From Inspiration to Action: How Interactive Ads Can Help Maximize the Potential of Your Streaming TV Campaigns

Think about the last time you watched TV. First, you probably deliberated between traditional linear TV and multiple streaming services before choosing a particular streamer. Once on the service, you may have browsed through tens, if not hundreds, of shows and movies. After several minutes of browsing, you finally settled on a title that piqued your interest, and as you watched, you probably also saw quite a few ads of varying relevance to you…or perhaps you simply tuned them all out, instead turning your attention to your mobile device during the ad breaks.

With all these screens, content, and messages constantly vying for our attention, it’s no wonder the streaming TV advertising landscape is a more fragmented place than ever before; it’s the perfect recipe for disengagement and ad fatigue. It’s hard enough for brands to ensure they’re reaching the right audiences, at the right times, and in the right places. But while advancements in audience and contextual targeting have made it easier for advertisers to get their ads in front of relevant customers, once they do find them, how can they make sure they’re connecting audiences to the right experiences that will get their brand message across and encourage further action with their brand?

What streaming audiences really want from advertising is control over how and when they choose to engage. Fortunately, all of the technology that’s making consumer attention so elusive – streaming services, connected TVs, and smartphones – is also making it possible for advertising to become an actionable, immersive experience, not just a passive transaction between brand and customer. It’s given rise to new, interactive ad formats that allow brands and audiences to engage more effectively with each other across an increasingly fragmented shopping journey. With these interactive ads, brands can move beyond traditional advertising to better connect with their customers in ways that feel more dynamic, and meaningful; 75% of viewers agree they are more likely to pay attention to an interactive TV ad than a standard commercial (Brightline, State of the TV Ad (Re)volution, 2023). Moreover, 80% of respondents to a Kantar survey commissioned by Amazon Ads said they would take an action if exposed to an interactive ad (Kantar survey, US, March 8th-March 24th 2024, n=1132).

What are interactive streaming TV ads?

Interactive ads on streaming TV give audiences more varied, exciting ways to engage with your brand as they stream their favorite TV, movies, and sports. These ads feature a creative overlay that the viewer can engage with using their mobile device or TV remote, allowing them to click or scan to purchase or learn more about the featured products and brands, all without leaving their streaming experience. It’s all about putting the power in the audiences’ hands, making it convenient for them to take action with the ads they see without having to leave their stream.

In turn, these ads can also help advertisers seamlessly connect upper and lower funnel effectiveness in their streaming TV advertising campaigns. By adding an interactive overlay to a streaming TV ad, advertisers can actually thread the needle between the upper-funnel KPIs that video ads are known for – reach and awareness – with mid- and lower-funnel impact, like consideration, purchase intent, and even conversion. Results of a custom study that Amazon Ads conducted in partnership with Kantar underscore how adding interactivity to streaming TV ads can help maximize ad potential all the way down the funnel.

• +30% lift in brand awareness for interactive video formats vs non-interactive ads¹
• +28% lift in purchase intent for interactive video formats vs non-interactive ads¹
• Streaming TV ads with interactivity observed +17% more Amazon detail page views vs streaming TV ads without interactivity²
• Streaming TV ads with interactivity observed +36% more orders compared to streaming TV ads without interactivity²

Interactivity also gives brands access to better reporting to continue improving campaign effectiveness. Visibility into measurement insights beyond ad impressions help to tell a more detailed story of customer engagement stemming from their ad, allowing brands to better understand the connection between their ad and customer actions and refine future ad campaign strategy.

Get creative to drive deeper customer engagement with interactive ads

Amazon, for instance, offers CTAs like “want more info” which prompts the viewer to send themselves an email with a URL to the brand’s website, allowing them to explore the brand on their own time. They’ve also introduced a number of new CTAs, including ‘book an appointment,’ ‘get this offer,’ ‘sign up now,’ and ‘get a quote’ to help the right brands unlock even more intentional customer behaviors. For these CTAs, when the customer clicks the link in the email, they’re taken to a form hosted on Amazon.com, which is pre-populated with their information so that all they need to do is click ‘submit’ to take further action with the brand.

Shop

For brands whose primary goal is to encourage customers to browse and buy products, shoppable ads are an obvious solution. It’s even more impactful when the publisher also has simple one-click checkout functionality embedded into the customer experience, so audiences don’t need to leave the streaming experience to complete their transaction. For example, interactivity on Amazon streaming TV allows customers the ability to link directly to the Amazon shopping experience or to send more product information via email. Additionally, Amazon app push notifications are available for endemic brands.

Learn

For brands with objectives beyond simply driving conversion, leveraging learn more CTAs effective alternatives in driving consideration and encouraging advertiser education. Amazon, for instance, offers CTAs like “want more info” which prompts the viewer to send themselves an email with a URL to the brand’s website, allowing them to explore the brand on their own time. They’ve also introduced a number of new CTAs, including ‘book an appointment,’ ‘get this offer,’ ‘sign up now,’ and ‘get a quote’ to help the right brands unlock even more intentional customer behaviors. For these CTAs, when the customer clicks the link in the email, they’re taken to a form hosted on Amazon.com, which is pre-populated with their information so that all they need to do is click ‘submit’ to take further action with the brand.

Play

The magic of interactivity isn’t limited to commerce and brand education. Interactive ads can also show up as gamified experiences meant to surprise and delight, building recall, favorability, and engagement. This could range from unique gamified formats that allow customers to answer fun trivia questions related to the brand or show they’re watching during the ad break, or immersive experiences that allow them to play around and explore fun, engaging branded content experiences.

Building a more effective streaming TV ad campaign powered by interactivity

The competition for streaming TV audience attention is stiffer than ever, but the very technologies that make it that way also open up new opportunities for brands. By adding interactivity to their campaigns, advertisers can build more immersive, actionable ad experiences to drive results from the top to the bottom of the funnel. Amazon Ads is uniquely poised to help brands unlock the potential of interactivity in a few ways:

• Reach audiences at scale who are already more engaged from the start, by running alongside premium content like popular TV, movies, and live sports on Prime Video
• Drive consideration and action with simple one-click interactivity, allowing customers to link directly to an Amazon-powered shopping or learn-more experience with a click of the TV remote or scan of a QR code
• Establish ad relevance by layering on powerful audience signals that ensure that these immersive ad formats are driving favorable actions and outcomes among relevant, desired customers. In turn, you’ll also be providing audiences with a more relevant ad experience, which helps combat dreaded ad fatigue
• Leverage hard-to-get insights, like ad interactions, to inform future campaign strategy

Audiences today see hundreds of ads daily, and have become accustomed to tuning out the many competing messages thrown their way. With a strategic streaming TV ad campaign strategy powered by interactivity, it’s possible to not just better encourage attention and action; we can actually start building more positive, mutually impactful relationships between brands and customers.

Sources

1. Kantar Interactive Ads context lab study, US, March 7th-March 23th 2024, Control n = 451, Exposed n = 1,359
2. Amazon internal data, US, 12/13/24-1/17/24. Analysis looked at 46 advertisers selling products on Amazon.com and running Streaming TV ads serving impressions on the Freevee app for Fire TV.