The Amazon NewFronts took place on May 1st and was a captivating overview of Amazon's upcoming new and refreshed content for the season. With a strong emphasis on the interconnection between content and commerce, Amazon unveiled revised and renewed opportunities for brands to effectively target users, especially in relation to TNF (Thursday Night Football). The event, which took place at Geffen Hall, featured discussions on various aspects of content, and several high-profile celebrities also made appearances.
When it came to discussing content, a particular focus was given to Amazon Freevee, which was renamed from IMDBTv last year. The new hit original series "Jury Duty" was a major highlight, along with the promise of fresh content from Judy Sheindlin, who is already a prominent star of the channel. Additionally, Freevee plans to uplevel their offerings by streaming premium original content from Prime for free starting this summer.
Amazon's FireTV is set to expand its ad-supported content offerings by making FireTV Channels available to all FireTV owners. These channels will provide in-depth coverage of a wide range of topics, including travel, food and cooking, viral videos, and more. Meanwhile, Amazon Live is also planning to uplevel its offerings by introducing shoppable livestream content. This will include some exclusive content from Tastemade, as well as exclusive material from REVOLT, the media company founded by Sean "Diddy" Combs.
During the event, Amazon Ads unveiled several new capabilities and upcoming features, including:
New STV measurement providers (VideoAmp and iSpot) are set to enable cross-stream impressions and reach, combined with Amazon’s 1P measurement. This development comes as STV continues to gain traction with many partners in this space, due to the improving quality of content and the rising popularity of “must-see STV.”
AMC is launching worldwide and highlighted AMC Audiences (BETA), where DSP audiences can be created/updated in the DSP and activated in the DSP with only a few clicks. This is a significant win for AMC users, as it makes the platform easier to use and understand and allows for optimization of DSP spend.
A new opportunity with TNF that allows segmentation of viewing audiences. This will enable brands to offer tailored creative to specific segments. For instance, an auto brand could show a sports-car ad to a younger audience, an SUV to a sport/outdoor audience, and a Masterbrand spot to all others, all within the same 30-second slot. This represents an exciting opportunity for testing content.
Interactive video ads will now be available on TNF, which allows FireTV viewers to select "send to phone" or "send to email" on their remote, sending the product detail page or brand store link to their device for easy shopping. This feature has been available on FireTV for a while, and the expansion into TNF is appreciated.
Omnichannel metrics have been expanded for auto, softlines, and hardlines, which will be great for measuring holistically across Amazon and off-platform.
The launch (BETA) of Brand Storytelling Ads for Freevee. This represents an exciting opportunity for brands to create a more compelling and cohesive storyline over multiple commercial breaks. There are sure to be some interesting creative opportunities to explore as this format and placement develop.
Overall, Amazon's NewFronts event was an excellent start to a big week of media news. Amazon showcased their big names, both internal and external partners who are building their businesses. This was a great event to kick off Upfronts week!
