With the debut of ads on Amazon Prime Video, Campaign took the opportunity to take a look at how the connected-TV terrain is taking new shape.
We invited Sarah Thompson, president of Dentsu Media Canada; Tyler James, head of product and sales specialists, Canada, at Amazon Ads; Karine Courtemanche , EVP of Plus Company and president of Media Group and Richard Ivey, chief client officer at Media Experts to join Campaign Canada editor David Brown in front of a senior audience of nearly 150 of the country’s creative, marketing and media leaders.
Amazon is the latest streaming service to introduce limited advertising, a feature that appeals to marketers and agencies by combining the brand-building capabilities of TV with the precision targeting capabilities of digital advertising.
While customers can opt out of receiving advertising by paying an additional $2.99 per month, Amazon has promised that viewers will see “meaningfully” fewer ads than they do on rival services, or linear TV.
Revenues earned from advertising will enable Amazon to invest further in the quality content that has enabled it to build Prime Video into one of the leading streaming services, it says.
Proofpoint: Amazon MGM Studios earned 68 Primetime Emmy Award nominations last year, with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel becoming the most-nominated streaming comedy ever, earning a total of 80 nominations over its five-seasons.
And, while revenues for traditional linear TV advertising have been declining as consumers’ media consumption migrates towards online media, connected TV—a broad subset of the category that includes services such as Prime Video—has emerged as a growing bright spot.
According to GroupM’s most recent “This Year Next Year” report, global investment in connected TV is expected to grow by 9.5% on a compounded annual basis, reaching US$45.8 billion by 2028. Speaking specifically to the North American market, GroupM predicts connected-TV (CTV) advertising will increase by 14.9% this year, up from 9.4% in 2023.
The introduction of advertising also represents a sea change in the video advertising model. For agencies and their clients, SVOD (subscription video on demand) advertising is a new playground featuring an enticing combination of premium content and highly engaged audiences.
So how do our expert panel see things shaking out? Here are the key take-aways
Speaking at Campaign’s launch in Canada, James, who leads emerging ad products for Amazon in Canada, said the rise of connected TV enables brand and performance marketing to play off each other in ways that weren’t achievable before.
In the past, brand-building was the domain of linear TV and performance marketing was for digital media. “They often spoke very different languages, and there was probably an unfair burden placed on brands and our agency partners to [handle] that translation, and a lot of effort went into that,” he told the audience.
Less time spent trying to reconcile the differences between the two disciplines will allow brands and agencies to develop better strategy insights, as well as identify high-value opportunities, he said.
What’s particularly exciting, James believes, is that connected TV is very much in its infancy and will only become more efficient as it better integrates the two components. “As it scales to the level of linear TV and beyond, I think there’s going to be a lot of opportunity for TV and digital to speak the same language, use the same targeting taxonomy, use the same measurement.”
Dentsu Media’s Thompson said that being able to run advertising around quality premium content represents a “huge opportunity” for brands, particularly in this era of “constant distraction.”
But it’s also imperative for brands and agencies to be aware of how their message is going to be presented to audiences, she cautioned. “Our job is to present a great canvas for creative,” she urged.
“But the quality of creative in a connected TV environment needs to factor in things like: are audiences going to be binging [a show]; how many times are they going to be seeing the same spot; does this make sense in the contextual environment [the brand] is in.” Connected TV, she added, is a wholly “different beast” to its linear TV counterpart.
But it does also provide a new playground for creatives, who are always keen to explore the capabilities of any new media channel at their disposal.
Fellow panelist Ivey, from IPG’s Media Experts, said creative agencies should “absolutely” be excited about the potential provided by these services, particularly around storytelling approaches that provide greater resonance and affection among audiences.
“What I think is great about the platform is that there are a lot of opportunities for telling stories, a lot of opportunity for engagement and interactivity.” The key to success, he added, is that advertisers don’t simply repurpose an existing 30-second TV spot as a 15-second cutdown. Ads should feel natural to the platform they’re appearing on.
Plus Company Canada’s Courtemanche lauded Amazon’s ongoing support of Canadian-made content, as well as for bringing more high-quality digital video inventory to the market. “It’s very difficult [for advertisers] to buy quality online video,” she explained. “There’s not a lot of it, it’s always sold out, and Amazon is bringing more to the marketplace.”
But she also cautioned that the success of connected TV will ultimately hinge on media buyers’ ability to accurately measure and target consumers as they move from one “walled garden” like Prime Video, to another. “That’s going to be the big breakthrough,” she said. “Once we find a way to follow the consumer from one walled garden to another, that’s going to be a lot of fun. But right now, I’m still excited as a viewer.”
James, meanwhile, predicted that advertising on Prime Video will not only evolve and improve, but that the channel will ultimately provide a new option for mid- to longer-tail brands that have not historically had a TV presence.
“It’s going to be amazing for viewers because they’re going to see more diverse advertisers,” he said. “[And] it’s going to be amazing for advertisers who are going to be able to tap into the brand-building superpower of TV.”
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