At the 2025 Amazon Upfront UK event, senior executives from Amazon Ads, Prime Video, and Amazon MGM Studios were joined on stage by stars including Sienna Miller, Riz Ahmed, and Kaleb Cooper to bring Amazon’s entertainment portfolio to life and highlight its innovative advertising solutions.
During the presentation, Amazon announced that Prime Video has grown its average monthly ad-supported reach to more than 22 million viewers in the UK, representing a viewership increase of 15% from last year. Amazon also revealed that audience engagement increased more than 25% in monthly ad-supported viewing hours compared to the same period last year.
Amazon also shared for the first time that brands can now reach eight out of ten UK households via the Amazon DSP. Amazon DSP offers advertisers significant scale through Amazon’s owned properties including Prime Video and Twitch, integrations with premium publishers, plus Amazon Publisher Direct which connects to thousands more publishers.
“We’re helping to transform how brands connect with consumers by delivering full-funnel advertising at scale that brings together unmatched reach, audience signals, innovative ad tech capabilities, and measurable performance, all in one place,” said Piers Heaton-Armstrong, vice president of Amazon Ads Europe.
“With exclusive supply and access to more premium publishers than ever before—all fuelled by Amazon’s trillions of streaming, shopping, and buying signals— we’re making it easier for brands to connect with their consumers wherever they are in their viewing and shopping journey.”
The star-studded event spotlighted a slate of upcoming series and movies on Prime Video, which has three of the ten most watched ad-supported streaming shows in the country, including Clarkson’s Farm, Last One Laughing UK, and Reacher. Clarkson’s Farm star Kaleb Cooper appeared, announcing that he’ll be embarking on a solo adventure on the other side of the world in a new four-part series Kaleb Down Under (working title). In the series, Kaleb will experience farming at a scale he’s never encountered before across thousands of acres across Australia’s vast landscape.
Building on the recently announced year-long sponsorship with Hyundai Motor UK for new Amazon Original movies, Amazon highlighted the growing opportunities for brands to connect with engaged viewers through brand partnerships. These include single-titled sponsorships, genre-focused multi-titled sponsorships, and bespoke sponsorships, each of which can help brands connect with a viewer’s passions across a range of titles and develop deeper associations with audiences while offering reach and scale for their campaigns.
Amazon showcased highly engaging ad format innovations, including interactive pause ads which enable customers to discover and connect with brands when they decide to pause the show or movie they are streaming. The latter has already been tested by major brands including giffgaff, Lenovo, and Nestlé, with advertisers in the US reporting a 30% uplift in brand awareness, and a 36% uplift in orders for campaigns including interactive video formats compared to those without.
Also featured were Interactive video ads, where viewers can click an onscreen button with their remote, sending a push notification or an email that links directly to products detail pages or brand stores on the Amazon store—all without leaving their stream. Additionally, Amazon confirmed that development has begun on generative AI capabilities to make video advertising experiences even more relevant.
Earlier this year Amazon Live brand-led live shopping campaigns were introduced with brands like Alpro and Maybelline New York already utilising the interactive shopping experience. Combining live video, social interactivity, and real-time shopping, it enables brands to host live product demonstrations within the Amazon store. The format can be integrated into wider campaigns—including streaming TV, Fire TV and display ads—to drive increased consideration and sales.
Amazon also revealed plans to expand Fire TV Channels, which is Fire TV’s native and frictionless free-streaming experience that provides all customers with instant access to free sports, music videos, entertainment, and news coverage from top partners. Already available in the US, where it has seen tremendous growth, Fire TV Channels’ ad-supported content will be available on all Fire TV devices in the UK next year.
