For the second year in a row, Amazon joined the upfronts line-up and made the case to advertisers that bigger is, in fact, better.
Over the course of its nearly hour-and-a-half pitch Monday night, the company put its full platform suite on display, from Prime Video to Amazon Music, Wondery, Twitch, and Amazon MGM Studios, making the case that advertisers needn’t look anywhere else for all their advertising needs. The term “full funnel” came up more than a few times throughout the presentation to some presenters’ confusion. “I’m not sure what that even means,” Kansas City Chiefs’ player Travis Kelce told the audience.
“Eighty-eight percent of [Prime] customers shop on Amazon, which means a product they saw on Cross…can be in their home the very next day,” Tanner Elton, VP of US ad sales, said onstage. “That is full funnel advertising.”
Amazon’s ad-supported reach in the US is now 300 million, up 25 million from last year, the company announced, and there are 130 million Prime customers. Earlier this month, Amazon reported that it made nearly $14 billion in advertising revenue during Q1 of this year.
“You’re no longer forced to choose between scale or precision, between creativity or performance, between branding or sales,” Alan Moss, global VP of advertising, said in his closing remarks. “You can have it all in one place with one partner.”
When in doubt? Celeb cameo. To make the case for its many platforms and keep advertisers invested during the 90-minute show, Amazon presented an ongoing rotation of celebrities onstage, starting with a DJ set from Steve Aoki (his first, he noted mid-set, for a seated audience). Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, and Lizzo then kicked off the show, with Lizzo returning later on to talk Twitch. Taylor Rooks, Blake Griffin, Udonis Haslem, Candace Parker, and Travis and Jason Kelce talked about sports streaming and podcasting. Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Elizabeth Banks, Octavia Spencer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger were also among those who made appearances to promote new and existing Prime content.
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Prime exclusives: Beyond its inclusive approach to celebrity participation, Amazon emphasized its exclusive ownership of live sporting events like the NFL’s upcoming Black Friday football game between the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles. The company also announced its role as the “new home of the NBA,” with an 11-year deal secured for more than 65 regular-season games. As more streamers and media companies like NBCU and Fox leaned into sports, which can be a short-term buying option for buyers hesitant to make larger ad commitments, Amazon was no exception.
The nitty gritty: In between flashy programming announcements, Amazon shared more technical news with buyers, including shoppable ads in Prime Video that update with real-time signals like price and contextually targeted pause ads powered by AI. Because when Americans aren’t watchin’, they should be shoppin’.