From Contextual to Shoppable: The 3 New Amazon Interactive Ads You Can’t Miss

The streaming wars are evolving, and with them, the advertising landscape. As platforms grapple with rising content costs and the imperative for sustainable growth, ad-supported tiers are becoming the norm, not the exception. In the middle of this shift, Amazon is not just participating; it’s actively redefining the rules of engagement, particularly with its sophisticated approach to Amazon interactive ads on Prime Video.

At its 2025 Upfront presentation, Amazon unveiled a suite of groundbreaking ad formats for Prime Video, signaling a strategic pivot towards deeply integrated, highly relevant, and actionable advertising experiences. These innovations are designed to move beyond traditional interruptions, transforming ads into seamless extensions of the entertainment experience. For marketers, this represents a monumental opportunity to connect with audiences in unprecedented ways, leveraging Amazon’s unparalleled first-party data and vast ecosystem.

The Evolution of Amazon Interactive Ads on Prime Video

Amazon’s journey into ad-supported streaming began in January 2024, quickly establishing Prime Video as the largest global premium ad-supported streaming service. This initial foray saw the introduction of innovative formats like shoppable carousel ads, interactive pause ads, and brand trivia helped build awareness and drive intent.

This momentum led to new announcements during the 2025 Upfront, where Amazon introduced even more immersive Amazon interactive ads designed to feel less like interruptions and more like part of the viewing experience.

A Deep Dive into the New Amazon Interactive Ads

Il latest additions to Prime Video’s advertising arsenal are designed to be more contextual, more actionable, and ultimately, more effective. These new Amazon interactive ads include:

1. AI-Powered Contextual Pause Ads: This format leverages artificial intelligence to analyze both the viewing content and the ad creative. When a viewer pauses their content, a contextually relevant ad is immediately generated, with messaging dynamically crafted to complement the on-screen imagery. Imagine pausing a beach scene in “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and seeing an ad for a travel agency with a carousel of beach destinations, accompanied by the message, “Start your summer story”. This approach aims to make ads feel like “extensions of the entertainment experience, not interruptions,” enhancing user satisfaction while boosting ad relevance. This is a prime example of how Amazon interactive ads are becoming smarter and less intrusive.
2. Enhanced Shoppable Ads with Real-Time Data: Building on Amazon’s e-commerce prowess, these Amazon interactive ads pull real-time retail information directly from the Amazon store, including product details, pricing, deals, reviews, inventory availability, and Prime shipping details. Viewers can add products directly to their Amazon shopping cart with a single click of their remote, facilitating real-time purchase decisions. This seamless integration of media and commerce allows advertisers to connect brand awareness directly to conversion, transforming passive viewing into active shopping opportunities. The ability to instantly convert interest into action sets a new benchmark for direct response advertising in the streaming space.
3. Expanded Interactive Formats for Non-Endemic Brands: Recognizing the diverse needs of advertisers, Amazon has also introduced an expanded suite of interactive calls to action for brands that do not sell directly on the Amazon platform. These versatile Amazon interactive ads include location-based messaging, lead generation options (such as “get a quote” or “book an appointment”), and “subscribe now” buttons. Customers can send information directly to their phones to take the relevant action, broadening Prime Video’s appeal to a wider range of businesses, from service providers to subscription-based companies. This move underscores Amazon’s ambition to be a “one-stop shop” for all advertisers’ needs, offering precision, insight, and performance across the entire marketing funnel.

The Strategic Imperative: Why Amazon is Doubling Down on Amazon Interactive Ads

Amazon’s aggressive push into advanced advertising is driven by several key strategic imperatives:

• Unparalleled First-Party Data: Amazon’s unique advantage lies in its “trillions of first-party signals” derived from what customers watch, browse, and buy. This allows advertisers to activate these signals in a “full-funnel” way, offering a level of precision and measurable ROI that is difficult for competitors to match. The ability to connect viewing habits with purchasing behavior provides a closed-loop attribution model, enabling clear measurement from brand awareness to direct sales.
• Full-Funnel Capabilities: While Amazon has long been a leader in retail media advertising, primarily focused on lower-funnel conversions, Prime Video ads expand this offering to include top-of-the-funnel brand awareness. This unique capability allows advertisers to build brand recognition and drive immediate sales within a single ecosystem, challenging the traditional separation of brand and performance marketing budgets.
• Customer-Centric Ad Experience: Amazon is acutely aware of potential user backlash to increased ad loads. By focusing on “more relevancy, less interruption, and deeper brand integration into content,” Amazon aims to transform the ad experience. The goal is to make Amazon interactive ads feel like a natural part of the viewing environment, enhancing user satisfaction and long-term retention.
• Revenue Growth: The introduction and expansion of ads are primarily driven by the need to generate more revenue to offset the escalating costs of content acquisition and production. Despite initial concerns, Amazon reported lower-than-expected subscriber churn after introducing ads, encouraging further monetization opportunities. The option for an ad-free tier balances revenue generation from ads with customer choice, optimizing overall profitability.

Impact and Implications for Marketers with Amazon Interactive Ads

For advertisers, these new Amazon interactive ads on Prime Video offer a compelling proposition:

• Increased Efficiency and Precision: AI-powered contextual ads and real-time shoppable formats enable more precise targeting and potentially higher conversion rates by presenting relevant products or services at opportune moments.
• Measurable Action and ROI: Amazon’s ad formats are “proven to drive measurable action on and off Amazon”. The introduction of an enhanced multi-touch attribution (MTA) model for 2025 provides clearer insights into campaign performance, measuring the impact of every ad interaction along the path to purchase.
• Expanded Reach and Engaged Audiences: With over 300 million ad-supported audience, advertisers gain access to a highly engaged and purchase-oriented audience.
• Setting New Industry Standards: Amazon’s innovations are likely to compel other CTV platforms to develop similar capabilities, raising the bar for ad technology and integration across the industry. Prime Video is positioning itself as a “performance-driven alternative to traditional TV,” especially with its growing slate of live sports content.

Looking Ahead: Maximizing Your Strategy with Amazon Interactive Ads

Amazon’s commitment to consistent innovation in product offerings, measurement solutions, and ad tech suggests a dynamic future for advertising on Prime Video. For marketers looking to capitalize on these advancements, here are key recommendations:

• Leverage First-Party Data: Actively utilize Amazon’s signals and audience insights for precise targeting and personalization, ensuring your Amazon interactive ads are contextually relevant.
• Embrace Full-Funnel Strategies: Design campaigns that integrate brand awareness with direct response, using both upper-funnel (e.g., contextual pause ads) and lower-funnel (e.g., shoppable ads) capabilities to drive measurable actions.
• Experiment with Interactive Formats: Explore the expanded interactive options, especially for non-endemic brands, to generate leads, drive subscriptions, or provide location-based information, optimizing for mobile integration.
• Focus on Creative Relevance: With AI-powered contextual ads, aligning creative with content is paramount. Invest in dynamic creative optimization and contextual messaging to ensure your Amazon interactive ads feel like extensions of the entertainment.
• Utilize Advanced Measurement: Take advantage of Amazon’s enhanced attribution tracking, including the new multi-touch attribution model, to gain a clearer understanding of which touchpoints drive conversions and optimize campaign performance.
• Consider Multi-Channel Campaigns: Amazon’s internal analysis suggests that multi-channel or multi-format campaigns within the Amazon ecosystem drive better brand lift. Explore combining Prime Video ads with other Amazon ad products for synergistic effects.

How to Analyze Amazon Interactive Ads with Dataslayer

To make the most of these new formats, it’s essential to track how your Amazon interactive ads are performing. Tools like Dataslayer can help by pulling data from Amazon Ads directly into platforms like Google Sheets, Looker Studio, or BigQuery. This makes it easier to visualize campaign performance, spot trends, and share insights with your team. You can track metrics across different ad types, compare results over time, and integrate Amazon data with other channels to understand the bigger picture, all without manual exports.

Looking Ahead

The landscape of Connected TV advertising is rapidly evolving, and Amazon, with its unique blend of e-commerce power, premium content, and cutting-edge ad tech, is at the forefront. The continuous development of Amazon interactive ads on Prime Video offers marketers an unprecedented opportunity to engage with consumers in a more relevant, less intrusive, and highly effective manner. As Amazon continues to innovate, staying agile and adaptive will be key for advertisers looking to unlock the full potential of this powerful platform.