Earlier this year, Amazon's Prime Video shook up the advertising world.
The streaming giant has flipped a metaphorical switch and turned on advertisements for all its Prime Video users. Prime members could pay a couple of dollars more a month to avoid advertising, but by all accounts very few did.
The move immediately made Prime the largest ad-supported subscription streaming service in the world, and it took full advantage of the move, securing more than $1.8 billion in upfront commitments this year, according to The Information.
Now Amazon is in a prime position (pun intended) to continue that growth through 2025, as a series of strategic moves look set to converge.
For starters, Prime Video is expected to add more inventory to the service, though the exact nature of what that will look like is unclear. It could mean more advertising space or more types of marketing opportunities, as formats like the break and various forms of sponsorship continue to proliferate.
Said an Amazon advertising executive, Kelly Day FT that Prime Video's ad load would “increase slightly” in 2025, though the company is expected to keep its overall ad load fairly light.
An Amazon spokesperson says so The Hollywood journalist that “we have not changed our plans to have significantly fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers, and we evaluate advertising volumes to ensure we are delivering a great customer experience.”
Regardless, any move by Amazon to expand its advertising business is sure to send shivers down the spines of the competition, as viewers flock to shows like Falland sports like the NFL.
When the company introduced ads on Prime Video earlier this year, the streaming video ad market was flooded with inventory, and two top ad sales executives with competing streaming services say they felt the pain, missing internal goals, even as their streaming ad revenue increased healthily from the previous year.
A repeat in 2025 could pose similar problems.
This is especially true given Prime Video's strength not only in reach, but also in live sports. According to Nielsen, Thursday Night Football averages nearly 15 million viewers per game, 25% more than last year.
Any questions about Prime Video's ability to attract a mass audience have been put to rest with these numbers. Amazon says more than 50 new brands have signed on as sponsors of TNF this season, with Verizon, Subway, State Farm, AllState and JCPenney returning as presenting sponsors of pre- and post-game coverage, halftime and other programming .
The company also introduced shoppable and interactive ads in games, expanding strategic priorities and leaning on Amazon's retail strength.
“Live sports content continues to grow, and at Amazon we create significant opportunities for brands by combining customer reach with our first-party insights and innovative advertising technology,” said Danielle Carney, head of live sports sales live and video for Amazon Ads, in relation to IL TNF kick-off. “We provide full-funnel capabilities that work for all advertisers, not just brands selling on Amazon.”
And next year Prime Video will add the NBA, a dramatic expansion of its sports content and a place to offer a variety of advertising opportunities to sponsors looking for a bigger slice of the sports pie.
To be sure, advertising has become big business for Amazon as a whole. It reported $12.7 billion in ad revenue in the second quarter, up 20% from a year earlier.
Most of that still comes from its retail business, but Prime Video is expected to be a growth engine, with sports, new entertainment programming, new ad formats and perhaps that expanded ad load all acting as catalysts coming next year.