Amazon’s shoppable TV ads fought to prove themselves over Thanksgiving

The news: Amazon Prime Video’s interactive, shoppable ad formats were put to the test by marketers over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, per Digiday reporting.

• Several media buyers told Digiday they devoted as much as 10% of their monthly budgets to shoppable ad formats centered on Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events to gauge their performance.
• Digiday found that Amazon’s shoppable ads secured major clients including Fisher-Price and Dollar Shave Club (DSC). Juice Media, which represents DSC and other direct-to-consumer brands, said shoppable ads could take up as much as 20% of budgets.

Many buyers noted their interest and uncertainty, saying the format still needs to prove its value before securing further budget commitments.

The shoppable barrier: Many streaming services and connected TV platforms have debuted shoppable ads in 2024, but their nascence could make consumers hesitant to bite as streaming services are not typically seen as shopping channels.

• A similar challenge confronts social commerce: A recent Ipsos survey found that consumers report low trust in purchases made through social media. Unfamiliarity with shopping features, in-app browsers, and a general lack of confidence in social platforms could be hampering that channel’s growth.
• Amazon launched shoppable ad formats on Prime Video in May, but Thanksgiving weekend offered brands a unique opportunity to try them in a discount environment that could make consumers more willing to purchase.

Our take: Amazon has key advantages over other streaming services and CTV platforms when it comes to shoppable ads.

• Prime Video is attached to Amazon’s extremely sticky Prime memberships, allowing for an easy connection between video ads and consumers’ shopping carts. We forecast that nearly three-quarters (72.7%) of US households will have Prime memberships this year.
• That might not be such a unique advantage for long: Walmart’s pending acquisition of smart TV manufacturer Vizio could give it similar capabilities.
• Several Thanksgiving weekend NFL games also gave Amazon in-demand, high-viewership ad inventory with the ability to target consumers more directly than on linear TV. Amazon announced it sold out its Black Friday NFL ad inventory, securing deals with brands like Microsoft, Uber, and Ralph Lauren—but has not said how many of those deals included shoppable ads.

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