Amazon Ads launches AI-powered video generator in UK
Amazon Ads has launched its generative AI Video Generator tool in the UK.
Amazon claims the tool allows advertisers of all sizes to create “high-quality” video ads within minutes.
Accessible via Amazon’s new Creative Studio, brands can upload product images, existing product videos, or a product detail page from Amazon’s retail website to the tool. It will then develop six AI-generated videos using that material that can be chosen from.
Advertisers can subsequently generate more videos ad infinitum, and also tweak videos with a basic video editor.
The tool comes at no additional cost for advertisers. It claims to create “professional-quality” videos showcasing products “in realistic scenarios”.
“Video advertising has always been one of the most powerful tools for brands, but also one of the most inaccessible due to cost, time, and complexity,” Phil Christer, Amazon Ads’ UK managing director, commented. “Today, we’re removing those barriers for UK businesses.”
Advertisers keen to equip themselves as AI continues to evolve search
‘Low-touch, low-effort’
For now, ad placements are limited to inventory on Amazon’s retail website and app. However, Kabir Bedi, Amazon Ads’ head of product for generative AI and creative experiences, told The Media Leader Amazon was open to developing the tool for use on Prime Video or other Amazon streaming properties.
“We always keep our ear very close to the ground. If, post this launch, we see demand from advertisers and science getting to the point where we can generate TV-quality assets, then that’s absolutely something we would consider,” said Bedi.
Like similar tools developed and launched this year by the likes of ITV and Channel 4, Amazon’s Video Generator is targeting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs): advertisers who lack the resources for traditional video production.
“We really want it to be a low-touch, low-effort experience,” Bedi added. “Our objective with this is really to democratise access to video ads. We want all advertisers, regardless of their size and scale, to be able to create video ads. Because we know shoppers love to see videos; videos bring products to life.”
The generative AI product has been available to all brands in the US since June, and is coming to the UK as part of a wider global rollout. The retail and tech giant indicated that “thousands of campaigns” have been submitted using the tool since the summer.
According to internal data shared by Amazon, 60% of the products promoted via the Video Generator had never previously advertised on a Sponsored Brand video with Amazon, suggesting the AI tool is working to help onboard new brands.
Considerations for quality and climate?
When asked whether Amazon was concerned an influx of AI ads could harm the Amazon user experience, Bedi offered that upholding quality is key to “unlock[ing] shopper trust”.
He explained Amazon has “a bunch of guardrails in place” to ensure ad quality, including input and output filters and moderation guidelines.
“We really do a bunch on our side to minimise any ouput that may not be upholding the quality standard,” he continued. “At the same time, there is a reason why we only produce six videos for advertisers [at a time], and give them the option to edit them in the way they want.
“They are the ones in control, at the end of the day, of how the ad is launched.”
Notably, Bedi demurred when asked whether Amazon has taken any consideration into, or sought third-party audits of, the increased carbon footprint likely to be caused by an influx of advertisers using a energy-demanding tool of this kind.
“The models that we utilise for these are hosted on AWS spaces like Amazon Bedrock and others. So all of the energy consumption is really factored in at the platform layer,” he said. “You wouldn’t dive into the energy consumption of a tool specifically, because this is part of a much larger investment that Amazon is making in AI and it’s sort of seen in aggregate.”
A spokesperson for Amazon Ads subsequently told The Media Leader that Amazon “matched all of the electricity consumed across our operations – including our data centres – with 100% renewable energy” in 2023 and 2024, and that the company has invested in purchasing renewable energy, developing its own renewable energy projects, and designing its data centres and cloud infrastructure to be “less carbon-intensive from the ground up”.
Bedi added: “What I’ve noticed working in this space is that there are efficiencies to be gained every month.”