Amazon introduces Sponsored TV and new ad capabilities

At the UnBoxed 2023 conference, Amazon Ads unveiled Sponsored TV, a self-service advertising solution designed for brands, regardless of their size, that operates on Amazon in the United States. This new offering enables these brands to connect with audiences through streaming TV services.

The news ad solution allows brands to launch streaming TV campaigns without any required minimum spend. It aims to connect with viewers who are engaged with content across various platforms, including Amazon Freevee, live entertainment on Twitch, and third-party streaming TV services accessed through Fire TV apps.

“TV is an important brand-building strategy and should not be out of reach for any business,” said Ruslana Zbagerska, vice president of Amazon Ads. “Sponsored TV is a new streaming TV ad solution that helps brands connect with their audiences on the largest screen in the home. This includes brands that are new to advertising. Sponsored TV campaigns provide efficient reach powered by our machine-learning optimization models, enabling brands to benefit from Amazon’s first-party shopping and entertainment signals to create relevant ad experiences for viewers.”

Brands that already possess high-quality TV assets can leverage these very same creative materials in their Sponsored TV campaigns. For brands new to streaming TV advertising and lacking TV-grade creative content, Amazon offers the opportunity to access its creative services.

Sponsored TV campaigns leverage machine learning-driven optimization models that draw insights from Amazon’s firsthand shopping and entertainment data. Brands can connect with audiences who are more likely to have an interest in specific content genres, such as cooking and home improvement shows, and target those who are also interested in product categories available in the Amazon store. In order to facilitate real-time performance evaluation, advertisers are equipped with self-service campaign metrics like the count of ad-attributed branded searches and detailed page views.

During the UnBoxed 2023 conference, Amazon ads also introduced a range of fresh features in campaign planning, activation, and measurement. The platform unveiled a set of supplementary features spanning Amazon DSP, Amazon Ads APIs, and Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC). These features provide advertisers with a more comprehensive understanding of their target audience, enhanced campaign planning, activation, and optimization options, as well as extensive measurement tools.

Amazon Ads is broadening the scope of real-time campaign metrics accessible to advertisers. Amazon Marketing Stream, a push-based API solution that provides hourly campaign data, is now accessible on a global scale. This expanded offering includes Amazon DSP metrics in addition to the already-available reporting feeds for Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display.

“Advertisers tell us demonstrating the impact of their marketing is their biggest challenge, and that they are still having difficulty measuring performance across the customer journey. They need more actionable insights to reach current and potential customers at scale,” said Kelly MacLean, vice president of Amazon DSP. 

“We aim to solve this and help advertisers thrive in a world of model-based solutions, because how brands reach their audience tomorrow will look completely different than it does today. We’re simplifying fundamental marketing tasks like planning, activation, and measurement, and I’m excited to see how advertisers use our new capabilities to unlock incremental reach and drive meaningful business outcomes.”

In mid-August, Amazon announced that it is broadening the reach of its cost-per-click Sponsored Products ads by extending them to selected third-party apps and websites. The expansion gives advertisers using Sponsored Products ads the ability to have their content featured on partner platforms like BuzzFeed, Pinterest (partnered with Amazon in April), Hearst Newspapers, Raptive, and well-known brands like Mashable and Lifehacker from Ziff Davis.