Meta Brings Live Shopping Ads, Virtual Card Checkout, and Global Affiliate Expansion to Cannes Lions

Quick Facts

Meta is rolling out live video ads globally and partnering with five US live commerce platforms, including TalkShopLive and Firework, to convert livestreams into targeted ads.
A new virtual card checkout system, built with Mastercard and Visa, will launch on Facebook and Instagram this summer, using one-time card numbers to protect consumer payment data.
Meta’s affiliate program is expanding to Flipkart in India, Mercado Libre in Brazil and Mexico, and Lazada in Southeast Asia, with creators in 22 countries now able to tag shoppable products.

Meta used Cannes Lions 2026 to announce a broad overhaul of its commerce and advertising infrastructure across Facebook and Instagram, targeting the full purchase funnel from discovery to checkout.

The announcements come as 3.5 billion people interact with Meta’s AI recommendation engine daily, giving the company a significant distribution advantage as it pushes deeper into social commerce.

Live Video Ads Go Global

Meta is expanding Live Video Ads to Facebook across all markets after an initial Instagram rollout. The format lets merchants and creators promote livestreams to audiences beyond their existing followers.

In the US, Meta is partnering with CommentSold, Firework, LiveMeUp, Sprii, and TalkShopLive to convert eligible livestreams into ads. Viewers can browse products, check prices, and buy without leaving the video.

TalkShopLive CEO Sandie Hawkins told Retail Brew in March that live shopping is on track to reach $30 billion to $40 billion in the US in 2026.

Virtual Card Checkout Launches This Summer

Starting this summer, Meta will introduce a checkout experience on Facebook and Instagram built around virtual cards developed with Mastercard and Visa. The system generates temporary, one-time card numbers linked to a consumer’s existing card, so actual payment details are never shared with the merchant.

The move puts Meta in direct competition with Shopify and Stripe for the social commerce transaction layer. Reduced checkout friction could lift conversion rates for brands selling on Meta’s platforms.

Affiliate Program Reaches New Markets

Meta’s affiliate program, which expanded in the US to Amazon, eBay, and Temu in March, is now adding international retail partners. Flipkart will power the program in India, Mercado Libre in Brazil and Mexico, and Lazada across Southeast Asia.

Creators in these markets can tag products in Facebook posts and Reels and earn a commission on sales. A clickable banner appears on affiliated content, routing followers directly to product pages. Partners set the commission rate. Creators in 22 countries can now tag shoppable products or add affiliate links on Instagram.

AI Takes Over Campaign Assembly

Beginning this summer, product data including titles, prices, descriptions, and availability will serve as a core input across all Meta sales campaigns. Meta’s AI system will automatically combine that data with creative assets to build the most effective ad format for each viewer in real time.

Meta said richer product data will also help brands surface across its AI Shopping mode in the US, Business Agent recommendations, and creator-led product tagging on Reels.

New Creative Tool and Creator Marketing Hub

Nicola Mendelsohn, Meta’s head of global business group, unveiled a creative tool that identifies a brand’s top-performing ad and generates new creative based on that performance data. The tool learns a brand’s identity and tone from existing ads and applies those inputs to AI-generated ad creation within the same platform.

Meta also announced the Meta Creator Marketing Hub, a single destination that consolidates its two creator marketing surfaces and expands Creator Marketplace to include Facebook creators for the first time. More than five million Instagram creators are currently discoverable in Creator Marketplace. The hub is set to launch later this year.

The company said it built its AI creative solution with agency integrations from the start, beginning with WPP. The capabilities are currently in testing, with a broader rollout planned for the coming months.