Amazon touts new Twitch, IMBdTV offerings, audience guarantees via ad tech

Amazon’s first NewFronts presentation, held virtually on Monday, touted its reach and content versatility for advertisers.

The focus landed on new offerings on Twitch and IMBdTV, as well as newly available audience guarantees through its ad tech offering.

At the event, which was narrated by award-winning actress Catherine O’Hara, Amazon revealed that it reaches 300 million customers through Prime Video, with 120 million monthly active users watching across IMDbTV, Twitch and FireTV every month. That’s a 6x increase over previous year’s 20 million figure.

Here are the major takeaways from Amazon’s NewFront:

CTV and guarantees 

Viewership on Amazon’s free, ad-supported streaming service, IMDbTV, increased 138% last year, with 62% of viewers between the ages of 18 and 49. Amazon did not disclose viewer numbers. Viewers spend an average of 5.5 hours streaming IMDbTV per week, Amazon shared.

IMBdTV already offers thousands of original and licensed shows and movies, but this year, Amazon plans to expand its content offering with originals, including an exclusive IMBdTV interior design show starring TV personality Jeff Lewis.

The company will also expand its reach by launching the channel on iOS and Android this summer.

On the adtech side, Amazon is backing up its offering is backed up with bolstered solutions.

Buyers can now buy media through Amazon’s DSP with fixed pricing per placement, paying only for the impressions that reach their intended audience. Advertisers who use the DSP can also create, launch and optimize directly on the platform.

Twitchy fingers

Amazon is allowing advertisers to buy Twitch ads alongside Amazon Advertising campaigns, which run ads on its e-commerce platform, through it's “Better Together” program, which its pitching as a “premium partnership offering” for advertisers.

Amazon is also beefing up its publisher partnerships on Twitch. The company is creating premium Twitch channels with Rolling Stone to offer viewers exclusive news, interviews and concerts, and will exclusively live stream content from The Walking Dead Universe in partnership with AMC Networks.

Amazon is pitching Twitch as a mainstream offer. While the platform has typically attracted  gamers, non-gaming viewership increased 188% last year, including for content such as painting, beauty tutorials and sports. Amazon did not disclose specific viewer numbers.

NFL Thursday Night Football, for instance, will be available on Twitch through co-streamers and on Prime video, after Amazon in March secured exclusive rights to air the games on Prime Video starting in 2022. Amazon will provide advertisers with tools to launch campaigns on Twitch to attract more business.

Game on

On the sports front, Amazon expects to ramp up its CTV offering through its exclusive partnership with the NFL, which will bring 15 Thursday Night Football games exclusively to  Prime Video in 2022.

Prime Video also obtained exclusive rights to pre-game, halftime and post-game NFL content, as well as expanded rights for in-game highlights.

Thursday Night Football is the top-rated weeknight prime time show across all genres. Average viewership for  NFL games exclusively streamed on Prime Video is 82 minutes, in comparison to 67 minutes for other broadcast networks.

The tech giant also has limited rights to other live sports globally on Prime Video including the New York Yankees and the Premiere League in the U.K.