TLDR
Amazon told Australian advertisers at its 2026 upfront that Prime Video now reaches 5.5 million ad-supported viewers a month, a figure that puts it alongside a mid-tier free-to-air network. New AI-personalised ad formats and a live programmatic deal covering Netflix inventory extend the pitch well beyond Amazon's own library, arriving as Madison & Wall forecasts linear TV ad revenue falling 3.5 per cent this year.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The number agency buyers needed
Prime Video's average monthly ad-supported reach in Australia grew to more than 5.5 million P2+ viewers across January to December 2025, Amazon told advertisers at its second Australian upfront.[1] That is the figure agency buyers have been asking for since Prime Video launched advertising in Australia: something concrete enough to sit beside a network media schedule and argue for budget.
Mid-tier Australian free-to-air networks routinely cite average monthly reach in the five-to-seven million range. The 5.5 million figure does not make Amazon dominant, but it makes the platform competitive enough to be considered in the same planning conversation. Scale has been the central question for streaming ad buyers in Australia, and Amazon is now answering it with a specific number.
The new ad formats
Amazon announced Dynamic TV Creative for Prime Video, an AI-driven format that automatically personalises interactive video ads based on a viewer's shopping behaviour.[4] Amazon announced the format in May 2026. Commercial networks cannot replicate it: the format draws a direct line between what a viewer buys and what ad they see on their television set.
Australian broadcasters can target by demographic and genre, and some offer basic data-matching through third-party partnerships. Dynamic TV Creative draws on Amazon's own purchase and browsing data, collapsing the distance between an ad impression and a verified shopping behaviour inside a single platform.
One seat, two libraries
Amazon Ads and Netflix launched programmatic buying on Netflix's Australian premium ad inventory in Q4 2025, meaning buyers can now access two major streaming libraries from one platform.[5] That deal was already live before this upfront, so agencies that wanted to test it had months to do so before Amazon put it on a slide.
Willie Pang, Managing Director of Amazon Ads ANZ, said the ambition was structural. "Last year we made a promise to Australian advertisers: full-funnel advertising, for everyone," Pang said. "Whether a brand sells on Amazon or not, they can now reach audiences across Amazon and the open internet, with the complexity stripped away and everything planned, bought, and measured from one place. Today we're continuing to deliver on that promise, with deeper partnerships alongside the premium publishers Australians love, new interactive and personalised ad formats on Prime Video, and AI-powered innovation that puts advertisers in control."[6]
The non-endemic framing, brands that do not sell through Amazon.com.au, is doing real work in that positioning. Amazon Ads ANZ Head of Sales for Non-Endemic, Jessica Roach, said the platform has built momentum with exactly that cohort. "We're proud of the momentum we've made in the last 12 months," Roach said. "For us, it's really about continuing to deepen that promise. I think it's the right territory for us and it's delivering the right outcomes as well."[6]
Why Amazon went first
Amazon held its upfront before the traditional Australian networks present their 2027 schedules. Madison and Wall's June 2026 forecast has linear TV ad revenue in Australia falling 3.5 per cent this year while digital TV grows 13.8 per cent, against an overall ad market growing 5.8 per cent.[3] Amazon walked into the upfront cycle holding the growth number; the networks will walk in holding the contraction one.
OzTAM's Q2 2026 data shows broadcast television and BVOD together still account for 60.4 per cent of all viewing on TV sets among Total People. Digital video services, covering subscription, ad-supported, free ad-supported and social, account for the remaining 39.6 per cent.[2] The networks retain majority viewing share, which anchors their upfront argument and explains why the 5.5 million number matters so much to Amazon: it closes the credibility gap without yet closing the reach gap.
| Segment | Forecast growth 2026 |
|---|---|
| Overall Australian ad market | +5.8% |
| Digital TV | +13.8% |
| Total TV | +0.4% |
| Linear TV | -3.5% |
Australian networks present their 2027 upfronts in the weeks immediately after Amazon's. They will do so in a year when their own revenue line is forecast to shrink, against a competitor that has published a verified monthly reach figure, a shopping-signal ad format they cannot replicate, and programmatic access to a second major streaming library from the same buying seat.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
- Prime Video Ads, Amazon Ads official product page
- OzTAM: Total TV retains majority share as viewing continues to evolve (July 2026)
- Madison and Wall Global Ad Forecast, June 2026
- Amazon Ads: Dynamic TV Creative announcement (May 2026)
- Amazon Ads and Netflix programmatic buying partnership
- Amazon connects Australia's media ecosystem at second upfront, Marketing Interactive
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How was the 5.5 million viewer figure measured?
What is Dynamic TV Creative?
What is the Amazon and Netflix programmatic deal?
Is broadcast TV still dominant in Australia?
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
