In what has been described as a lukewarm “upfront” market, Amazon says it has been able to significantly increase sales of its Prime Video service as more advertisers gravitate towards sports and streaming.
Alan Moss, vice president of ad sales at Amazon Ads, said in a statement Wednesday morning that the digital giant “has concluded upfront negotiations with all major holding companies for the 2026-27 season.” The executive said Amazon was able to maintain “year-over-year growth from new and existing advertisers,” but did not quantify whether the volume growth was robust. The executive also said Amazon left an advance payment “in excess of sales volume targets,” but did not explain what it was.
In the media industry’s annual “upfront” market, U.S. media companies seek to sell large portions of their commercial inventory in advance of the release of the next programming cycle. Media buying executives say the market will be weak this year, with spending likely to be flat in some areas.
But the two programming formats that garnered a lot of attention were streaming and sports. Amazon has plenty of both.
Moss said sports shows like “Thursday Night Football,” “NBA on Prime” and “NASCAR,” as well as originals like “The Greatest” and young adult titles like “Off Campus” and “Overcompensating,” partially “fueled advertiser demand.”
Amazon declined to comment on the price it was able to achieve. In the 2026 market, media buyers are putting new pressure on streaming inventory, with one buying executive saying that while there is “so much capacity” in streaming, “there is no shortage. Clients want the flexibility to make advertising decisions year-round, and with digital they’re saying, ‘Why pay upfront?'”
Ad buyers once again demanded significant “reductions” in fees, especially for streaming inventory that is seen as representing the future of media. The supply of streaming ad time is huge, especially in the Amazon and Netflix markets, but much of that time is not considered high value to advertisers as consumers watch movies and shows on demand whenever they want. This means that the audience at any given time is usually quite spread out.
There is also pressure to shrink cable inventory as more consumers abandon cable contracts in favor of streaming services. Many media companies have resisted, leading to a stalemate in some preliminary talks, according to five executives familiar with the current negotiations.
While the amount paid in “prepayments” is significant, the amount allocated to traditional TV has decreased over the past three prepayment sessions. According to Media Dynamics, advertising contracts related to prime time broadcasting in 2025 were approximately $9.1 billion, down 2.5% from $9.34 billion in the same period last year. Dollars devoted to cable fell 4.3% to nearly $8.68 billion, compared to about $9.1 billion in 2024. Meanwhile, dollars allocated to streaming increased 17.9% to $13.2 billion compared to $11.2 billion upfront in 2024, according to Media Dynamics.
