Advertising plays a key role in attracting customers to your Amazon products listings and, ultimately, amplifying sales. Amazon’s range of advertising options for sellers is continuously refreshed, enabling you to scale your reach with more engaging and immersive content for consumers.
The growth of video advertising functionality provides a huge opportunity for brands.
Given that viewers retain 95% of a message in video form, compared to 10% when reading it in text form, it’s no surprise that Amazon wants to make the most of video ads. 77% of consumers say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a video.
There are two main types of video ads on Amazon: Sponsored Brands video and OTT (Over-The-Top) video. Read on to learn the difference and understand how you can use them to amplify your sales!
Amazon Sponsored Brands video
Amazon Sponsored Brands video is a recent addition to the Amazon armoury. It’s available at Seller Central to professional sellers enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry, and is a good value option for your advertising budget, with some of the lowest ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) of any ad type!
You can use Sponsored Brands video to stand out in desktop and mobile shopping results and help customers discover your brand and products as they shop on Amazon. Ads are keyword targeted, cost-per-click and they link customers to the product detail page where they can discover more and purchase.
Amazon shoppers are more likely to have their attention grabbed by Sponsored Brands video, and more likely to pause scrolling to take a look! It’s available to brand registered sellers on Amazon and these ads are a great way to show off your products and get those conversions rolling!
each ad features 3 sections
1. product details
The primary product image and associated product information (title, star rating, review count, price and Prime eligibility) are automatically displayed.
2. video
The video will play automatically when 50% of it is on-screen.
3. mute toggle button
This button is overlaid in the lower right-hand corner of the video and controls audio playback. Videos always start without audio, but customers can enable audio by tapping on this button. The mute toggle will not be displayed for silent videos.
best practice guidelines
create an attention-grabbing ad
Amazon customers are potentially browsing lots of products, and the attention span of the average shopper is limited! Aim to ensure your content displays the product in use within the first second. There should also be enough information throughout the ad to show what the product does and why it’s great!
keep it concise
Amazon recommend a video length of 15 to 30 seconds. Your content should be engaging and cover only the most important selling points to ensure your message is received and absorbed!
optimise for the format
This video unit auto-plays without sound and runs inline in the search results with no option to go full screen. Your videos should work without sound, and you’ll need to ensure that on-screen text can be easily read on a mobile device.
consider the video loop
Once the video ends, it will automatically loop. Either make your loop seamless or consider adding an end card to provide a brief delay before the re-start.
advertising policies
Check out Amazon’s sponsored ads creative acceptance policies to ensure none of your content is unsuitable for a general audience and that your video doesn’t risk being rejected.
top rejection reasons to avoid
Black or empty frames at the start or end of videos. Don’t waste your chance to engage shoppers by using black or empty frames.
Video is abruptly cropped at the maximum video duration. Abrupt edits can result in an incomplete video and a poor customer experience.
Video includes Amazon branding elements. Amazon trademarks, products or references to Amazon products or services are prohibited.
Video includes customer reviews. Customer reviews (including star ratings), even if these reviews are on Amazon, are not permitted.
video and audio specifications
- Video duration: between 6 and 45 seconds (30 secs or less highly recommended)
- Video dimensions: 1920 x 1080px, 1280 x 720px or 3840 x 2160px
- File size: less than 500 MB
- File format: .MP4 or .MOV
- Aspect ratio: 16:9
- Video codec: H.264 or H.265
- Video profile: Main or Baseline
- Frame rate: 23.976fps, 24fps, 25fps, 29.97fps, 29.98fps or 30fps
- Video bit rate: Minimum 1 Mbps
- Video scan type: Progressive
- Audio codec: PCM, AAC or MP3
- Audio format: Stereo or mono
- Audio bit rate: Minimum 96 kbps
- Audio sample rate: Minimum 44.1khz
- Letterboxing or pillarboxing: videos must not have black bars on any side of the video content
Amazon do not permit blank or black frames at the start or end of videos.
Amazon video ads
You can use Amazon video ads to engage audiences across Amazon-affiliated sites such as IMDb.com and Twitch, and devices such as Fire TV and across the web.
Showcase your brand alongside premium, brand-safe streaming content, including the latest films and TV programmes in two forms:
- OTT (over-the-top) video ads
- online video ads
Amazon OTT (Over-The-Top) video ads
OTT video ads appear either before, during or after the content. OTT is film and television content that is provided via the internet as opposed to the traditional means of a cable or satellite provider. Amazon Prime and Netflix are popular examples of OTT content providers.
OTT video ads are typically viewed until completion — in most cases they are locked in so that viewers can’t skip through. These types of ads are more appealing to larger brands willing to commit to a five-figure monthly ad spend.
reach a more relevant audience
Amazon has over 300 million active customer accounts worldwide! You can reach a customer base that shops with Amazon and watches films, TV, live sports and more. According to Amazon, this helps brands achieve a 44% increase in brand consideration compared to using demographic attributes alone.
reach highly engaged young adult viewers
Connect with an audience that is becoming harder to reach with linear TV. Amazon boasts over 55 million monthly viewers of ad-supported OTT content, with over 90% that audience watching nearly two hours of streaming content every day!
get creative with enhanced ad experiences
Create a seamless experience between your brand and Amazon tools, such as Alexa hints and prompts, or customise and enrich your videos with Amazon features, such as customer ratings.
Amazon online video
Online video ads appear in both in-stream and out-stream formats on Amazon affiliated sites such as IMDb.com and Twitch, and across both browser and app version on a range of devices, including desktop, mobile and tablet.
Online video formats include in-feed video, in-article video, banner video and interstitial video. You can reach audiences across the web through Amazon Publisher Services and third-party exchanges.
build the right strategy
Amazon first-party insights help you determine which audiences are most responsive to your ads. You can use this to develop a detailed marketing strategy that’s fully aligned to your brand!
stimulate consumer action
Customise your message and provide relevant content at any point during the customer journey by using exclusive video tools, such as Video Creative Builder (beta).
complement display ads
Amazon Advertising campaigns that combine both display and video achieve an average 320% increase in page views and 150% increase in purchase rate compared to display-only campaigns!
how can we help?
If you need help with Amazon advertising, marketplace amp is here for you — get in touch today!
Our dedicated and experienced team has the know-how to take your target audience on a journey from initial awareness of your brand and products, through to customer loyalty. To create your display and video ads, you can use your own assets or allow our expert team to create them for you!
