The Game Has Changed
The Direct Response TV (DRTV) industry has leveraged full-funnel advertising for decades, tracking sales through unique toll-free numbers and landing pages. However, performance attribution has always been limited. Traditional TV ads relied on assumptions about demographics and viewer personas, leaving a significant gap in precise measurement.
Similarly, Meta disrupted the advertising game by introducing audience targeting and tracking across mobile devices. However, Apple’s iOS 14.5 update and the shift toward a cookieless internet undermined Meta’s attribution capabilities, leaving a void in the advertising ecosystem.
Enter Amazon, with its groundbreaking full-funnel advertising ecosystem. Amazon combines the best elements of TV and Meta/Google, while eliminating many of their flaws. Brands can target exact audiences using Streaming TV (STV) ads and Online Video (OLV), regardless of the content viewers are consuming, and track the customer journey to a sale using Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA).
“For the first time in history, brands can trace a sale all the way back to an initial TV ad view with unprecedented scale and accuracy.”
Historical Perspective: What’s Happening and Why It Matters
Competitive Destruction
Competitive destruction can be best described as “out with the old, in with the new.” This phenomenon occurs when new technologies or processes replace old, established ones. A classic example is the transformation from horse-and-buggy transportation to automobiles, a shift that took nearly 23 years but revolutionized mobility.
Another example is the massive transition from analog to digital technology. To my daughters’ amazement, I often remind them that cell phones didn’t exist when I was in middle school. Back then, phone calls were made from landlines tied to the wall. Today, landlines are nearly obsolete—except in my home, where we’ve kept one for our daughters, who don’t yet have cell phones (a story for another day).
History is replete with such stories where new technologies disrupt old industries – and while this disruption can be devastating for established players, it presents massive opportunities for first movers. Today, a new capability has entered the marketplace, and it’s not Generative AI.
Amazon unveiled this groundbreaking concept at this year’s Amazon unBoxed Conference in Austin, TX:
“Full-funnel advertising at scale with closed-loop measurement.”
How It Works: From Nowhere to Everywhere
Step 1: From Nowhere to Tens of Thousands of Shoppers
The journey begins with Sponsored Advertising campaigns, focusing on bottom-of-the-funnel ads that drive conversions with high ROAS. This initial step builds a foundation by identifying and capturing key audience segments at a cost that is similar to Meta ads. We utilize a phased approach that begins with defensively capturing branded terms, before expanding to category terms and eventually targeting competitor terms as the product ratings, reviews and rank increase. And here’s the game changer: you’re getting the impact of TV ads without breaking the bank.
Step 2: From Tens of Thousands to Hundreds of Thousands
Next, Amazon Demand Side Platform (ADSP) takes these audience cohorts and scales them further. Bottom-Funnel DSP focuses on driving immediate conversions, while Mid-to-Upper Funnel DSP—featuring Display and OLV ads with custom creative—helps brands refine messaging and identify what resonates with each audience. This layered approach is critical for testing and learning. This layered approach is critical for testing and learning.
Step 3: From Hundreds of Thousands to Millions
Finally, with the insights gained from earlier steps, brands can launch TV-grade commercials on platforms like Prime Video with more than 175 million monthly viewers. By serving ads tailored to each audience—regardless of the programs they watch— while leveraging MTA to track the journey to a sale, brands can scale efficiently and effectively.
This approach transforms brands from unknown players to household names—a journey Avenue7Media helps its clients master every step of the way.
Winners and Losers: Who Benefits and Who Falls Behind
Amazon is leading the charge, leveraging its vast ecosystem of Prime members, shoppers, and connected devices. Walmart could follow suit by investing in its marketplace and potentially launching a streaming service.
Traditional marketing platforms are at risk of becoming obsolete. The future belongs to marketplaces like Amazon that connect content to commerce in innovative ways.
What This Looks Like: Connecting Content to Commerce
Picture this: you’re watching your favorite NBA game on Prime. With the click of the “OK button” on your streaming remote, a list of players’ shoes, jerseys, and accessories appears on your screen, ready to purchase. These items could arrive at your door before the game ends.
Or imagine watching a cooking show. A single click adds every ingredient and piece of cookware to your cart, delivered in time for dinner. This is the future of TV and commerce—and the future is now.
Amazon is pushing the envelope, just like it did with AWS. Once brands experience the power of closed-loop attribution, there’s no going back to top-of-funnel “spraying and praying.” In fact, Amazon CTV advertising skips the Awareness part of the funnel and goes right to the Consideration and Purchase parts of the funnel.
Want to leverage full-funnel advertising to grow your brand? Book your Discovery Call with us. Let Avenue7Media help you connect content to commerce and achieve game-changing results.
