Why Amazon’s NFL Black Friday broadcast will feature more interactive ads and CPG brands

Amazon is testing the extent of its shopping influence with the first stream of an NFL game on Black Friday. The company is using the event to ramp up interactive ads and other technology the platform developed for Prime’s second season of airing NFL games. “When we look at some of those innovative ad products that we released this year [for ‘Thursday Night Football’], and we look at our Black Friday advertisers, I think we’re doubled in the amount of interactive video ads that those advertisers are actually using on Black Friday,” said Danielle Carney, Amazon’s head of NFL ad sales, during Ad Age’s Media Summit last week. “It makes sense. This is exactly why we have it, right, to connect to those deals. Interactive video ads allow the viewer to use the remote control to take an action on the ad, such as adding an item to their cart. “And we see more CPG in that [Black Friday] game than we do in other games,” Carney said. During the event in New York City, Carney discussed how the e-commerce and streaming giant advanced its connected TV ad technology this season, the second year it is running Thursday Night Football games exclusively. This year, Amazon got an extra game from the NFL for Black Friday, the shopping holiday after Thanksgiving. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs With the NFL deal, and recently adding an ad-supported tier across Prime Video, Amazon has planted a flag in the streaming video ad marketplace. It’s also competing with YouTube and its connected TV service YouTube TV, which this year started selling subscriptions to NFL Sunday Ticket, a full lineup of out-of-market games. And if that’s not enough streaming sports competition, NBCUniversal’s Peacock will be the first streaming service to exclusively distribute one NFL playoff game in January. Read more: How YouTube is plotting the future of video For Black Friday, Amazon is opening the game to anyone, not just Prime subscribers, which could bump the audience size of the game featuring the Miami Dolphins versus the New York Jets. “During the Black Friday game, there will be twice as many interactive video ads airing as compared to a typical TNF game,” Amazon said in an email following Carney’s appearance at Ad Age’s Media Summit. Amazon already has some advertisers lined up for Black Friday, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Columbia Sportswear and JCPenney. Carney said that Amazon has taken leaps in advertising technology since last year, including adding more targeting to different audience segments based on Amazon’s first-party data. “We couldn’t create too much disruption in year one, we wanted to ensure that we were delivering the best viewing experience,” Carney said, “and so part of that meant that some of the ways that we went to market looked a bit more traditional and maybe not as innovative as we look now in year two.” One of those innovations was Amazon’s first “live” ad with Lexus during a Green Bay Packers game in September. The ad featured former Packers star Clay Matthews driving a Lexus on the 50-yard line during halftime. “We were able use our talent on-site to create a real-time commercial for [Lexus] with their new product launch,” Carney said of the spot, which also featured the commentator Taylor Rooks. It may not come in green and gold, but the #LexusTX just blew the minds of these fans. Hope you all enjoyed the best seats in the house!@lexususa #LexusTX #GreenBay #AmazonTNF #LexusPartner pic.twitter.com/2dIZq9k1Ho— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) September 29, 2023 Carney also offered new data about the performance of interactive video ads compared to QR codes, and about how many “Thursday Night Football” viewers watch on Fire TV, Amazon’s video distribution network. “Interactive video ads is … something Amazon has been doing for a very long time, but it’s never happened in the NFL,” Carney said, “and so within your Fire TV, which is about 15% to 20% of our audience that’s consuming Thursday Night Football, you have the ability with your remote to never leave the screen, never leave the game, and add to cart, and because we have that closed loop at Amazon, think about how direct that impact is.” Interactive video ads generate 20 times more interactions than QR codes, Amazon said following Carney’s talk. Football marketing news Tracking Super Bowl, NFL and college brand moves Read more here

Why Amazon’s NFL Black Friday broadcast will feature more interactive ads and CPG brands

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