Amazon Ads is not only officially on the map; it is actively recreating the map of media, entertainment and advertising. That was the verdict this week at the Amazon Ads conference in Austin, Texas. Throughout the conference, Amazon flexed its muscles as a studio entertainment giant – something neither Google nor Meta could boast – and as a native element of the enterprise cloud infrastructure.

Politics are inherently controversial, and during an election season, viewers get fatigued and frustrated by the ceaseless parade of combative political ads. This causes some brands to halt brand product launches or reduce brand spending during contentious election years. It’s a potentially riskier time to advertise, says Karen Daboll, analyst of ad creative effectiveness at iSpot.

But what does the new research suggest?

As more TV viewers watch free streaming services with ads, their preference for lower-cost subscriptions with ads rather than ad-free streaming is growing. So finds Hub Entertainment Research in its latest analysis of the topic.

During Ron DeSantis’ gubernatorial reelection run in 2022, his media team leaned heavily into streaming and online video advertising, directing $20 million of the overall $70 million budget into those channels. The strategy became a resounding success. DeSantis overwhelmingly won his reelection campaign, landing the largest margin of victory in a Florida gubernatorial election since 1982.

Dove just released a new campaign where it vows against the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in its advertising. In line with its 20th anniversary, the beauty brand has launched "The Code," a two-minute short film that shows the detrimental effects AI can impose on one's self-image and perception of beauty.

The Walt Disney Co. telegraphed the degree to which it is committed to women’s sports earlier this year when it signed off on an eight-year, $920 million extension of its NCAA rights agreement. At the time the deal was finalized, NCAA president Charlie Baker said the women’s basketball tournament alone was worth $65 million per year, or around 57% of Disney’s total annual payment of $115 million.

Netflix is following in the footsteps of other streamers and saying “Bonjour” to a retail media collaboration. The company is testing a partnership with French retailer Carrefour that includes some Netflix ad subscribers getting 10 percent off Carrefour products.

A new sports-focused streaming platform could anger pay-TV distributors and sports leagues.

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox announced their new jointly owned venture Tuesday.

Here’s what industry execs really think about the new streamer.

Mark your calendar: On Jan. 29, Amazon will unleash what one top advertising executive calls a “tornado” that will “upend” the streaming video landscape. The company will flip a switch and turn on ads for all of its Prime Video viewers. Users will have the option to pay $3 a month to remove the ads, but as the executive quips: “Almost no one will do that, are you kidding me?”

Verizon announced the latest milestone in The Great Rebundling this week, offering its mobile customers access to both Netflix and Max for just $10/month, a 40 percent savings. 

The catch—because there’s always a catch—is that the deal is only good on the ad-supported versions of both apps.

Streaming ad frequency is still a head-scratcher – and a big challenge – for advertisers. So, MAGNA and Roku released a joint study this week to give buyers some advice about how to approach it – including when to dial it down and when to turn it up.

Programmatic ad buying is picking up traction in connected TV land. Next up: movie theaters.

On Monday, in-cinema advertising company National CineMedia (NCM) announced plans to sell movie screen inventory programmatically beginning in Q4.

Say what you will about the rise of AVOD, plenty of people prefer streaming without ads – and advertisers still want to reach them. Roku announced two new ad formats to help brands get in front of both ad-free viewers in addition to people streaming with ads.

“When you’re thinking about planning, traditionally, brand and performance have almost had a ‘brand versus performance’ perspective,” Farjami said. “It’s ‘brand and performance’ now.

Recent research by Samba TV and HarrisX may shed further light on how consumers are likely to respond to Netflix having last week moved to cut off free password sharing and charge $7.99 for adding an outside-the-household user.

The world of television is certainly a dynamic place these days. Streamed viewing of shows, movies, sports and video games over the internet is exploding. Television devices themselves continue to get better and better, with bigger screens and higher definition. The best part: They are also cheaper and cheaper.