Amazon is doubling down on its hybrid commerce and content strategy, revealing new ad formats and confirming its growing reach on Prime Video ahead of its 2025 upfronts. The company says Prime Video’s ad-supported tier now reaches more than 130 million U.S. users monthly, up 15 million from last year. That puts it among the largest streaming audiences in the country.
With the ad tier in place for over a year, Amazon is now shifting the narrative from scale to sophistication. New AI-powered ad tools and formats are designed to turn entertainment into a shopping engine that is context-aware, real-time, and directly tied to Amazon’s commerce ecosystem.
Contextual Ads and Commerce Come Together
Among the new features announced Monday:
- Pause Ads with Contextual Relevance: These dynamically reflect what is happening on screen. If a viewer pauses an episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty, they might see ads for travel or summer fashion, aligned with the show’s setting or theme.
- Shoppable Ads: These display real-time pricing, reviews, and Prime shipping info. Viewers can purchase items without leaving the content.
- AI-Generated Ad Messaging: New tools use scene recognition to auto-generate hyper-relevant ad copy that blends into the experience.
- Interactive Call-to-Action Ads: These units encourage direct responses like “subscribe now” or “book an appointment,” with follow-ups sent to users’ mobile devices.
Commerce Signals Meet Streaming Scale
Amazon’s pitch to advertisers hinges on the direct link between viewership and commerce. The company says that 88 percent of Prime Video viewers have shopped on Amazon. That kind of behavioral overlap is nearly impossible to match elsewhere.
These ad experiences will run across all content types, from reality shows to live sports. Expect these formats to be a major focus during NFL broadcasts and other live events where engagement and purchase intent spike.
Moving Beyond Reach
Amazon confirmed the 130 million monthly viewer stat just ahead of its second annual upfront presentation. Last year’s rollout of ads across Prime Video sent shockwaves through the market, dramatically increasing supply and putting pressure on competitors.
At last year’s event, Amazon introduced three new interactive formats. According to internal data, brands using them saw a 30 percent lift in brand awareness, 28 percent greater purchase intent, and a 36 percent increase in orders.
Now the company is moving further, positioning itself as a leader in scene-aware, commerce-driven video advertising.
The Take
This is Amazon doing what only Amazon can do. Everyone else is trying to monetize content with ads. Amazon is using content to monetize commerce. No other streaming player has Amazon’s direct pipeline from entertainment to purchase. That makes every view on Prime Video more actionable, more measurable, and more valuable.
Amazon is also doing what others have struggled with: making ads feel native. By aligning ad creative with what’s happening in a scene, Amazon reduces friction and raises relevance. Importantly, Amazon is creating ad products that are both performance-driven and brand-safe. That’s a rare combination in the current digital landscape, where most platforms force a tradeoff.
The broader implication is that Amazon is not just competing with other streamers. It is building a new kind of media company, one where content is the delivery mechanism and commerce is the business model. This turns Prime Video from a cost center into a profit driver, and that could permanently shift the economics of streaming.
