Amazon launched its ad-supported music-streaming tier in April 2019, initially in the US

Beyond the US details of its audio ads plans haven’t been talked about much. Advertising Age has since confirmed that the likes of Colgate, L’Oréal and Lululemon are among those invited to test ‘audio ads’ within Amazon’s music service.

“Amazon audio ads are interactive in a way Spotify and Pandora can’t match, according to advertisers. Listeners can speak to the ads and tell Alexa to add products to shopping carts and other functions,” it reported.

Note, Pandora *has* announced plans to test interactive voice ads, while Spotify is already testing them – albeit both lacking the shopping features referred to by AdAge for Amazon’s tests.

Brands were promised more than 1m “guaranteed audio impressions (untargeted)” as well as analytics on impressions and audio completion rate.

Brands were invited to submit 15 or 30-second ads for use in the test (“30 seconds preferred”) with accompanying images to be shown if the ads are played on Alexa-enabled devices with screens. AdAge says the tests are expected to run until the end of this year, ahead of a full launch early in 2020 if all goes well.

Marcus Siddons
Author:Marcus Siddons

Originally from the UK I have extensive international business experience in the digital media and advertising space across Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. The industry remains as exciting and fast moving as ever as it connects people, technology and creativity. The very things that attracted me to it over 18 years ago.