Tonight, senior executives from Amazon Ads, Prime Video, Amazon MGM Studios, and Twitch took to the stage alongside A-list talent at the UK Upfront in London, to highlight the different ways Amazon is transforming advertising for its customers. And they announced new ad tech coming next year including interactive and shoppable video ad formats.
- Prime Video content in the UK has an average ad-supported monthly reach of over 19 million customers
- 52% of Prime Video viewers don’t watch any paid linear TV in the UK
- These Prime Video viewers also spend 36% more in the Amazon.co.uk
- New interactive and shoppable video ad formats to launch in 2025
- Combining FireTV and Prime Video ad campaigns can give advertisers a 2x increase in incremental reach with just a 5% overlap in audience
Amid appearances from Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, Idris Elba, Jack Whitehall, Simone Ashley, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Orlando Bloom, Guy Ritchie, and many more, Amazon revealed the scale of the opportunity for advertisers across its expansive entertainment portfolio, as well as a variety of new ways for brands to connect with its audiences.
Last year, we celebrated the news that we were bringing ads to Prime Video’s premium entertainment content in the UK. Now we are here to show you what that means in practice. By combining award-winning TV series and films, billions of first-party signals, and leading ad tech, we are helping brands deliver relevant ad experiences at an entirely new scale. These campaigns aren’t limited to brands that sell in our store either, we are able to help brands understand the impact of their upper funnel streaming TV campaigns on lower funnel outcomes like sales and sign-ups, regardless of where the customer ends their journey.
– Phil Christer, Managing Director, Amazon Ads UK
Here are five highlights from Amazon’s UK Upfront presentation:
Boosting audience reach and engagement with Prime Video ads
For the first time, Amazon revealed Prime Video content in the UK has an average ad-supported monthly reach of over 19 million customers, equivalent to more than a third of UK adults. In addition to showcasing the scale of Prime Video, the presentation showcased how Prime Video ads are helping brands to engage audiences they can’t reach elsewhere, with 52% of Prime Video viewers not watching any paid linear TV in the UK. These Prime Video viewers also spend 36% more in the Amazon.co.uk store, compared to the average spend of an Amazon customer, and are passionate about the deep and broad selection of programming that Amazon delivers across global and local hit films and series, award-winning Amazon Originals, and live sports.
Christer gave an example of what this means in practice. Hasbro, a multinational toy company, wanted to connect with customers more effectively across different stages of the purchasing journey and create more personalised, data-driven campaigns. They used Prime Video ads to increase brand awareness, boost sales and expand their audience reach for Peppa Pig toys. With Amazon’s first-party signals, they were able to reach parents of young children across the US and the UK. Deploying a full-funnel strategy, which blended upper-funnel Prime Video ads with lower-funnel Sponsored Brands placements, the six-week Peppa Pig campaign resulted in +21% YoY increase in branded searches, a +18% increase in sales for Peppa Pig, with 68% of these purchases being made by new-to-brand customers.
Likewise, NIVEA’s parent company Beiersdorf, wanted to drive awareness of its NIVEA SUN UV Face Cream product and its skin protection qualities among UK consumers during the key summer holiday period. The Prime Video ads campaign captured the attention of its audiences, with a third-party measurement study showing that the average attention score of these ads was over 50% greater than their linear and on-demand TV benchmarks.
New ad tech to connect content to commerce with interactive and shoppable ad formats on Prime Video
To help advertisers bridge the gap between high-quality content and commerce, Amazon Ads unveiled a suite of new ad formats that lean into digital interactivity to enhance the streaming experience and help advertisers build full-funnel brand affinity.
These new solutions, which will launch in the UK in 2025, include interactive video ads, allowing customers to seamlessly engage with a brand by adding the advertised item directly to their Amazon cart with the click of a remote; interactive pause ads, enabling viewers to discover and engage with brands when they pause their show or movie; and shoppable carousel ads, allowing customers to browse and purchase multiple related products during ad breaks on Prime Video.
These new ad formats enable viewers to learn more about, and make a purchase from, your brand without ever having to leave the viewing experience. This not only makes it easier for Prime members but it also helps brands to unlock insights into lower-funnel interactions and better inform their campaign strategies.
– Phil Christer, Managing Director, Amazon Ads UK
Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios presents an ambitious lineup of popular and upcoming original series and movies
Prime Video is a leading entertainment destination, featuring popular local productions such as Clarkson’s Farm, The Grand Tour, The Devil’s Hour and The Rig, global hits like The Lord Of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Fallout, Citadel, The Idea of You, and many more.
Our hit series and movies are reaching viewers across the globe, bringing millions of new customers to Prime Video. We believe groundbreaking stories can come from any corner of the world and have seen first-hand local productions, like Clarkson’s Farm or Maxton Hall becoming record breaking global hits. But what really sets us apart is our ability to spark new obsessions across books, podcasts, music, fashion, and games. No other studio offers creators so many ways to engage with an audience like we can.
– Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios
Prime Video customers can also add dozens of popular channels like discovery+ Premium (incl. TNT Sport), Paramount+, hayu, and Crunchyroll in the UK, as well as more than 100 free ad-supported channels. All customers, regardless of whether they have a Prime membership or not, can rent or buy thousands of titles.
During the presentation, leaders from Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios revealed an exciting line-up of upcoming TV series and films, accompanied by some familiar faces with the audience enjoying an exclusive preview of the final episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Also returning to Prime Video is US spy-action series Citadel for Season 2 which was introduced by star of the show Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, who was later joined by Idris Elba to reveal more about their upcoming action-comedy film Heads of State. Orlando Bloom, Nick Mohammed, and Bryce Dallas Howard, appeared to discuss their upcoming British action-comedy, Deep Cover and director Guy Ritchie discussed his upcoming TV series, Young Sherlock, currently in production in the UK, which tells the origin story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective.
Representatives from Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios also introduced a host of local UK programming. Simone Ashley and Hero Fiennes Tiffin introduced their upcoming romcom Picture This, while comedian Sara Pascoe appeared to discuss popular global format Last One Laughing UK, and announce Bob Mortimer, Daisy May Cooper, Harriet Kemsley, Joe Lycett, Joe Wilkinson, Judi Love, Lou Sanders, Rob Beckett and Richard Ayoade will be joining her in the series. Jack Whitehall made an appearance to introduce his new holiday comedy Jack in Time for Christmas and his next venture, psychological thriller Malice, with a cast including David Duchovny and Carice Van Houten.
Rising star Asha Banks introduced upcoming Amazon Original movie for young adults, My Fault London, a female-led romance drama based on Mercedes Ron’s bestselling book trilogy Culpables. For fan favourite Clarkson’s Farm, Kaleb Cooper was on stage to announce that his live show, that recently toured the UK, will be broadcast on Prime Video.
Amazon increases its investment in groundbreaking live sports experiences for both brands and fans.
Prime Video highlighted its ongoing investment in live sports, as Alex Green, Managing Director of Prime Video Sports, International, took to the stage to discuss the recent launch of top-pick Tuesday night UEFA Champions League football on Prime Video in the UK and Ireland. This gives the many millions of customers watching on Prime Video access to one of the best UEFA Champions League games each week at no extra cost.
Alex was joined on-stage by some of the stars of Prime’s UEFA Champions League on-air team including Gabby Logan, Clarence Seedorf, and Frank Lampard to discuss the first two fixtures in the all-new League Phase and the teams’ hopes for the remainder of the competition.
Today we’ve demonstrated the broad reach of Prime Video in the UK, which helps us to bring some of the biggest matches from the UEFA Champions League to even more people. We aim to deliver a world-class broadcast for these Prime Video viewers across every top match, featuring some of the biggest and most insightful talent in broadcasting from Gabby Logan to Clarence Seedorf, making each night a must-watch event from start to finish.
– Alex Green, Managing Director, Prime Video Sports, International
Prime Video recently announced that it is bringing the NBA to Prime in the UK with access to 87 regular season games per year from the 2025/26 season. In addition, the deal will include all games from the post-season SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament, a third of all NBA Playoff games in rounds one and two, one series a year in the Conference Finals, and access to the NBA Finals in six of the 11 years of the deal. Prime Video will also become the strategic partner and third-party distributor of NBA League Pass in the UK, which will allow NBA fans to watch all regular and post-season NBA matches for an additional monthly subscription.
Additionally, Amazon also has a new 11-year rights agreement with the Women’s National Basketball Association, commencing in 2026, in which Prime Video will exclusively stream 30 WNBA regular-season games each season worldwide, including the Championship Game of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase.
Building connections through the Amazon entertainment universe
In addition to shows, films, and sports, the Amazon entertainment universe extends to music, gaming, devices, and podcasts.
Twitch, the global live streaming service with over 105 million average monthly visitors, is building the future of live, interactive entertainment by celebrating the thousands of highly-engaged communities that come to our service every day. From turnkey video and display ads, to fully custom programmes that include Twitch’s top streamers, there’s a fit for every brand, business and budget. By combining live, interactive content with Amazon’s first-party insights and full funnel services, brands can create original campaigns that don’t just drive impressions, but make lasting impressions. These are authentically created by trendsetting streamers who are shaping current and future culture and entertainment.
The secret ingredient to Twitch advertising is tapping into our unique streamer-led solutions. By integrating seamlessly into the livestreams and conversations that viewers are passionate about, advertisers can foster a sense of personal connection and affinity. And because Twitch is part of Amazon, we are uniquely positioned to drive incremental reach within Amazon’s broader streaming portfolio.
– Rachel Delphin, Chief Marketing Officer, Twitch
Rachel Delphin also shared how Nike Jordan partnered with Twitch to evolve its brand perception and connect with younger adult audiences during the Olympic Games in Paris, by creating a dynamic community space for local basketball fans. Jordan transformed the 18th arrondissement into District 23, elevating the neighborhood into a sport and cultural hub, and Twitch built a custom five-week campaign to complement the in-real-life activations and engage the Twitch community. “When a brand trusts us to help them activate Twitch’s passionate communities, they really can grow their own fandoms,” added Delphin.
This included the launch of a new Twitch channel featuring an interactive map of Jordan’s physical District 23 activation, and four livestreams featuring Twitch streamers, celebrities, and performances. Highlights included continuous promotion on Twitch’s homepage, behind-the-scenes access to athletes and artists, and events like The One Finals—a record-breaking 7-hour stream with over 10 million viewers. US artist Tinashe performed, along with rappers Fat Joe and Rema. The One Finals became Twitch’s largest ever paid stream, boosting global engagement and community interaction, while generating excitement around Jordan’s brand.
The last four years have seen Amazon Music Live deliver livestream experiences to fans worldwide with real-time broadcasts of exceptional music performances such as Kendrick Lamar, The 1975, Taylor Swift, and Megan Thee Stallion. Additionally, Amazon Music hosts its own exclusive livestreaming series, City Sessions, featuring intimate, stripped-back performances from artists such as Kings of Leon. These sessions have been held at unique venues around the US, and just last week Amazon Music announced the expansion of City Sessions to Europe, with four sessions scheduled in the UK over the next three months. This highlights another way Amazon Ads is helping brands to engage with audiences in relevant ways but this time on a more intimate scale, as brands can take up a variety of sponsorship opportunities at these events.
While for podcast fans, Amazon Ads can help brands show up alongside 55 global no.1 shows including Ghost Story, Dr Death, and Stolen Hearts. This content, together with Amazon Ads range of ad tech solutions, means brands can build integrated campaigns that span audio and visual solutions delivered programmatically through the Amazon DSP.
Our newly simplified Amazon DSP experiences help advertisers create and manage campaigns more quickly, optimise for frequency more effectively, and garner smarter insights. The Amazon DSP is your gateway to combining our signals with yours, streamlining your media buys, and reaching customers where they spend their time.
– Piers Heaton-Armstrong, VP of Advertising in Europe
One example of this is SharkNinja, a premium kitchen appliances company. SharkNinja created a full-funnel media strategy that included Prime Video ads for their awareness campaigns, DSP display, online video, and Sponsored ads for their mid-to-lower-funnel campaigns. It all fed into the Amazon Marketing Cloud, the secure, privacy-safe clean room, for remarketing and measurement purposes from Amazon Ads.
Customers who were exposed to the ads on Prime Video were 20% more likely to add to basket, and 20% more likely to covert within 10 days, while customers who saw all elements of the Amazon Ads campaign were 40% more likely to make a purchase.
With Amazon DSP, our clean rooms, and other leading ad tech, we can help all advertisers connect awareness and brand building objectives directly to sales outcomes and category growth. Full-funnel advertising, at scale, for everyone.
– – Piers Heaton-Armstrong, VP of Advertising in Europe
Prime Video has an average monthly ad-supported reach of 19 million in the UK. But Amazon’s customer reach extends beyond Prime Video. For example, FireTV is the world’s most popular streaming media player family and ads delivered across Amazon’s Fire TV, Fire Tablet, and Alexa Echo Show devices can reach millions of customers in the UK. Indeed, when advertisers combine their FireTV and Prime Video ad campaigns, they can achieve a 2x increase in incremental reach with just a 5% overlap in audience.
