Guide
AVOD, SVOD, TVOD, PVOD: Video on demand, explained
AVOD, SVOD, and TVOD are acronyms that describe advertising in video on demand, the integration of video ads within on-demand or streamed content such as movies, TV shows, and sports.
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What is VOD (video on demand) and AVOD (advertising video on demand)?
VOD (video on demand) is on-demand content, such as TV shows or films, that are watched on personal devices, like computers or connected TVs, without traditional broadcasting. AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) is a form of VOD in which advertising appears within those videos that are streamed. Creating a business model with AVOD that reaches the right customers in the right place at the right time can seem daunting, but Amazon Ads products can help.
How does AVOD work?
VOD works by providing viewers with video content that is streamed, watched live, or downloaded on their on-demand devices. When AVOD is integrated into over-the-top (OTT) (or streaming TV) video content, it can be geared toward a variety of audience demographics, more so than with traditional TV advertising. It’s also non-skippable, helping marketers put their products in front of a growing audience. For example, total hours watched on Freevee, a FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) service, grew 38% YoY in 2023, surpassing 3.4 billion hours.1
Benefits of AVOD
The pivot to streaming video on demand is still going strong, as more and more viewers consume their favorite TV shows, movies, and sports. According to Statista, the worldwide revenue generated by VOD is expected to grow from $159.4 billion in 2023 to $230.9 billion in 2027.2 Advertisers could take note of this and brainstorm how to integrate advertising-based video alongside print or physical ads, for example.
Types of AVOD
Video ads
The primary type of AVOD are video ads, the ad format where your video campaigns appear alongside premium content.
How video ads work
Video ads can work for a variety of advertisers, from brands to vendors to sellers to agencies. Do you have products that are sporting goods and want to place your campaigns in live sports streaming? Video ads can work. Do you want to leverage a campaign for your beauty products on related videos? Video ads can work as well.
Types of video ads
Video ads fall into three categories: pre-roll ads, mid-roll ads, and post-roll ads. They’re pretty self-explanatory, but to review, pre-roll ads occur before a video is shown, mid-roll ads fall in the middle of videos, and post-roll ads are shown at the end. Pre-roll and mid-roll ads are not skippable, at least not if viewers want to continue watching the latest episode of a new show.
How to get started with video ads
There are a variety of ways to get started, whether you want a self-service option for your existing creative assets or need a bit more assistance, and Amazon Ads can help with both. Getting started with video ads could be as simple as having an idea for a video, then reaching out to Amazon Ads to make it happen.
If you have ads but not videos, check out Amazon’s video creative production and editing services for help with editing and production. If you already have video ads and are ready to start sharing them, we can help you find the perfect place, whether that’s on Amazon or beyond. Still not sure where to start? Just contact us, and we’ll help you find the right creative services.
Reach options
Your video ads could appear for customers binging their favorite shows, games, or movies on Prime Video, Freevee, Twitch, Fire TV Channels, live sports streaming, and other premium third-party publishers. It doesn’t have to just be within another video, either: Video ads can also be shown on places such as IMDb.com and the Amazon store. Anywhere customers are watching videos, shopping for show merch, or researching movies could all be opportune places for video ads.
Reporting capabilities
Once you’ve begun creating video ads, you should make sure you’re measuring your campaigns to get the most out of them and learn what’s resonating with your customers. First-party reporting on your campaigns on Amazon include metrics such as impressions, unique reach, video completion rate, detail page views, branded searches, and new-to-brand. Amazon also supports 20+ third-party measurement providers to measure the performance of video ads. These types of insights can provide crucial takeaways on what types of video ads could lead to interested watchers taking the step from passive viewership to active purchasers—and satisfied customers. Additionally, it’s important to measure your video buy and investments, and looking at your campaign metrics can help you ensure your budget is going where it’ll be the most effective.
Optimization and cross-sell opportunities
Another benefit of video ads is that they can provide you with cross-selling opportunities. This means that you’re helping to educate your customers by showing them related products to the ones they’re browsing for or watching videos about.
Online video
How to get started with online video ads
Another of our featured Amazon Ads solutions are online video (OLV) ads, ads that appear in content that’s streamed across desktops, mobile, or tablets. OLV ads can reach customers where they watch, shop, and browse. To use OLV ads, first consider where you want your ads to appear and what creative assets you have available, if any. Review our 6 tips for online video ads then get started with our self-service packages, or, if you need more assistance, we also offer managed service options on Amazon DSP. Here’s how to get started:
- Create an Amazon DSP account.
- Follow the steps to create a video campaign.
- Choose where you want your ad to run and for which audience.
- Select KPIs and optimization.
- Start bidding immediately.
Reach options
OLV ads can run in stream (before, during, or after videos) and out stream (between text and images) ads. They can show up on video streaming platforms such as Twitch and IMDb.com, as well as a variety of premium third-party publishers. You could also specify the audience for your ads, whether that’s an Amazon audience or custom audiences. OLV ads come in skippable or non-skippable versions, as well. You have loads of flexibility for reaching your customers in the right place in the right way.
Pricing and buying
Self-service packages for OLV ads have a $10K recommended campaign minimum, and managed-service packages have a $50K campaign minimum. Ads are sold programmatically through dynamic cost per mille (CPM) real-time auctions, which is a pricing model where you pay a certain amount for 1,000 impressions, or the number of times your ad appears. CPM allows advertisers to pay a set price based on the number of impressions each placement receives monthly or quarterly, for example.
If you don’t have any videos yet and need assistance with creating assets, video creative production and editing services from Amazon Ads can help you produce compliant videos that can inspire your customers. You can get videos as an added value with qualifying campaigns or with affordable, fee-based services.
Reporting capabilities
With OLV ads, you have a variety of options for reporting to help you figure out what types of campaigns are resonating with which kinds of audiences. By leveraging first- and third-party signals, Amazon Ads can provide transparency and help you discover unique insights. The first-party reporting metrics that are measured include impressions, unique reach, video completion rate, detail page views, branded searches, and new-to-brand metrics. These are direct results from your campaigns to help you determine whether they’re meeting your marketing objectives or need to be tweaked. They provide a holistic view across all customer touchpoints, from initial impressions to conversions to repeat customers.
For example, if one of your primary goals is to raise brand consideration, focusing on the detail page view rate (DPVR) of your OLV ads could be a big help, since DPVR points to a more thought-out shopping process for your customers. If you want even more reporting options, there are more than 30 Amazon-supported third-party measurement providers to help you dive even deeper.
Streaming TV
How to get started
Another Amazon Ads product that can help your video campaigns is Streaming TV ads. These are full-screen, non-skippable video ads that appear before, during, or after video content like TV shows, movies, and live entertainment. There are both managed and self-service options, and here’s how to get started:
- Create an Amazon DSP account.
- Follow the prompts to create a video campaign.
- Choose where you want your ad to run and for which audience.
- Select your KPIs and optimization strategy.
- Add your creative assets or leverage our creative builder.
- Start bidding immediately.
Reach options
Your Streaming TV ads can appear across connected TV, mobile, and desktop. They can appear on Prime Video, Amazon Freevee, Twitch, live sports, Fire TV Channels, and top third-party TV publishers and broadcasters. That includes everything from movies, like Road House, to Thursday Night Football on Prime Video. (Note that the supply availability differs by locale.)
Pricing and buying
You have a few options for buying Streaming TV ads. It’s available in both managed-service and self-service packages in Amazon DSP. Self-service packages have a $10K recommended campaign minimum, and managed-service packages have a $50K campaign minimum. If you need help sourcing creative assets, you can also add on production or editing as affordable, fee-based services.
Reporting capabilities
Streaming TV ads also come with a slew of reporting capabilities. To begin, you have access to more than 20K first-party audiences based on billions of shopping and streaming signals that are updated in real time. Also, we can help you measure the success of your campaign by reporting on key metrics including impressions delivered, unique reach, and video completion rate.
To go even further, you can utilize post-campaign brand lift studies from providers like Kantar or our first-party solution Amazon Brand Lift. You can also measure delivery to audiences that’s incremental to linear TV, with studies like Nielsen Total Ad Ratings (TAR), or across linear and streaming TV, with automatic content recognition (ACR) based solutions like Samba TV’s True Reach and Frequency.
Optimization and cross-sell opportunities
Streaming TV ads offer a huge opportunity to expand your reach. Streaming TV offerings—including Prime Video, Amazon Freevee, Amazon Publisher Direct, Fire TV Channels, Thursday Night Football, and Twitch—have an average monthly ad-supported reach of more than 175 million.3 Optimizing your campaigns by platform can allow you to reach a broad variety of audiences, no matter what their interests are.
More Amazon Ads video advertising solutions
If you want to do even more with your video ads, you’re in luck. Amazon Ads offers a variety of other products, such as Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display videos, which help place your creative in front of audiences on Amazon and beyond. There’s also Amazon Live, which is perfect for reaching audiences who are using streaming services in real time.
What is SVOD?
SVOD (subscription video on demand) is streaming TV and video that is distributed through a paid subscription to a service provider. SVOD works by providing viewers with a way to watch their favorite shows, either live or on-demand. For example, Prime Video provides TV shows to viewers as part of their Amazon Prime membership.
AVOD vs. SVOD
The difference between AVOD and SVOD is simple: AVOD streams include advertisements, while SVOD streams are ad-free in exchange for paid subscription fees. Video services can offer customers one or the other, or a combination of both.
What is TVOD?
TVOD (transactional video on demand) is the distribution of video via a service provider on a one-time basis. TVOD works by charging customers individual fees for certain movies or shows. For example, this includes renting a movie on Prime Video for a single viewing experience.
What is PVOD?
PVOD (premium video on demand) is a service where customers are offered premium, exclusive content for an additional charge. It works by offering special content, like early-access viewing or exclusive streaming, to customers. For example, paying a one-time fee to watch a big football game or a live awards show.
What are CSAI and SSAI?
CSAI (client-side ad insertion) is the addition of ads directly to customers, and SSAI (server-side ad insertion) is the addition of ads directly into video streams. The difference between CSAI and SSAI is that CSAI allows ads to be more personalized for customers, while SSAI are less prone to disruptions or latency issues.
AVOD vs. FAST
FAST, like many of the channels found on Freevee, is a distribution model that’s a throwback to traditional linear TV. It offers viewers the option to watch scheduled programming on streamed channels, rather than selecting on-demand content via AVOD.
AVOD examples
Case-studies
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Case-studies
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See how a full-funnel ad campaign for The Children’s Place better reached consumers online and helped lift sales for the kids’-clothing retailer.
If you have limited experience, contact us to request services managed by Amazon Ads. Budget minimums apply