Digital Connect June 12, 2025
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Welcome to DCW Media’s June 12th edition of Digital Connect, our bi-weekly coverage of platform updates and vertical trends. We’re focusing on all the great things coming out of Amazon lately, as well as some vertical updates on healthcare, local services, and travel.
Platform Updates:
Amazon recently started serving TV ads to all Prime viewers who do not do a $2.99 per month upgrade, opening a vast ad inventory to a premium audience. This year, Amazon went a step further in terms of ad innovation, offering streaming TV ads with built-in CTA buttons that can be accessed via remote. CTAs currently include "learn more" and "add to cart." This adds a significant level of engagement and attribution to OTT/CTV ads, enabling us to deliver more seamless conversions to clients.
Speaking of CTV, Amazon will begin featuring show-level reporting to advertisers, clearly reporting the shows their ads appeared and performed on. This is question that routinely comes up with many CTV/OTT advertisers, which was usually difficult to answer, until now.
More and more advertisers are ditching traditional DSPs for Amazon's DSP. This is due to an improved interface, more openness to non-Amazon sellers, competitive costs, and growing reach. DCW can tap into Amazon inventory, both through our partners and direct access to their DSP. We've been testing Amazon ads with one of our major clients who does not sell on Amazon, and seeing strong traffic with key offerings.
Prime inventory is now offered in private auctions, which ditch a fixed price CPM for a more dynamic, less expensive buying experience. This type of selling is the norm for Pre-Roll Video and Display ads, but a monumental first for a major CTV player. As with the items above, it makes purchasing inventory on Amazon easier and less expensive for advertisers. Prime is home to about 180 million users, over half of US households, up to 35 million since 2020.
Vertical Updates:
Weight loss products and services ads are surging in healthcare. Clinics and other providers are investing heavily in Meta, YouTube, and Programmatic to advertise Ozempic, Wegovy, and related services. DCW has been successful in this space before, running several campaigns for the former Long Island Community Hospital that drove bariatric surgery RFIs.
Despite AI overview dominating broad Google Searches, Google's Local Service Ads (LSAs) are expanding reach, especially in the legal and insurance sectors. These ads have great local visibility and connect businesses with high-intent searchers. They can be paired with other local platforms, like Nextdoor, to empower businesses.
Pinterest is reporting a big uptick in travel-related searches. Pinterest, which basically works like a massive visual search engine, is a great place for travel and hospitality clients to show case experiences and destinations. Promoted pins are clickable, and can even stand out with video, which is not posted organically on the social platform.
