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Less than a year after releasing in beta, Amazon’s artificial intelligence-powered video generator is now available to all U.S. advertisers on the e-commerce platform. The fast rollout of the solution, which spins up half a dozen videos based on the input of a product ID, speaks to the mounting arms race between digital advertising platforms when it comes to leveraging generative AI to produce rich media assets, particularly for small- and mid-sized marketers that typically can’t afford them.
The news announced Tuesday follows Google’s latest updates on its Veo AI video tool from May and Meta expanding its generative AI vision to encompass more aspects of the marketing pipeline. For Amazon, the simply named video generator wields a few advantages, namely that it is up and running right now.
“It’s real. This isn’t like a ‘coming soon’ message,” said Jay Richman, vice president of product and technology at Amazon, who positioned the offering against “vaporware” and “fantastical prototypes.”
The latest version of Amazon’s video generator can create far more sophisticated ads than those that were available during the beta period that began last September, per a demo Richman showed to Marketing Dive. Rather than focusing on static scenes, such as a record player sitting on a bare table, the technology can emulate realistic motion from virtual models, like a besuited man checking a watch on his wrist for the time. It is also better at stringing multiple scenes together, with smoother transitions between animations, and can include elements like humans or pets for dynamism.
“We had to do a lot to constrain the models to avoid hallucinations or to improve our yield rate. We were kind of optimizing for the floor of creative quality versus the ceiling,” said Richman of the video generator’s early stages.
Video generator lives on Amazon’s sponsored brand campaign builder and can surface six videos in a matter of minutes based on the advertiser’s input and campaign needs. The back end analyzes the submitted product’s detail page, including customer reviews, and feeds those factors into an image generator that then sends information into the video model. Advertisers can upload existing media from their library, such as social content or product demos, as well as assets like logos. Editing tools allow for fine-tuning logo placements, fonts and headlines while ensuring the end result matches any brand-specific guidelines
“We’ll add more controls over time but we’re really trying to keep it dead simple,” said Richman.
In terms of monetization, the video generator is free, which could appeal to marketers that are facing tightened budgets but continued demands for precision.
“Byproduct businesses may emerge in the future but right now we just want to build something that customers love, that they use in an increased fashion and that we see their businesses grow as a result of adoption,” said Richman.
One customer, the ad agency BTR Media, described using the feature to cater videos to different product searches, like whether the user is looking for chocolate or vanilla protein products. BTR Media in a statement said video generator has been a “game-changer” for its clients.
Amazon souping up its video generator follows progress in developing its image generator, which has had more time to ingest the massive e-commerce marketplace’s product catalog since debuting around 18 months ago.
One telling insight from the testing phase was that half of the products that were promoted with video generator had not been advertised before, a sign that Amazon is onboarding more brands into its retail media ecosystem through a diversification in media creation capabilities. Uptake has been apparent even outside of the categories to which video generator is tailored.
“What surprised us is that we’re actually seeing a fair number of mid- and even larger-size brands embracing the tool,” said Richman.
Amazon says that sponsored brand campaigns featuring video see a 30% higher click-through rate, on average, than those without. The findings align with a larger push by the company to crack the code on full-funnel advertising that extends beyond its historic know-how in retail media that tends to be oriented around lower-funnel performance marketing. Amazon’s revenue derived from ad sales increased 19% year over year to $13.92 billion in Q1, above analyst estimates.
“The introduction of video allows for greater stopping of the scroll and communicating of value, and therefore they perform, on average, much better,” said Richman.
For now, ads made with video generator will run in the usual places where sponsored brand campaigns appear. Asked about whether there are plans to broaden the availability to other Amazon-owned properties, such as Prime Video or the livestreaming service Twitch, Richman demurred while emphasizing that Amazon will continue to ramp up its investments and innovation bets in generative AI.
“All I can say is watch this space,” said Richman. “You see the quality curve that we’re on. I’ll let you connect the dots.”
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