Amazon Ads introduces AI-powered video generation and live image capabilities to help brands deliver compelling creative for customers

To help brands of all sizes easily connect with customers through compelling video, Amazon Ads has introduced a new AI-powered Video generator. This creative tool was introduced today at Accelerate and helps brands to create engaging video content from a single product image in a matter of minutes at no additional cost.

At a time when brands are working hard to keep up with consumer desire for video content, Video generator instantly creates custom, AI-generated videos that showcase a product’s features. Currently available for use in Sponsored Brands campaigns, these videos leverage Amazon’s unique retail insights to vividly bring a product story to life in ways that are relevant to customers.

“Video generator is another meaningful innovation that leverages generative AI to inspire creativity and deliver more value for both advertisers and shoppers. We are hard at work delivering generative AI applications that empower advertisers to craft visually stunning, high-performing ads–first with our Image generator launch last fall, and now for video,” says Jay Richman, vice president of product and technology for Amazon Ads. “Our goal is enabling advertisers to approach asset development with unparalleled creativity and efficiency, while bringing shoppers a more engaging and informative ad experience.”

As the number of digital video viewers continues to rise every year, brands are eager to deliver meaningful video content to customers. But video content can be costly and time consuming to produce. According to a recent Wyzowl study, 89% of consumers said they want to see more videos from brands. Meanwhile, businesses reported that cost and time are their biggest barriers to video marketing. AI technology is helping brands reimagine how they approach creative development and build more impactful campaigns, compared to traditional creative, while optimizing time and costs.

“As a skin care and cosmetics brand, running promotions on Amazon, especially for Black Friday, is a priority,” says an executive and early beta user at Gellé Frères, a French skin care company. “With Video generator, I was not only able to instantly generate videos for these campaigns, but it also opened up more possibilities, giving me the ability to run video ads for products I couldn’t have before. Video generator significantly reduced the time required to produce a video ad, a huge win for our business.”

Generative AI has become foundational for creative development to help brands produce more engaging ads. Along with other innovations from Amazon Ads, like Image generator, generative AI tools have helped optimize the cost and efficiency of advertising campaigns, while offering more relevant customer experiences.

“We have heard loud and clear from sellers that generating video content is hard and resource-intensive, but also really beneficial in connecting with customers,” says Richman, “so we looked at how we could simplify the process to fuel more creativity and deliver an almost magical experience.”

Also at Accelerate, Amazon Ads introduced a new “live image capability” as part of Image generator that allows brands to create short, animated campaign images. For example, a brand that previously advertised a mug against a white background can now use live image to showcase that mug in a cozy café with steam rising from a hot cup of tea.

Since the tool’s launch in October, advertisers and agencies have used Image generator to drive business goals, optimize creative production, and deliver more relevant customer experiences. When Whirlpool needed to quickly create holiday campaign assets, Image generator helped them develop Christmas and Thanksgiving images in a matter of minutes, driving more than 2 million impressions and a 2% click-through rate (CTR), above the 0.52% CTR category benchmark. Image generator has also helped smaller businesses, allowing Formosa Covers, an Amazon seller, increase new-to-brand orders by 16% on average.

Earlier this year, Amazon Ads added an Aspect Ratio capability to Image generator so that brands can test and repurpose creative in multiple dimensions, for various ad formats, and optimize ad effectiveness across different channels.

“It is clear that generative AI will be foundational to every part of the creative development process moving forward, and we plan to leverage this remarkable technology to help brands of all sizes create more engaging and useful ads,” says Richman. “In a relatively short period of time, we have helped make the impossible very possible for so many different types of advertisers, empowering them to test new creative concepts in a way that was not feasible just a year ago. And the most fun part of this is that we are just getting started—stay tuned.”

Video generator and live image will be available in beta to select U.S. advertisers in Q4 2024.