Amazon Video Advertising Launches for Sponsored Brands

As part of the article series on Amazon Advertising, we now present Amazon Video Advertising. Here you can directly advertise your products with exciting advertising videos on Amazon.

Amazon has launched a new advertising format for videos in the US, UK, and German markets. Previously, sellers on amazon.de could only place videos on the product detail page. In the future, this will also be possible through the Sponsored Brands advertising format.

Videos with Sponsored Brands

Those who as sellers have already deposited their brands registered with the Patent and Trademark Office through the Amazon Brand Registry could previously access the Sponsored Brands ad types. Amazon has now given these campaigns a new video ad format. This format is aligned with keywords like previous Sponsored Brands ads and is billed per Cost-per-Click. The target page when clicked is the product detail page.

Setting up Video Ads

To create a Sponsored Brands Video ad (SBV for short) on Amazon, you must first create a Sponsored Brands ad with name, start and end date, and budget for a corresponding brand. Under Advertising Format, you select the Video section.

Below that, you define the product to be advertised for which the video should advertise. Currently, only one product per video can be advertised. In the next step, you then upload the actual video. There you can upload your file and view it in the preview.

In the last step, you specify keywords and bids for which your video should be displayed. If you want, you can also add negative targeting for keywords to which your video ad should not be displayed.

The review of the video ad is usually completed within 24 hours according to Amazon, but can take up to 3 business days.

Amazon Defines Requirements for Advertising Videos

Video Specifications

• 16:9 aspect ratio
• 1280 x 720 px, 1920 x 1080 px, or 3840 x 2160 px
• 976, 24, 25, 29.97, 29.98, or 30 fps
• 1 Mbit/s or higher bitrate
• 264 or H.265 codec
• 6-45 seconds long
• 500 MB or smaller
• MP4 or MOV file
• Main or Baseline profile
• Progressive scan type
• No more than 1 video stream

Audio Specifications

• 1 kHz or higher sampling rate
• PCM, AAC, or MP3 codec
• 96 Kbit/s or higher bitrate
• Stereo or mono format
• No more than 1 audio stream

Amazon gives tips so that a video can be published:

You should avoid links to a website in your video. Additionally, fade-in or fade-out transitions should be removed. Amazon also doesn't want to see black borders or bars on the sides of the video. Videos must therefore be created in the correct aspect ratio. Videos should be kept short and contain relevant information. Since playback starts automatically, the first seconds are crucial as to whether a customer continues watching the video. For spoken text, text in written form with good readability should also appear alongside the audio.

On the help page for video ads, there are further guidelines:

• Videos must not have any borders on the sides.
• No empty or black images at the beginning or end of videos.
• Brand name, logo, or product must be included.
• For videos without audio tracks: It must be clearly communicated to the customer that the video has no sound (e.g., through a disclaimer "No Audio" in the ad or by not having figures that seem to be speaking).
• Customers must be able to understand the video even without sound.
• Captions or subtitles are strongly recommended.
• Audio and any text within the video must be in the primary language of the area where they are displayed.
• No blurry, unclear, or unrecognizable footage.
• The Video Safety Zone (area bottom right and an imaginary frame in the video) must not be covered by important content.
• No customer reviews (including star ratings), even if they are on Amazon.
• No offers, discounts, or other savings actions.
• No irritating images (for example, flashing, rotating, blinking, pulsating objects or text, high-contrast transitions).
• No Amazon trademark.
• No distracting, shrill, unexpected, or abrupt and discordant sounds.
• No unreadable text: All on-screen text must be at least 30 pts. large and well readable.
• No poor audio and video quality.

Two Different Video Placements

Currently, there are two placements for advertising videos. One placement appears under the search on desktop devices. The other placement appears within the search for mobile devices. Here are images from the preview, since our video ad has not yet been activated.

Amazon Video Placement Desktop

Sponsored Brands Video in the Amazon App

When are the Video Ads played?

Sponsored Brands video ads are automatically played as soon as 50% of the ad becomes visible. Videos are initially muted until the customer activates the sound themselves by clicking a button at the bottom right. Once the video ends, it starts again from the beginning.

Demo video of a video ad on Amazon: