Amazon already shook up the upfront two years ago with an influx of ad inventory. Now, the company is looking to completely throw out the old playbook.
Ahead of Amazon’s upfront event on May 11, Amazon vp of global ad sales Alan Moss spoke with ADWEEK, previewing the company’s new pitch to ad buyers and noting that it is “reinventing” how it partners with agencies this year, as it looks to help them navigate fragmentation and deliver results across streaming, digital, and the open internet.
“The upfront conversation used to be, ‘What content can I buy?’ And today it’s, ‘How do I make my entire investment work together?’ The evolution of the upfront shows the impact streaming has had on how buyers plan and execute this year,” Moss said.
According to Moss, Amazon’s audience signals, combined with its DSP partnerships with publishers such as Netflix, Disney, Roku, and Spotify, help it reach around 90% of U.S. households through its authenticated graph. The company is now also announcing a new partnership with LinkedIn’s CTV Ads through Amazon DSP, bringing LinkedIn’s first-party audience signals from more than one billion members to streaming TV inventory.
With that data and its AI offerings for campaigns, the company is looking to help brands achieve outcomes across the funnel during the upfront. Moss also noted that AI is making the barrier to entry lower, with more SMB brands getting into video and live sports and bigger brands extending their assets and increasing overall buys.
“Our approach with buyers combines premium content and digital signals with AI-driven solutions that optimize and deliver measurable outcomes that perform all year long,” Moss said. “For example, we’re offering sponsorship packages to our most premium content and live sports properties and custom creative brand partnerships with authenticated Amazon audiences and measurement capabilities.”
In addition to Amazon’s sports offerings, including Thursday Night Football, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR, and more, Moss told ADWEEK that the company’s upfront event will also be touting its new series and movies, including The Greatest, a biographical scripted series about Muhammad Ali; Off Campus, a college soap about the love lives of an elite hockey team; and a new movie called Judgment Day, where Zach Efron plays a convict taking reality TV judge Will Ferrell hostage.
Talking with ADWEEK, Moss previewed Amazon’s pitch to advertisers, why brands need to prepare for agentic shopping, and how the upfront is evolving in the age of streaming.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What’s your strategy for the upfront marketplace this year?
The upfront market is strong this year. While there are always headwinds in our industry, we’re seeing positive signals that it’s going to be a healthy upfront season. What we’re hearing from senior agency leaders and brand marketers isn’t anxiety; it’s focus. Our prediction is premium content, especially live sports and custom creative title sponsorships, remain central, but overall, the focus is shifting towards how premium content is activated through innovation.
