From streaming to sipping: digital platforms as the new tasting rooms

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In 2026, food & beverage brands are changing how they educate, engage, and convert consumers. Traditional wine tastings, whether at the winery or in metropolitan retail spaces, are inherently constrained by geography and attendance caps. Digital content breaks these barriers by allowing brands to connect with global audiences at scale, in formats that blend education with entertainment.

Livestream commerce combines live video, real time Q&A and integrated buying options so viewers can learn about a wine and purchase it without leaving the broadcast. This convergence of education and commerce turns a passive experience into an interactive one, where questions, comments and immediate feedback shape the session.[1]

TikTok has been one of the fastest growing arenas for this kind of engagement. In 2025, the platform reported that in app shopping engagement in the U.S. had increased 120% year over year on TikTok Shop, driven in large part by interactive livestream sessions where sellers demonstrate products and answer viewer questions.[2] The same data shows that:

·   The community of sellers expanded into hundreds of categories, with more than 70 million products available.

·   76% of consumers who engaged with TikTok Shop livestreams bought something afterward.

These figures underline how a platform initially known for short, viral videos has evolved into a space where discovery and commerce intersect, making it a compelling medium for wine brands that can blend education, storytelling and direct purchase opportunities.

Livestream commerce in food & beverage
Live commerce has strong roots in Asia, where it quickly became a mainstream e-commerce channel. In China, livestream shopping started gaining traction as early as 2017 and has since grown into a sophisticated ecosystem that supports millions of live hosts and interactive shows featuring everything from everyday products to premium goods.[3] For the broader food & beverage industry, livestream shopping adds credibility and human interaction, helping to build brand trust and boost conversion rates in ways that static photos or pre-recorded videos cannot. Live video invites viewers into a conversation, not just a transaction.

Platforms like Twitch, traditionally associated with gaming and creative streams, have also become intriguing spaces for community building. Twitch allows long form livestreams where hosts interact with viewers in real time, fostering a sense of belonging and ongoing dialogue. [4] For wineries and educators, this style of format can be adapted to tastings, Q&A sessions, and thematic tasting series that feel more like a communal event than a one-way broadcast. While commerce is not always native to Twitch, its strength in participatory engagement can drive awareness that funnels audiences toward shoppable platforms or direct brand channels.

New opportunities for wine brands
A notable example of innovation in this space is TalkShopLive, a video commerce platform that has introduced livestream sales alo for beer, wine and spirits, making it among the first North American platforms with legally compliant alcohol livestream shopping.[5] These developments show that digital tasting rooms don’t have to be hosted only on major social networks. Hybrid and niche livestream platforms are emerging that cater directly to F&B categories, allowing brands to combine entertainment, education and commerce in tailored experiences.

The core advantage of digital tasting experiences lies in their ability to transform learning into participation and data into conversion. Traditional tastings collect feedback only from those present; livestreams collect real-time engagement metrics, questions, sentiment and behavioural signals that can inform follow-up campaigns, personalized offers and future content. For example, hosts can adjust narrative flow mid-stream based on viewer feedback, invite questions that tackle specific objections, or spotlight unique attributes of a wine while simultaneous product links and calls to action remain visible. This immediacy is what turns a viewer into a buyer in the moment.

[1] 42signals, The Rise of Live Commerce: how shoppertainment is reshaping ecommerce, URL: 42signals.com (07.07.2025)

[2] Hutchinson A., TikTok says in-stream shopping has increased 120% this year, URL: socialmediatoday.com (06.15.2025)

[3] Wikipedia, Livestreaming ecommerce in China, URL: en.wikipedia.org

[4] Wikipedia, Twitch (service), URL: en.wikipedia.org

[5] Smith A., TalkShopLive bets on alcohol as the next frontier for livestream shopping, URL: modernretail.com (07.28.2025)