How to Advertise in Amazon Prime Video
How to Advertise in Amazon Prime Video
Key Takeaways
Amazon’s Advantage: Prime Video ads combine streaming reach with unmatched retail data, enabling performance-led TV campaigns.
Format Diversity: From pre-roll to interactive shoppable ads, brands can choose placements that shorten the path from awareness to purchase.
Expert Support: Partnering with One Day Agency ensures campaigns are creatively powerful, technically precise, and commercially effective.
Streaming has transformed how audiences consume television and film, and Amazon Prime Video is now a dominant force in the market. With more than 200 million subscribers worldwide and a significant UK footprint, Prime Video offers brands a compelling new environment for advertising. Once a strictly subscription-based platform, Amazon is opening up advertising opportunities through its Prime Video with Ads tier, giving marketers access to premium audiences who are highly engaged with blockbuster content.
This article explores how to advertise on Prime Video, the formats available, and how to maximise impact when entering Amazon’s advertising ecosystem.
1. Amazon Prime Video’s Advertising Shift
In 2024, Amazon introduced an ad-supported tier across major markets including the UK. By default, most Prime subscribers were opted into the new model, with an option to pay extra for ad-free viewing. This move positioned Amazon to instantly become one of the largest ad-supported streaming platforms globally, creating new opportunities for advertisers seeking scale.
Unlike other streaming services, Prime Video benefits from Amazon’s data ecosystem. With access to retail, e-commerce, and streaming data, Amazon can offer more sophisticated targeting capabilities than most competitors. For advertisers, this means the ability to reach audiences not only by what they watch, but also by what they shop for
2. Prime Video Ad Formats
Amazon’s advertising strategy blends the familiarity of TV-style spots with innovative, retail-driven formats:
Pre-roll and Mid-roll Video Ads: Standard 15–30 second spots delivered before and during programmes, ensuring reach in high-value premium content.
Interactive Ads: Enabled on Fire TV and other connected devices, allowing viewers to interact with ads using their remote (e.g. click-to-cart functionality).
Shoppable Ads: Seamlessly linking streaming ads with Amazon’s retail ecosystem, enabling instant product purchases.
Pause Ads: Displayed when content is paused, these static or lightly animated creatives provide a natural, non-intrusive engagement moment.
Sponsored Content Placement: Opportunities for brands to sponsor specific shows, genres, or Amazon Originals for deeper alignment.
This mix makes Prime Video particularly appealing to performance-driven brands looking to shorten the path from awareness to purchase.
3. Targeting Capabilities
Amazon’s advertising advantage lies in its data. While Netflix focuses heavily on content consumption and demographics, Amazon layers in shopping and retail insights, offering brands powerful audience segmentation.
Advertisers can target audiences based on:
Demographics: Age, gender, household composition, and geography.
Viewing Behaviours: Genre preferences, binge habits, and device usage.
Shopping Behaviour: Purchase history, browsing activity, and intent signals across Amazon’s e-commerce platform.
Custom Audiences: Tailored based on CRM uploads, lookalikes, or product categories.
This ability to tie advertising exposure to direct purchase intent is one of the most powerful aspects of Prime Video advertising.
4. How to Get Started
Advertising on Prime Video typically happens through Amazon Ads, Amazon’s centralised platform for all its media inventory. Steps include:
Register with Amazon Ads
Gain access via Amazon’s advertising portal, which consolidates retail media, Fire TV, and Prime Video inventory.
Define Campaign Objectives
Choose from brand awareness, consideration, or direct sales uplift — with measurable outcomes tied to Amazon’s retail ecosystem.
Select Formats and Inventory
Decide on video ads, shoppable formats, or sponsorship placements depending on your strategy.
Set Budgets and Bidding
Campaigns typically operate on CPM or CPC models, with programmatic buying available through Amazon DSP (demand-side platform).
Upload Creatives
Ad creatives must meet Prime Video’s premium quality standards, with strict technical specifications and brand safety requirements.
Measure and Optimise
Reporting includes impressions, reach, and completion rates, as well as retail-linked attribution — tracking how exposure impacts actual product sales.
5. Programmatic Buying and Amazon DSP
One of the most powerful tools for Prime Video advertising is Amazon DSP, Amazon’s programmatic platform that provides access to both on- and off-Amazon inventory. Through DSP, advertisers can:
Retarget Prime Video viewers with display and video ads across the wider web.
Build campaigns that combine streaming TV ads with shoppable display units on Amazon.com.
Optimise holistically, measuring results not only on brand lift but also direct sales.
This integration of streaming and retail makes Prime Video unique, blurring the line between TV advertising and e-commerce performance marketing.
6. Regulatory Considerations in the UK
Advertising on Prime Video in the UK is subject to the ASA’s CAP Code. This means all campaigns must ensure compliance on issues such as:
Truthfulness and evidence in claims.
Clear identification of ads as marketing material.
Sensitivity when targeting younger audiences.
Respect for data privacy when linking shopping and viewing data.
Given the retail dimension of Amazon’s ad offering, compliance and transparency are especially important.
7. Opportunities and Challenges
For brands, Prime Video represents:
Unmatched Scale: With tens of millions of UK households already subscribed, ad inventory reaches a vast portion of the population.
Shopping Integration: Linking TV ads directly to purchase opportunities is a huge differentiator.
Premium Environment: Association with Amazon Originals and blockbuster content enhances brand credibility.
However, challenges remain. CPMs on Prime Video can be higher than traditional TV, creative standards are rigorous, and the platform is still evolving. Success requires careful planning, compelling creative, and expert media buying.
How One Day Agency Can Help
At One Day Agency, we specialise in integrating streaming advertising with broader media and creative strategies. Our senior team understands both the technicalities of programmatic buying and the storytelling required to cut through in premium environments.
With expertise across TV, OOH, digital, and performance channels, we help brands:
Navigate Amazon Ads and DSP to unlock the best targeting and formats.
Develop shoppable and interactive creative that makes the most of Prime Video’s retail advantage.
Combine streaming campaigns with broader cross-channel activity for maximum impact and efficiency.
Whether you are exploring Prime Video advertising for the first time or looking to scale, One Day can ensure your campaigns deliver both reach and measurable results.
