Amazon Ads Streaming TV for Retail Media Marketers

According to eMarketer, U.S. advertisers will spend $28.75 billion on CTV this year, growing 18.8% YoY — that’s 9.5% of all digital ad spend. This rapid growth underscores the growing importance of digital streaming options, which offer advertisers enhanced abilities to find relevant audiences, interactive formats, and the ability to reach those  “cutting the cord” on traditional cable TV or never had that cord to begin with. As advertisers adapt to these changes, leveraging the advantages of streaming TV will be crucial for maintaining and expanding their reach in the evolving media landscape.

Meanwhile, retail media is booming! Marketers are turning to retail media’s powerful commerce signals to power the future of digital TV targeting. Commerce signals include details about consumer purchases and interests, such as demographics, browsing habits, and product interactions. Marketers utilize these behavioral signals to reach consumers with the most relevant digital ads.

To make the complex and often daunting world of streaming more accessible and measurably effective, Amazon Ads offers two distinct advertising solutions: Streaming TV via Amazon DSP and Sponsored TV. Both reach Amazon’s 175MM average monthly audience in the US and leverage Amazon’s first-party shopping and streaming signals to help your business connect with the right viewers at the right time.

• Sponsored TV (via the Amazon Ads console) offers a self-service, no-minimum-spend advertising solution on streaming services like Amazon Freevee and Twitch, tailored for smaller or emerging brands to easily integrate with existing Amazon ad campaigns. Sponsored TV ads can reach both Amazon Prime and non-Amazon Prime members. 
• Streaming TV via Amazon DSP is 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. It is ideal for well-established brands seeking extensive, signals-driven campaign reach across multiple streaming channels, including Prime Video. 

A Skai 2024 consumer survey reveals that audiences are absolutely willing to interact with video ads while watching Prime Video. This positive finding indicates strong engagement potential for advertisers. 1000 US consumers were asked: While watching Prime Video, how likely are you to interact with a product ad in the following ways?

• 86% of consumers are willing to watch a product video.
• 89% are open to saving items to their Amazon wishlist for later.
• 91% are interested in reviewing prices and options.
• 79% are ready to add items to their cart and buy now.

Amazon Streaming TV ads are not only a strong complement to linear TV advertising, but their interactive features may also significantly boost audience engagement and advertiser ROAS.

Let’s explore the key differences between Sponsored TV and Streaming TV via Amazon DSP so you can choose the best option for your marketing needs.

Amazon Sponsored TV – a closer look

Amazon Sponsored TV is a self-service advertising solution designed for businesses of any size to reach and inspire audiences on the largest screen in the home. It is powered by Amazon’s first-party shopping and streaming signals to help your business connect with the right viewers at the right time. A key benefit of using Amazon Sponsored TV ads is their cost-effectiveness. Businesses of all sizes can access TV advertising with no minimum spending, making it a feasible option for companies with varied budgets or looking to simply test the waters before diving in.

Your ads can appear on Amazon’s collection of exclusive and premium streaming content, including Prime Video, Twitch, Freevee, and Amazon Publisher Direct, which focuses on direct integrations with the largest streaming TV publishers through connected devices, including Fire TV, as well as on ad-supported content

Additionally, Amazon Sponsored TV ads complement other Amazon sponsored ads formats, such as Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, allowing advertisers to seamlessly manage and integrate their campaigns within Amazon’s solutions. This integration provides a unified marketing strategy that maximizes visibility and engagement across multiple channels. By incorporating Sponsored TV ads with other Amazon sponsored ads solutions, advertisers can create a cohesive and complementary advertising strategy, potentially enhancing overall campaign efficiency and effectiveness. This unified approach simplifies campaign management and may increase the overall impact of the advertising efforts.

Ease of management is also a notable benefit. The self-service model allows advertisers to set up and manage their campaigns effortlessly, providing flexibility to adjust relevant and creative elements based on performance metrics. This flexibility ensures that campaigns can be optimized continuously for better results.

Leveraging Amazon’s extensive first-party signals enhances signals-driven reach capabilities. This ensures that ads are highly relevant to viewers, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversions. Using detailed consumer insights, advertisers can reach their ideal audience segments.

Streaming TV via Amazon DSP – a closer look

Streaming TV via Amazon DSP advertising is purchased through the Amazon DSP, a demand-side platform designed for marketers who want to run large-scale, sophisticated campaigns across various streaming content. Grow your brand’s reach by showing up in streaming content like exclusive originals on Prime Video and Amazon Freevee, live sports including Thursday Night Football, livestreamed entertainment on Twitch, Fire TV Channels, and top third-party TV publishers and broadcasters.

This solution is particularly suited for larger brands or those with significant advertising budgets, given the fact that it can utilize Amazon’s extensive first-party signals for relevant advertising, effectively reaching a diverse audience.

A key benefit of using Streaming TV via Amazon DSP is the extensive control it offers over ad placement and audience reach. Advertisers can leverage Amazon’s comprehensive first-party signals, including shopping behaviors, interests, and demographic attributes, to create highly relevant audience segments. This precise reach enhances the effectiveness of the ads, potentially increasing engagement and conversion rates. Additionally, the advanced controls available in Amazon DSP campaigns allow marketers to fine-tune and optimize their ad delivery, which can help to improve overall campaign outcomes.

Relevant advertising. Reach relevant audiences by leveraging Amazon Ads audience segments based on shopping behaviors, interests, or demographic attributes. This signals-driven approach increases the likelihood that ads are highly relevant to viewers, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.

Amazon DSP measurement and optimization include comprehensive analytics and performance metrics. These tools enable advertisers to track the effectiveness of their campaigns and adjust to optimize outcomes, ideally resulting in the best possible return on investment.

Key areas where Skai addresses advertiser challenges

Skai’s advanced capabilities are designed to support Amazon Streaming TV ads, offering tools to ensure advertisers can maximize their impact. Here are the three key areas where Skai provides essential solutions:

Buying & activation. Skai simplifies this process through a unified platform consolidating buying and activation efforts. This approach not only saves time but also ensures consistency and scalability across all advertising efforts.

Omnichannel measurement. Measuring the omnichannel effectiveness of Amazon Streaming TV campaigns is incredibly important. With tools like dashboards, experiments, and analysis grids, Skai helps advertisers understand the holistic impact of their Amazon Streaming TV efforts in combination with other channels like paid search and social advertising.

Creative organization. Skai provides a simplified workflow for creative management. Advertisers benefit from unified creative reporting, cross-channel creative management, and comprehensive video asset management. This ensures that all creative elements are aligned and optimized, enhancing the overall effectiveness of Amazon Streaming TV ads.

Key Skai capabilities for Amazon Ads Streaming TV ads

• Automated actions: Set up detailed alerts and notifications specific to your Amazon Streaming TV campaigns to ensure they remain on track. Automated actions can promptly address any issues related to ad performance or budget allocation.
• Dashboards: Use comprehensive reporting tools tailored for Streaming TV ads to gain insights into campaign performance. Create instant presentations highlighting key metrics such as impressions, video completions, and audience engagement specific to TV ads.
• Media forecasting: Forecast ad revenue and performance from your Streaming TV campaigns. Make informed budgeting and strategy decisions to optimize your ad spend and maximize ROI, taking into account the unique dynamics of TV advertising.
• Media plans: Manage and oversee your Streaming TV advertising plans efficiently. Ensure all campaigns align with your overall marketing strategy and goals and integrate seamlessly with other Amazon ad formats.
• Creative Center: Analyze and measure the effectiveness of your creative assets. Continuously improve ad content to enhance viewer engagement and campaign results, focusing on aspects unique to TV ads like visual and audio quality.
• Experiments: Test, measure, and learn from various Streaming TV campaign strategies. Refine your approach to discover the most effective tactics for your audience, ensuring that your ads resonate well and drive desired actions.
• Scheduled reports: Export, organize, analyze, and share detailed reports on your Streaming TV ad performance with stakeholders. Facilitate transparent and collaborative campaign management, focusing on relevant metrics.
• Custom metrics: Create and track custom metrics that go beyond standard publisher-provided signals. Tailor your campaign analysis to specific business needs, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of performance metrics unique to Amazon Streaming TV ads.

Skai’s Retail Media solution

Skai’s Retail Media solution empowers marketers to plan, execute, and measure digital campaigns that meet consumers when and where they shop. As part of our omnichannel platform, connect and manage campaigns on 100+ retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Instacart, alongside major publishers across paid search, paid social, and apps.

Please schedule a brief demo with our team to see the cutting-edge capabilities of Skai’s omnichannel platform.