Throughout the last weeks Amazon Ads has incorporated new advertising formats into its catalog of solutions for advertisers and agencies. And he has officially presented them to the sector in its first Upfront event in Spain, held in the emblematic Florida Park Sala in Madrid; An encounter with which he has picked up his vision: to be the point of reference of entertainment content and digital advertising.

The innovations presented are aimed at continuing to position themselves as a strategic partner for advertisers thanks to the relational possibilities of their broad and versatile entertainment universe. He assures that the new formats will help brands improve their knowledge and impact their relevant audiences by promoting consideration and conversion.

He has put the focus on video as a creative resource as well as on his streaming platform prime video and in the connection possibilities he has offered since almost two years ago he adopted the subscription plans with advertising. Specifically, it has revealed that its subscription model with ads has a monthly average audience of more than 11 million viewers.
86% of this audience buys on Amazon and spends 69% more than the rest of the users who do not see prime video, which shows the connection between discovery and conversion in the ecosystem.

It should be noted that Amazon, according to Kantar data, is the preferred platform by consumers to see digital advertising for the usefulness and relevance of their ads. And, accompanying its integral vision of digital advertising, increasingly connected to entertainment and new technologies, Amazon is betting on outstanding trends in the field of consumption, such as Live Shopping or purchase live; or for new moments and relationship environments, such as pauses of the first video content or interaction with the intelligent assistant Alexa.

On the other hand, Amazon Ads has taken advantage of the UPFront event to remember the strategic agreements established with third parties, including some of the players that, a priori, are rivals, such as Disney Advertising or Netflix, with the intention of becoming the reference advertising platform. These alliances mean that brands can buy advertising spaces in other services, such as Disney+ or Netflix, from the Amazon advertising platform.

You can learn more about the novelties announced by Amazon in your UPFront event here:

The new Amazon Ads advertising formats

Live Shopping

Amazon has launched Live Shopping, its live purchase experience, in Spain and, therefore, makes available to advertisers a format that combines live purchase, immersive narration and social interactivity. The movement involves the extension of the scope of this strategic option that makes the purchase an entertainment experience.

The format allows to show the articles and communicate their characteristics and benefits in interactive sessions through live questions and answers and chats, and taking advantage of the participation of content creators. Amazon says that Live Shopping encourages consideration through real -time interaction, facilitates frictionless purchases in the same environment and generates notoriety for the brand.

“We are seeing that the flat message without interaction has less and less value. With the purchase live what we are looking for is to mix a part of entertainment with that part of discovering brands”, Explains Jose Escudero, Head of Sales at Amazon Ads, in statements to Reason.WHY. “It is a potential format in Spain, but we must not think about it as a traditional announcement, but as a content guides those who are really interested in products and brands”

As the company has announced, advertisers may integrate the Amazon Live content that is related to their products directly in their brand stores – the specific spaces of the brands in the marketplace – or in their personalized destination pages. This, according to Amazon, will enhance both participation and conversion.

Samsung has been one of the first brands to use Live Shopping in Spain. He did it in July with a live campaign of 48 hours on the occasion of the launch of his folding telephone Galaxy Z Fold 7. In the broadcast, the product expert Xavi Cegarra and the creator of Atiga content showed the functions and characteristics of the device. The broadcast was lodged in a custom Page Page on Amazon.es, and complemented with other ad formats.
The campaign, as they move from Amazon, managed to multiply by 11 the spontaneous brand recognition in front of the average of the sector, sales multiplied by 9.5 on the day of live broadcast.

Interactive video advertisement in Prime Video

During the UPFront celebration, Amazon has presented two new ad formats for its Prime Video streaming platform. One of them are interactive video ads, which bring with them a transformation of advertising experience both on television and streaming, since spectators can interact directly with ads through remote control, mobile device or voice commands.

As the company moves, Prime Video spectators can add products to their purchase cart on Amazon or explore the offer of a brand without leaving the visualization experience. In this sense, the format connects traditional streaming campaigns, focused on notoriety (upper-funnel), with conversion (Lower-Funnel), creating a fluid purchase route and respecting the spectator’s choice on what to explore and when to buy.

In addition, Amazon has performed beta tests of this format with Samsung, L’Oréal, or Uber Eats. American market advertisers report a 30% increase in brand recognition and 36% in orders in campaigns that include interactive video formats compared to those that do not use them.

Interactive ads during the pause in Prime Video

For their part, interactive pause ads aspire to open new interaction opportunities during natural pauses in visualization of contents. It is a format that promises to become a standard of the industry. Other platforms, such as the streaming service of the British Itv chain, have begun to implement recently.

In this format, when the viewer stops the content, you will see a translucent advertisement with the brand message and the options “Add to the cart” and “more information.” Interactive overlays will remain visible throughout the pause, and with a simple click on the remote control, viewers can add products to your Amazon cart or request more information by email before resuming the content.

In Spain, Hyundai has been one of the first brands to activate the format. According to the firm in a statement, this type of advertisement allows you to integrate in a non -intrusive way and more respectful of the user experience than traditional spots. At the birth of a voluntary action of the viewer, the receptivity of the message is increased and reinforces the link with the brand.

Video ads in Alexa

Among the novelties announced by Amazon, the possibility of including Alexa in online video campaigns stands out. Thus, advertisers will be able to run their creatives on the Assistant Home screen on Echo Show devices. They can also do it to the same creative material they use in other online video campaigns.

From the company’s advertising division they explain that the format offers greater scope to the messages of advertisers and generate brand notoriety and consideration. They point out that 21% of Alexa users use the device several times a day to obtain information about products, so the new format will help impact between compromised consumers who seek to learn more about products and services.

The commitment to Alexa is part of, on the one hand, in the growing adoption of intelligent devices, and on the other, in Amazon’s ambition to find the audience wherever it is. “There is a lot of audience that is interacting with our devices. I think it is important to interact with him at that specific and special moment, which is voice or even display interaction in some cases”; Escudero points out.“Ads in Alexa complement the Puzzle of Advertisers options”

Ads on Alexa’s beginning screen

In his commitment to advertising in Alexa, Amazon now offers the opportunity to show advertisements on the beginning screen of the digital wizard on Echo Show devices. The format, as they point out from the company, will help consideration in the purchase route.

In addition, its presentation intelligently adapts to the proximity of the user. In this sense, when it is more than 1.2 meters the ads are shown full screen, rotating next to other content, such as news or the weather. On the other hand, if you are less than the distance indicated, the ads are shown next to other information selected by the user to appear on the home screen.