In only its second year hosting the NFL Black Friday game, Amazon had no problem staying on offense and moving forward.
Attracting 13.51 million viewers to watch the Kansas City Chiefs earn a 19-17 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders – and increasing its audience by 41% from the approximately 9 million who watched the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins last year – Amazon expanded the field. For Black Friday Advertisers in 2024. They appreciated the effort, with 30% more brands running interactive ads in the company’s Prime Video feed compared to 2023.
Mazda signed up for Amazon’s Black Friday lead-up show, Uber Eats took over launch duties, and Amazon’s advertiser team expanded to include Google Pixel, Solo Stove, Ralph Lauren Fragrances and Microsoft. More than 40% of its advertisers were new to the Black Friday game, and 20% of them launched ads created specifically for the event.
The fans approved.
The flood of new holiday viewers drove clicks, with engagement with interactive ads up 10% from last year, according to Amazon click-through/scan rates.
“Prime Video’s targeted audience was ready to engage with our Black Friday advertisers through clicks, analytics and search, resulting in our highest customer engagement ever,” said Danielle Carney , head of sports and live video sales for Amazon Ads.
It was also a learning experience for Amazon, which noted significant changes in how fans viewed and purchased the game from year to year. According to its own data, interactive ads were 11 times more effective at generating fan interest than QR codes released during the Black Friday game.
Amazon also noted that brands that targeted interactive ads to specific audiences saw 200% higher search rates on Google than brands that opted against interactive ads and audience-based creative. Finally, according to Google data from TV data firm EDO, viewers of Amazon’s Black Friday games were more than 51% more likely to search for brands and products advertised during that day’s game than viewers of commercials broadcast during NFL Thanksgiving games.
“The Black Friday game is changing consumer behaviors for both fans and advertisers as a new sports holiday on one of the biggest shopping days,” Carney said.
