Momentum in Bell Media Buoys BCE’s Prospects
The collaboration is set to debut on two of CTV’s flagship programs. With a combined social media following of both shows exceeding 1.5 million, the opportunities for brands to connect with audiences through second-screen experiences are huge. Bell Media is likely to gain healthy traction from increasing customer engagement on its platform, driving revenue growth and favoring BCE’s stock performance.
Bell Media’s performance continues to benefit from robust advertising and subscriber revenues. In the last reported quarter, its operating revenues rose 10% year over year to C$782 million. The uptick was fueled by a 7.9% increase in advertising, driven by strong digital ad performance, benefits from the OUTEDGE Media Canada acquisition and solid TV sports specialty results. Bell Media’s strategy to expand its digital presence included acquiring OUTEDGE Media Canada and bringing NBCUniversal channels like USA Network and Oxygen True Crime to Canada. With a 13.5% increase in subscriber revenues, Bell Media continues gaining market share in streaming, enhancing Crave’s status as a top destination for premium content.
However, BCE’s performance is hurt by declining sales in the Bell CTS division. Due to lower-than-anticipated product revenues and continued pricing pressures in wireless, BCE has tweaked its 2024 revenue forecast from a growth range of 0-4% to a decline of around 1.5%. Tight regulatory standards, a debt-laden balance sheet and price competition continue to weigh on BCE’s overall performance.
BCE’s Zacks Rank & Stock Price Performance
BCE currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Shares of the company have lost 38.9% in the past year compared with the sub-industry's decline of 11.5%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are InterDigital, Inc. IDCC, Celestica Inc. CLS and Plexus Corp., Inc. PLXS. IDCC, CLS & PLXS presently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
IDCC is a pioneer in advanced mobile technologies that enable wireless communications and capabilities. The company engages in designing and developing a wide range of advanced technology solutions, which are used in digital cellular as well as wireless 3G, 4G and IEEE 802-related products and networks. It has a long-term growth expectation of 17.44%.
Plexus is a leading provider of electronic contract manufacturing services to original equipment makers in a wide range of industries, including Healthcare/Life Sciences, Industrial and Aerospace/Defense market sectors. In the last reported quarter, PLXS delivered an earnings surprise of 20.92%.
CLS provides competitive manufacturing technology and service solutions for printed circuit assembly and system assembly, as well as post-manufacturing support to many of the world's leading original equipment manufacturers. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 10.64%.
Zacks Naming Top 10 Stocks for 2025
Want to be tipped off early to our 10 top picks for the entirety of 2025?
History suggests their performance could be sensational.
From 2012 (when our Director of Research Sheraz Mian assumed responsibility for the portfolio) through November, 2024, the Zacks Top 10 Stocks gained +2,112.6%, more than QUADRUPLING the S&P 500’s +475.6%. Now Sheraz is combing through 4,400 companies to handpick the best 10 tickers to buy and hold in 2025. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these stocks when they’re released on January 2.
Be First to New Top 10 Stocks >>Plexus Corp. (PLXS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
BCE, Inc. (BCE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Celestica, Inc. (CLS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
