‘Brands and agencies must adapt to leverage these advancements’: Amazon and Yahoo go large and local at 2025 upfronts
Yahoo and Amazon presented their wares on Wednesday as part of the 2025 Upfront season, and both companies were keen to showcase the might of their global reach, while insisting they can get granular with their latest data and advertising offerings.
We asked the industry if what the tech giants are bringing to the table stack up against their local rivals.
Amazon Upfronts
Paula Lopes, digital director, Avenue C
With four million subscribers and potential reach of 10 million Australians, Amazon debuts in the streaming ad space with great case studies, local scale, and data.
During the event, Amazon emphasised why they are the largest ad-supported streaming service globally, with over 200 million subscribers worldwide and four million in Australia.
Beyond multiple series, movies, and local adaptations, sports are set to be a major focus for Amazon in the coming years.
They’ve secured an 11-year deal with the NBA/WNBA and a local partnership to broadcast the ICC. However, Amazon made it clear that they are far more than just an entertainment company.
Amazon is where people go to shop, listen, read, stream, and watch, and the power of their first-party data remains unmatched.
They also shared key audience insights, revealing that 53% of their subscribers belong to households with three or more members, indicating likely subscription sharing. This suggests that Amazon’s ecosystem could be reaching over 10 million Australians, underscoring their significant reach and scale.
It’s particularly interesting that the once “untouchable” streaming audience is now not only accessible but enhanced with a multi-signal audience profile through Amazon.
With their streaming ad service now live and early adopters such as Suncorp, Lego, and McDonald’s having already launched campaigns and collected initial results, it’s time to dive deeper into the data, including MMM analysis, to understand how their combination of compelling content, vast audience, rich first-party data, and clean rooms can help brands succeed across the entire consumer journey within Amazon’s extensive ecosystem.
Brandon Taylor, commerce director, Kinesso
At their Connected Worlds event, Amazon made it clear that they are reshaping the advertising landscape. The focus was on Prime Video’s extensive reach, with over 4 million subscribers in Australia, creating incremental engagement opportunities for brands.
Content was the key theme of the presentations and panels. They highlighted their exclusive streaming rights to major sporting events like the ICC Cricket World Cup, and a focus on Australian-made content such as the new adaptation of The Office.
Amazon offers unique advertising opportunities within SVOD, and the integration of shopping experiences within entertainment further enhances brand reach.
Recent brand successes after launching on Prime Video include McDonalds achieving a 9% uplift in campaign effectiveness, and Suncorp’s AAMI brand reaching 1.5 million unique impressions in just two months. These results highlight the effectiveness of Amazon’s data-driven advertising capabilities.
Agencies are increasingly drawn to Amazon’s sophisticated data infrastructure, which allows for precise audience targeting and robust measurement. This enables brands to optimise marketing strategies by blending traditional media with advanced analytics for improved ROI, and the full funnel data model sets Amazon apart from its peers.
As Amazon continues to innovate – potentially introducing interactive AI experiences and drone delivery in the near future – brands and agencies must adapt to leverage these advancements, with Amazon positioned as a key player in the evolving media landscape.
Yahoo Upfront
Mark Zala, digital director at Avenue C
“The ad tech of a walled giant but with the independence of a startup.”
I’m likely butchering the tagline (sorry, team Yahoo) but that was one of the early slogans to open Yahoo’s New Front. It’s a catchy brand position and balances the juxtaposition of assuring the market they’re a global giant that can carry their weight against, well, obviously Google, while reaffirming their independence in the ad tech space and ensuring they’re thought of as a last bastion against big tech. Kind of like The Trade Desk. But, maybe, they’ve historically struggled to emulate that tagline.
While no Google, their data stack has been always been impressive. They’re as interoperable as any other DSP in market. They were one of the first to pioneer omnichannel marketing and have extensively rich partner integrations. But they’ve probably lacked the wow factor or singular differentiation that makes an advertiser or agency think, “ah you want to do X, you’ve got to use Yahoo for that”.
But after today’s announcement that might’ve changed.
From January 2025, Yahoo will be Afterpay’s exclusive global tech partner, creating a world’s first ‘global finance media network’.
Quite some feat, as Afterpay command nearly two-thirds of BNPL market share in Australia, they have research showing that Afterpay customers spend 54% more vs the average consumer, and can give advertisers a window into offline purchases – as 40% of Afterpay transactions are in-store.
This offers advertisers a wealth of opportunity to reach custom audiences based on browsing habits, search activity but more importantly transactions.
FlyBuys and Cartology have FMCG locked down, but no one’s really planted a stake in the ground and become the go-to for cross category transactional data (CBA and NAB may beg to differ).
As we head into 2025, Yahoo may have just given advertisers and agencies alike a highly compelling reason to re-think their DSP mix.
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