IBC 2023: AWS for Media & Entertainment launches new monetization solution area

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching an AWS for Media & Entertainment (AWS for M&E) solution area focused on monetization. Through a combination of purpose-built AWS services and Partner offerings, AWS monetization solutions for M&E enable customers to simplify and modernize their advertising, licensing, subscription and marketing technology strategies, increase revenue across viewing platforms, and build deeper, more personalized relationships with audiences.

According to an Insider Intelligence Report 2023, for the first time in history, US adults spent more time in 2022 watching digital video compared to linear television. Despite this shift, linear advertising sales (ad sales) still represent the majority of revenues for most media organizations that have yet to fully realize the monetization potential of an increasingly connected viewing audience. In order to align revenue with viewership, media companies are seeking to modernize and simplify their ad sales systems to deliver unified buying, fulfillment, and measurement across their linear and digital properties. As a result, these companies are reimagining business models, leveraging data to maximize yield across direct and programmatic sales, and ensure campaigns are optimally fulfilled across platforms.

Data has also become a critical asset for media companies and their brand customers to drive advertising and marketing decisions and increase profitability. As such, many are looking to reinvent customer data systems to leverage first and third-party data, and update their identity solutions and clean rooms to create a 360-degree view of the consumer journey.

AWS for M&E monetization solutions address the most pressing challenges for media companies in the age of converged video. AWS is facilitating converged TV advertising tools and solutions, which help unify linear and digital advertising technology platforms and facilitate simple, cross-platform operations including buying, fulfillment, and measurement. These solutions include multi-platform campaign planning and sales automation, data-driven optimization, systems interoperability, shoppable content, virtual product placement, and the agile integration of new monetization products. To satisfy the need to unify audience measurement data across various siloed sources, AWS is helping content distributors and publishers adapt and integrate these data sets into their advertising ecosystems.

Customer 360 and data interoperability tools are available in the monetization solution area to help media companies enable privacy compliant first-party data collaboration and increase customer lifetime value, while providing predictive analytics to minimize audience churn. AWS customers also now have access to the latest generative AI tools for use cases such as hyper-personalization, audience segmentation, and ad creative generation. Through a combination of solutions, media companies can reach the right audience at the right time, with the right message. These tools and solutions extend to national TV networks, local broadcasters, regional and national sports networks, streaming platforms, measurement companies, and data providers.

“Today’s M&E companies face a highly complex and competitive landscape, which is only made more complicated by fragmented tools for data management and monetization,” says Marc Aldrich, General Manager – Media & Entertainment at AWS. “Adding this focus on monetization provides truly comprehensive solutions that create opportunities for our customers to holistically optimize their data, advertising, and subscription revenue strategies.”

AWS for M&E monetization solutions include a robust roster of Partners, delivering industry-recognized technology solutions that help customers drive innovation and transformation. This includes AWS Partners such as ActioniQ, Castlabs, Comscore, Databricks, Datazoom, HighTouch, Innovid, iSpot, SpringServe, ThinkAnalytics, and Triplelift. Sports Video