unBoxed 2023: Introducing Sponsored TV
Amazon Ads expands sponsored ads portfolio with a self-service streaming TV ad solution for brands of all sizes
October 25, 2023
Today, at the unBoxed 2023 conference, Amazon Ads announced Sponsored TV, a self-service ad solution for brands of all sizes that sell on Amazon in the U.S. to reach audiences on streaming TV services. Sponsored TV enables brands to run streaming TV campaigns with no minimum spend to reach audiences watching content on Amazon Freevee, livestreamed entertainment on Twitch, and third-party streaming TV services 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.”
A solution for brands of all sizes
Small and medium-sized brands can often be intimidated by the cost of TV advertising, and don’t have the understanding of how to measure the value to justify the spend. According to research conducted by Amazon , these marketers often lack TV-quality creative to get started. Media-consumption research from Axios Media Trends also indicates that streaming TV is eclipsing linear TV as the top method of TV consumption. Sponsored TV empowers brands to reach the growing cord-cutter audience with self-service controls and measurement, cost-efficient flexibility, and the required creative support.
Sponsored TV enables brands to use the flexibility of Amazon Ads sponsored ads tools, including no minimum campaign spend, no minimum daily spend, and no upfront commitments. Brands can create streaming TV campaigns in just a few clicks within the Amazon Ads console or using the Amazon Ads API.
“TV advertising is no longer just for the big brands,” said Patrick Miller, co-founder of Flywheel. “With self-serve buying and closed-loop measurements, Sponsored TV makes streaming TV advertising a cost-efficient option for emerging and enterprise brands that want to connect the entertainment and shopping journey for customers.”
Brands with existing TV-quality assets can use those same creatives in their Sponsored TV campaigns. Brands that are new to streaming TV advertising and don’t have TV-quality creative can take advantage of Amazon’s creative services. Amazon Ads offers services to build creative using a brand’s digital and social media assets at varying rates. Brands can also use their TV-quality creative across other Amazon Ads placements, including in their brand stores and other sponsored ads campaigns.
Sponsored TV campaigns benefit from machine learning–powered optimization models informed by Amazon’s first-party shopping and entertainment signals. Brands can engage with audiences likely to be interested in specific types of content, including cooking and home-improvement programming, and reach audiences interested in products in categories sold in the Amazon store. To help brands understand and measure campaign performance in real time, advertisers have access to self-service campaign metrics like the number of ad-attributed branded searches and detail page views.
1Amazon internal survey, U.S., June 2022
2Axios Media Trends, August 2022