Amazon Execs Paul Kotas & Mike Hopkins Kick Off Tech Giant’s First Upfront, Touting Prime Video As A “One-Stop Shop” For Viewers And Advertisers

deadline.com:

Senior Amazon execs Paul Kotas and Mike Hopkins opened the tech giant’s first upfront by detailing the steps toward becoming what Hopkins called a “one-stop shop” for viewers and advertisers.

After Alicia Keys kicked off the presentation at Pier 36 along New York’s East River, Kotas took the stage. The SVP of Amazon Ads began with a quip about his low profile despite having helped build Amazon’s multi-billion-dollar ad business. “Maybe I need to tweak my LinkedIn profile,” he said.

Turning to strategy, he said the company has “created the ability for brands of all types and sizes to reach customers through Prime Video content.” Left unstated but informing the entire splashy affair was Prime Video beginning to run advertising on film and TV titles earlier this year.

CEO Andy Jassy, in his annual letter to shareholders last month, said the effort is “off to a great start.” The streaming video offering is a cornerstone of the company’s push into advertising, which has seen revenue climb by more than 20% year-over-year for several consecutive quarters. “Today is all about how we’re bringing together the vast reach of Prime Video with ad tech that leverages Amazon’s billions of customer signals,” Kotas said.