Amazon will join companies like Twitter, Snap and YouTube from Google to launch advertisers at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s NewFronts event.
Spring NewFronts are digital media’s approach to traditional TV upfronts, when advertisers traditionally commit a large amount of their annual TV spend. During NewFronts, online publishers, platforms and other companies host presentations and parties to showcase their programming, audience data and tools to media buyers. This year’s event will take place virtually from 3 to 6 May.
Amazon’s advertising business has led to growing market share in the digital advertising industry, a topic that looks set to continue this year. A survey of ad buyers in Cowen in January said that Amazon will be the biggest market share earner among the top digital ad companies in 2021 and 2022. The survey was based on responses from 52 U.S. senior ad buyers in December , which represent $ 15 billion in advertising spend in the U.S.
Amazon was scheduled to make its debut at NewFronts in 2020, but said it would not participate in the event because the Covid pandemic began to break out in the United States.
This year’s presentations include companies like YouTube, Roku, Twitter, TikTok and Snap, as well as worldwide publishing companies like BuzzFeed, Condé Nast, BBC News and Vice Media Group. Other players new to NewFronts will include A + E Networks, Entercom, Estrella Media, Penske Media and Vizio. Mainstay Hulu will not be part of this year’s event; instead, it will be presented at the parent company’s own Disney events.
The IAB said its 2020 event attracted more than 14,000 brands, agencies and media buyers. This year’s event promises to investigate how consumer behavior changed during the pandemic and how content creators programmed across all video formats.
Amazon’s growing ad business
Amazon’s fourth quarter 2020 earnings report showed the benefits of a recovery in advertising after a fall in the pandemic. Amazon’s “others” category, which mainly consists of advertising, generated $ 7.9 billion in revenue in the quarter, an increase of 64% over the previous year.
Amazon can also benefit, as advertisers prepare for Apple’s privacy changes that will impact their business. “We believe that AMZN is extremely well positioned to survive [Apple’s privacy] changes thanks to the transparency of its attribution and high overall intent for platform purchases, “said analysts at Deutsche Bank last month.
The e-commerce giant opened some of its initiatives at the IAB’s annual leadership meeting last week. Her vice president of global ad sales, Alan Moss, said that with the launch of IMDb originals for TV this year, she would offer product integration and branded content opportunities to help advertisers “authentically align their brand. with cultural moments and gender themes “.
Moss also discussed how Amazon plans to expand its podcast advertising.
In another panel, Amazon Studios’ chief operating officer and television co-director Albert Cheng spoke of the growing prominence of selling products directly on TV screens, Deadline reported last week. He said that “T-commerce” is in its early days, but that Amazon is making progress there. For example, Amazon has broadcast Savage X Fenty programs and has incorporated these live streams with purchase opportunities.