Almost a year ago, when QVC Group partnered with TikTok to launch the first-ever nonstop live shopping streams in the U.S., the company’s CEO called the move “our bet.” The subtext was clear: It was a bid to revive the shopping TV channel’s languishing business and rejuvenate its audience.
The rationale for QVC, best known for its namesake channel and HSN (formerly known as the Home Shopping Network), was simple: to adapt its multibillion-dollar business to shoppers’ new habits. That has become urgent as TV generally has lost its hold on viewers, particularly in cable and broadcast television. Between 2018 and 2024, QVC’s and HSN’s main channels each lost almost half (44% and 47%, respectively) of the U.S. homes they reached. The company is heavily indebted, and several media outlets reported last month that it was looking into ways to restructure its debt. Its CEO, David Rawlinson said in November that “returning our company to growth continues to be difficult.”
“What we realized is that our form of getting close to the customer was going to have to shift because where the consumer was spending their time was shifting pretty dramatically,” QVC Group chief business development officer Brian Beitler told Fortune during a panel at the eTail conference last month in Palm Springs.
