Amazon Ads rolled out a beta version of its AI-powered video generator in September. Now, ahead of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity next week, the company is rolling out a more advanced version of the tool.
This updated video generator is designed to create high-motion, realistic video, as opposed to the low-motion clips it could previously spit out; it can also, according to a blog post, generate pets and humans.
There are additional features in the works, including a function where users will also be able to incorporate brand guidelines and other guardrails. That functionality is set to be available later this year, although the exact timing has yet to be determined.
The tool is one of several from tech platforms that are aimed at putting generative AI tools in the hands of advertisers, especially those without the budgets typically required to make large swaths of creative assets the old-fashioned way. By the end of next year, Meta, which owns both Facebook and Instagram, plans to allow advertisers to create and target ad campaigns entirely using AI tools, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
Amazon Ads is building out its video generator with a particular focus on attracting small business advertisers, Jay Richman, VP of product and tech at Amazon Ads, told Marketing Brew, with the aim of “democratizing access to rich media.”
How it works: Amazon Ads’s video generator is trained on open-source data, Amazon proprietary data, and data licensed from Amazon partners, Richman said. After an advertiser selects a product that they would like to create an ad for, the generator analyzes information about it, like product details and customer reviews, before spitting out six videos for the advertiser to choose from.
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The advertiser can take a clip and further edit it—like, for example, adjusting the copy the generator auto-created for that clip.
“We’re giving basic, almost consumer-grade controls for these small advertisers to get the video just the way that they like,” Richman said.
Grow, baby, grow: The video generator is designed to help small businesses brand-build, as opposed to simply running product ads that they may “typically default to” on Amazon’s platforms, Richman said.
Over 50% of the products advertisers promoted using the video generator since it debuted in November hadn’t been advertised before. Video ads can be a big selling point for brands: Sponsored brand campaigns with video saw, on average, a 30% higher clickthrough rate than those that didn’t have video, Richman said.
At Cannes Lions next week, Amazon execs will be on the ground speaking to clients about the tool and showcasing it at Amazon Port, the company’s Cannes activation.
Small but mighty: Amazon isn’t the only company looking to build out ad capabilities designed for small businesses. Comcast’s Universal Ads platform enables small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to not only buy ads, but also use AI to create TV ads. In September of last year, Roku rolled out its Ads Manager product, a self-serve ad buying platform, which is also aimed at SMBs.
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