Amazon is making it easier for marketers to take advantage of video advertising by adding the format to its self-service Sponsored Display program. The company is also expanding a public beta for its Video Builder, which provides brands with customizable templates when developing video campaigns, per announcements made at its UnBoxed 2022 conference today (Oct. 26).
The addition of video to Sponsored Display enables advertisers to make video campaigns that run both on Amazon and other platforms, with a focus on opening options for small and mid-sized businesses. The solution allows for the creation of immersive assets, such as tutorials, unboxing videos and demos.
“We want to bring the power of video advertising to more brands, no matter their size or level of resources,” said Tanner Elton, vice president of U.S. sales for Amazon Ads, in a statement.
Amazon pointed to third-party research by Wyzowl that found 73% of surveyed consumers prefer to learn about products and services through video ads. Eighty-eight percent said video ads have convinced them to buy a product. A more aggressive push into video also follows shifting media consumption habits: Over 225 million streaming TV viewers now live in the U.S., per eMarketer data cited by Amazon Ads. Meanwhile, the market for digital video advertising is expected to reach $76 billion this year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
At the conference, Amazon Ads went over new ways to engage audiences through screens. The company pointed to Prime Video’s coverage of “Thursday Night Football,” the IMDb What to Watch app and the Freevee Welcome Screen as options for advertisers. Freevee is Amazon’s ad-supported streamer, previously known as IMDb TV.
Outside of video, Amazon said it would deepen Sponsored Display capabilities in other ways. Soon, select U.S. advertisers will be able to add a shopping credit to their ads through a Rewarded Sponsored Display offering. The format rewards consumers who click on the placement and make a purchase.
A 2021 survey by Amazon Ads found that 92% of respondents said they were more likely to take action if offered a shopping credit. Additionally, Amazon is opening its sponsored display for categories that do not sell directly on its e-commerce platform, such as hotels and restaurants.
“We have to provide our advertisers the flexibility, efficiency, and scale to be nimble and responsive as their needs change,” said Alan Moss, vice president of global advertising sales at Amazon Ads, in a statement.
On the ad-tech front, Amazon used UnBoxed to spotlight the Amazon Marketing Cloud, its data clean room solution. The company is focused on improving signal coverage and ease of use for marketers that are increasingly seeking clean rooms in the wake of third-party cookie deprecation. These upgrades were revealed just months after Amazon introduced Store Analytics, which is intended to improve in-store performance.
Amazon has increasingly invested in advertising services as marketers spend more on retail media, with a host of new products this year such as an email marketing tool. The company’s ad sales segment grew 18% year-on-year to $8.76 billion in the second quarter, a growth rate that bested digital rivals amid an economic downturn. Amazon reports its third-quarter results Thursday.
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