Product Design Director, Monterosa, ITV, ITV Studios
Love Island: Turning real-time fandom into commercial growth
Transforming emotional engagement into real-time commerce
Context and Challenge
By the mid-2010s, TV audiences were no longer passive. They watched with a phone in hand commenting, voting, and scrolling. ITV saw an opportunity:
could a show turn real-time fandom into commercial revenue without breaking the emotional flow of the programme?
The challenge was to blend entertainment, interaction, and shopping into a single seamless experience — one that millions of viewers could use simultaneously, perfectly synced to live TV.
Insight
Fans wanted to own a piece of the island. The personalised water bottle proved it. Viewers didn’t just watch contestants, they mirrored them. The opportunity was to design shopping as part of fandom.
Wired: The Real Genius of Love Island Is Its Money-Making App
The series, which returned to screens for a winter edition last Sunday, has been a smash hit, crossing international borders and being referenced on other shows including Orange is the New Black and Euphoria.
But there’s an aspect to the show’s success that no one is talking about—Love Island has been revolutionizing the television business through its money-making app.
Approach
Built a live companion app
Created on the Monterosa Interaction Cloud, combining voting, polls, quizzes, exclusive content, and in-app shopping into a single, low-friction experience.
Designed for the rhythm of the show
Crafted micro-interactions that matched the show’s emotional beats, switching from watching to voting to buying in one smooth flow.
Made it tangible and playful
Bright visuals, emoji reactions, and one-thumb interactions with feedback on the TV screen encouraged spontaneous interaction during broadcast moments.
Blended commerce and entertainment
Placed Shop the Show and Get the Look alongside Vote and Inbox, giving equal status to emotional and commercial interactions.
Created urgency
Time-limited drops, countdown windows, and real-time product reveals mirrored the energy of live elimination rounds.
Cosmopolitan: This is how much Missguided's sales have gone up since Love Island started
"Even on the first day the show aired, our trade - particularly from around the hours of 7pm to midnight - saw an increase of around 40% week on week and its trajectory has been ratcheting up ever since, it hasn't slowed."
Outcomes
Achieved 2.5 million downloads in a single six-week season, with nearly half the TV audience using the app while watching.
Sold 100,000 personalised bottles in one season, leading to an expanded merchandise line and £23 million in sales across later series.
Launched ITV’s direct-to-consumer model and inspired the creation of ITV Shop.
Established ITV’s “second-screen economy,” blending entertainment, interaction and shopping.
Show’s partner Missguided reported a 40% week-on-week uplift in sales during the show’s broadcast hours.
Missguided products featured via the app’s ‘Get the look’ links saw up to a 9000% sales uplift.
The Love Island app showed that thoughtful design can bridge entertainment and commerce, transforming emotional engagement into measurable business growth.
