Amazon Prime Video unveils shoppable, pause and trivia ad formats ahead of its upfront debut

Amazon Prime Video’s first upfront show next week will include a look at the streamer’s first new ad formats since launching its ad tier in January. While the ad formats—shoppable, pause and trivia—are similar to formats used by other media companies, Amazon will offer direct checkout capabilities few others can enable at the same scale as the retail giant. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Unlike other streaming platforms that have featured QR codes or shoppable ad experiences that push to the viewer’s mobile device, Prime Video will enable checkout with the TV remote. During Prime Video commercial breaks, advertisers will be able to serve shoppable carousel ads, showing multiple Amazon products for the viewer to scroll through and add to their Amazon cart. Prime Video’s addition of pause ads also comes with an added layer of interactivity: While pausing a show, movie or live sporting event will conjure an ad in the same way many streamers now do, Amazon’s will feature an additional button to add the promoted product to the viewer’s cart or email the listing details. Ad breaks where the user answers sponsored trivia questions will also include an add-to-cart button or the opportunity to earn rewards or shopping credits for interaction. “Amazon’s engagement with consumers throughout the funnel is unique,” said Geoffrey Calabrese, chief investment officer for OMG North America, in a statement. “With the ad innovations we are seeing from inside of their streaming offering, our clients are now able to test and learn at scale the true power of streaming TV.” Prime Video, which launched its much-anticipated ad tier at the beginning of the year, immediately stood out from its competitors when it automatically opted in all users for ads unless they chose to pay an additional $2.99 per month. The streamer said it reaches over 200 million customers globally in its ad tier. The number is substantial compared to its streaming competitors, whose audiences are divided between ad-free and ad-supported subscriptions. For example, Netflix’s ad tier had 23 million global monthly active users as of January. Amazon is also unique in the wealth of first-party retail data it has available to advertisers for audience targeting. Read next: Ad targeting may be banned in the US Shoppability and the implementation of retail data have been popular trends at this year’s upfront. NBCUniversal and Instacart recently announced a data partnership, one example of many, while Paramount and Disney have debuted new retail ad products. Upfronts and NewFronts blog Tracking the latest TV and digital ad pitches Read more here

Amazon Prime Video unveils shoppable, pause and trivia ad formats ahead of its upfront debut

Featured Stories