Amazon brings together world-class entertainment and advertising innovation at second Upfront in Canada

From NBA champion Kyle Lowry reliving his Toronto legacy to Michael Bublé and Drew Scott revealing their new unscripted hockey series Hometown Giants, the Amazon Upfront in Toronto brought together stars from across film, TV, live sports, and streaming. Collectively, they showed the audience how Amazon delivers premium entertainment, unparalleled audiences, and precisely measured outcomes for advertisers.

Upfront Canada 2026

“Amazon is a place where your brand can show up authentically—in the moments your audience already cares about, in ways that actually mean something to them,” said Uri Gorodzinsky, Managing Director, Amazon Ads Canada. “And what makes that possible is that it’s all connected. The content, the audiences, the signals, the technology—working together in one place.”

Here are the six biggest moments from the night.

1. Amazon DSP now reaches the most STV viewers in Canada

Amazon DSP is advertisers’ one-stop shop for all streaming TV (STV) needs, now #1 in unique connected TV (CTV) reach among Adults 18+ compared to other demand-side platforms (DSPs) in Canada, based on recent Numeris data. Amazon DSP enables agencies to access Amazon-owned and open internet premium supply in one place—maximizing reach and efficiency across their Upfront investments. This includes Amazon’s owned-and-operated properties—Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV, and IMDb—as well as premium third-party publishers such as Bell Media, CBC, Rogers, Netflix, and Roku.

Every time customers sign in to Amazon.ca, register a Fire TV, or watch content on Prime Video, they create deterministic signals. Amazon Ads connects these insights through encrypted, pseudonymized signals—without exposing personally identifiable information to advertisers. The result is a better experience for everyone: viewers see relevant ads that genuinely align with their interests and needs, delivered at the right moment, while brands can be confident they are reaching their audiences with precision.

This precision is already driving results: Amazon streaming TV campaigns in Canada delivered 1.2x higher ad recall, 2.3x stronger brand favourability, and 9.8x greater purchase intent versus industry streaming benchmarks.¹

2. New ad formats bring personalization and interactivity to streaming TV

Amazon Ads unveiled a suite of new ad innovations designed to make streaming TV advertising more relevant and more actionable for brands in Canada.

Dynamic TV Creative is the first capability from Amazon Ads to automatically personalize Interactive Video Ads (IVA) on Prime Video series and films based on viewer shopping and browsing behaviors.

To do this, Dynamic TV Creative utilizes Amazon’s trillions of shopping, browsing, and streaming signals, along with AI-driven creative optimization to customize interactive elements at the time of impression. Rather than showing a single static message to every viewer, the capability dynamically adjusts the creative format, call-to-action, headline, and product details based on where viewers are in their purchase journey, from awareness to conversion.

Location-based Interactive Video Ads bring geographic relevance to Prime Video ads. Using an interactive format, brands can customize messages by location—showcasing regional offers, location-specific pricing, or local business information—while maintaining the scale and simplicity of a single national buy. Interactive functionality such as “Send to Phone” or “Sign Up Today” enables viewers to engage with nearby locations or promotions directly from their TV screen.

Next Up ads appear alongside end credits and the “next up” carousel—the moment between finishing an episode and deciding what to watch next. Brands that partner with Amazon on Prime Video sponsorships will get first access to sequential ad experiences that weave a cohesive brand story through an entire viewing session—from home screen, to mid-episode, to the credits.

Uri Gorodzinsky, Managing Director, Amazon Ads Canada

3. Prime Video brings global blockbusters and Canadian originals to the stage

The evening delivered a packed content showcase spanning global tentpoles and distinctly Canadian storytelling—all presented by Mark Shopiro, Head of Prime Video, Canada, alongside Brent Haynes, Head of International Originals, Canada, and Javiera Balmaceda, Head of International Originals, Latin America, Canada, Australia, Amazon MGM Studios.

On the global front, the slate includes highly anticipated titles like God of War (a two-season order filming in Vancouver), Voltron featuring Henry Cavill, and Carrie—the first-ever series adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. Fan-favorite franchises Fallout and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power both return for third seasons.

The Canadian Originals slate was equally ambitious, unveiling a lineup of new shows including:

• Young Farts Trailer Parts—an unscripted series from executive producer Jacob Tierney (Letterkenny, Shoresy) following brothers Jagger and Dawson who run a multi-million-dollar trailer parts business in Vegreville, Alberta. Premieres July 17 worldwide.
• Hometown Giants—a series following Michael Bublé and Drew Scott as part owners of the Vancouver Giants junior hockey team. Both joined the stage for the reveal.
• Surrender—hosted by Scott McGillivray, an outdoor survival competition dropping strangers into the remote Canadian wilderness. Heading into production this September.
• The Pig Farm Killer: Robert Pickton—a three-part true crime docuseries examining one of Canada’s most notorious criminal cases.
• Operation Deception—a French-language true crime series exploring a controversial undercover operation in Quebec.
• LOL: qui rira le dernier? Season 5 plus a LOL: qui rira le dernier? Halloween special—building on the breakout success where comedians make each other laugh, all while resisting the urge to laugh themselves.
• Heels in the Hay—a new French-language adaptation of a globally proven format where a group of urban content creators move to the countryside to work, sleep, eat and live in a way that is literally and figuratively miles away from the luxuries of home.

4. Twitch proves community-driven attention is a brand superpower

The livestreaming service—where over 70% of users are adult Gen Z and Millennials—demonstrated why brands are increasingly investing in creator-led environments where audiences choose to show up, stay engaged, and actively participate. To help brands do exactly that, Kendra Hum, Director, Amazon Ads, unveiled three new advertising solutions:

1. Shoppable ads within Twitch Channel Takeovers allow brands to turn livestream engagement into instant commerce. When viewers click, a shopping panel opens directly within the stream—letting them browse product details, add to cart, and complete their purchase through Amazon without ever leaving the content. For advertisers, it means capturing purchase intent at its peak; for customers, it’s a frictionless path from discovery to checkout in the moments that matter most.
2. Twitch Champions—a premier sponsorship package for brands who want 100% share of voice during the biggest gaming tournaments and live competitive moments.
3. Creator Cast—a next-gen sports viewing experience where creators lead live commentary on Prime sports broadcasts, then rebroadcast it on Twitch. It’s interactive, community-driven, and a viewing format that doesn’t exist anywhere else and has already been trialed with the NBA in the U.S. and Germany.

Canadian Twitch creator Nemo—a Chess Grandmaster, former World Youth Champion, and fashion influencer with over 360,000 followers—also took the stage to bring the community energy to life. She pulled up her live Twitch chat on screen, letting the room experience the real-time interactivity that makes the service unique.

“Each stream becomes its own little universe, with its own jokes, opinions, and very confident advice. On Twitch, viewers are not just stopping by. The average viewer is there for 72 minutes, often multiple times a week. That is a real relationship, and that is what brands get to be part of,” said Nemo.

And the data backs it up: 80% of Twitch users in Canada² say they appreciate brands that support their favourite streamers—making this an active community where showing up the right way delivers results.

Tamir Bar-Haim, VP International Expansion, Amazon Ads

5. Live sports scores with NBA and WNBA

Tamir Bar-Haim, VP of International Expansion, took the stage to showcase that Prime Video is the leading streaming destination for sports fans in Canada—where 63% of Canadian sports fans³ are now streaming their games.

The headline announcement: the NBA arrives on Prime Video in Canada this October. With reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander born in Ontario, 23 Canadians playing in the league this season, and the Raptors coming off a playoff appearance, the timing couldn’t be better. And the audience is highly engaged—NBA fans on Prime Video are 6% more likely to buy brands they’ve seen advertised,⁴ while 56% don’t watch NBA on linear TV at all.⁵

Prime Video also expanded its WNBA partnership, which tipped off earlier this month, with 30 regular season games and exclusive postseason coverage for the next 11 years—just in time for the Toronto Tempo, Canada’s first WNBA team, to join the league. The WNBA Finals come to Prime in 2028.

The evening featured NBA on Prime host Taylor Rooks and analyst Kyle Lowry—the six-time All-Star who led Toronto to its first NBA championship in 2019. Lowry, who contributed to the NBA on Prime broadcast team while still an active player this past season, spoke about what basketball means to Canada and what fans can expect from the broadcast experience. AWS’s Shelby Williams also joined the stage to demonstrate how AI-powered broadcast enhancements—including real-time stats, Shot Difficulty scores, and Key Moments—create a more immersive viewing experience and a more engaged advertising environment.

“Prime audiences don’t merely tune in, they lean in. And when they’re paying attention, that’s where brands build authentic connections,” said Bar-Haim.

Chantal Rossi Badia, Head of VSS, ICAA and Kendra Hum, Director AM and Cross-border, Amazon Ads

6. Complete TV simplifies streaming investment management

With advertisers managing commitments across multiple publishers and needing to make sense of their entire streaming and linear portfolio, Amazon Ads introduced Complete TV to Canadian advertisers.

Complete TV is a capability on Amazon DSP that provides one place to plan, manage, and optimize an entire streaming TV investment—across publishers, including linear—with AI doing the heavy lifting on budget allocation, reach, and frequency. Advertisers enter their streaming TV plan details and audience signals; Complete TV then utilizes real-time insights to maximize performance and deliver spend commitments in full.

“Advertisers deserve a simpler way to plan and manage their streaming TV spend,” said Chantal Rossi Badia, Head of Video Sales Specialists, Amazon Ads Canada. “Complete TV automatically manages upfront commitments and scatter budgets, using real-time pacing insights and AI-powered capabilities to help advertisers reach relevant audiences, drive ROI, and eliminate budget wastage.”

The tool is available now through Amazon DSP.

The evening closed with Uri Gorodzinsky reinforcing Amazon’s commitment to Canada and the power of its connected universe.

“We deliver your audiences. We deliver premium content. And we deliver the precision to make every dollar work harder,” Gorodzinsky said. “One destination, endless possibilities.”

Sources

¹ Lucid, Amazon STV and Prime Video CA campaigns, 2025. Prime Video campaigns may include other CTV inventory. Amazon STV campaigns n= 18, Prime Video campaigns n=17, CA CTV Industry Benchmark, n= 356.

² Internal Twitch Data. Canada. August 2024.

³ EMARKETER report — “Canada Sports Consumers” by Paul Briggs, published December 2025.

^4-5 Global Web Index Study 2024-25, Canada Study, Survey, N=19K; modeled overlap of PV users + NBA fans in Canada.