Amazon’s aggressive entry into the global streaming and CTV video advertising business is set to advance, with the company announcing plans to expand Prime Video ad support in Brazil, India, Japan, the Netherlands and New Zealand starting next year.
The announcement was made Tuesday, out of the Amazon Ads “Unboxed” event in Austin, Texas.
The online retail giant introduced ads on original and library series and film titles in January in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain and the UK, with Prime Video subscribers able to opt out of the ads by paying a monthly fee ($3 in the U.S.).
In the first quarter, Amazon’s advertising business grew 24% year over year to $11.82 billion, led by the Prime Video launch.
Amazon also has ad inventory for premium sports events, such as Thursday Night Football — and the company snagged an 11-year deal to start streaming live NBA games in 2025. Amazon recently hauled in $1.8 billion worth of upfront ad sales commitments from advertisers.
For purposes of scale, a consensus of equity analysts predict that Netflix will collect about $1.24 billion in global ad sales in 2025.
Even before its expansion, Amazon said Prime Video is on average reaching 200 million customers worldwide with ads each month. In addition to Prime Video, its Amazon Ads product enables brands to run campaigns against its other various streaming entertainment platforms including Twitch, Freevee, Fire TV Channels, IMDb, Amazon Music, and Wondery.
Amazon is also expected to slightly increase the number of ads it shows viewers in 2025.
“Since we introduced Prime Video ads earlier this year, we have been able to help brands and advertisers achieve full-funnel business results thanks to the differentiated value we offer across our premium content, reach, first-party signals, and innovative ad tech,” said Alan Moss, VP of global ad sales at Amazon Ads, in a statement.
Separately — but connected by the dots of international expansion — Warner Bros. Discovery announced that, starting November 19, its Max subscription streaming service will enter into Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
This comes nearly 18 months after WBD replaced in North America the legacy HBO Max app with Max, a more technologically-sound platform that reflects the merger of the erstwhile WarnerMedia and Discovery. It also follows earlier international expansions, including in Latin America.
“Building on successful launches in the U.S., Latin America and Europe, Asia Pacific represents the next phase of Max’s globalization, making Max available now in over 72 markets with more to come in 2025,” said JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming and games for WBD, in a statement.