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L-R: Amogh Dusad, Girish Prabhu, Karan Bedi, Aruna Daryanani
Mumbai: The integration of MX Player into the Amazon ecosystem to form Amazon MX Player has made the collaboration brimming with potential in the realm of entertainment commerce.
Speaking to BestMediaInfo.com in an exclusive chat, Karan Bedi, Head, Amazon MX Player, and Girish Prabhu, who heads Amazon Ads India, Aruna Daryanani, Director, Amazon MX Player, and Amogh Dusad, Head of Content, gave a glimpse into the robust ecosystem of content, advertising, and technology that the blend of Amazon and MX Player fosters.
A ‘lucky and timed’ union
The integration of Amazon and MX Player was seamless and aligned perfectly with the future vision, according to Bedi. He highlighted two key improvements that are the result of the Amazon and MX player synergy. Bedi pointed out an exponential increase in reach. “The MX app now reaches 250 million monthly active users, and our content is also distributed on Fire TV, the Amazon Shopping app, Prime Video, and other Amazon services,” he said.
The advertising business of the newly formed duo has also expanded. “Integrating Amazon's technology into MX provides an unparalleled understanding of how to drive advertiser outcomes. This has significantly changed the brands we work with, the nature of our discussions, and what we can deliver. This has not only broadened our brand coverage but also deepened our engagement. We can now deliver and discuss outcomes that MX, as a standalone entity, could not have achieved,” Bedi told BestMediaInfo.com.
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Prabhu, who heads Amazon Ads India, provided a deeper understanding of the advertising aspect of Amazon MX Player. He indicated that users spend anywhere between 40 minutes to 2 hours on the platform, which augments the platform’s ability to reach audiences in “more relevant moments.”
“We already reach Amazon audiences while they shop and through various other touchpoints, including Fire TV. This integration now allows us to deliver more relevant messaging,” Prabhu said.
Adding to this, he continued, “We can now leverage trillions of shopping signals. By analysing how customers shop, their household shopping habits, how similar households shop, and how different geographic cohorts shop, we gain highly valuable insights into viewer interests. MX Player extends the application of these insights beyond the shopping experience itself.”
The ad tech
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Talking about integrating the two platforms from a technological point of view, Daryanani revealed that it was tough, but it followed phenomenal progress. Zooming in, she said, “Our advertising technologies are now fully integrated, eliminating previous silos. Content previously exclusive to MX is now available on other platforms, and vice versa.”
According to Daryanani, personalised, native, and relevant ads are essential for marketers. This trend has shaped Amazon MX Player’s efforts in the direction of ad tech. Another trend that she highlighted was the dissonance in the intensity of user engagement between ads and content. Daryanani and team addressed this issue by displaying a product landing page alongside the ad. This has led to click-through rates 6-7 times higher than industry averages.
“This allows viewers to browse, increasing ad recall. Amazon offers brands the unique advantage of merging shopping with advertising. Early results are very encouraging. Click-through rates are six to seven times higher than industry averages, demonstrating the effectiveness of our focus on immersive ad formats,” Daryanani told BestMediaInfo.com.
The merged platform is heavily investing in machine learning and artificial intelligence, primarily in the direction of content discovery and comprehending shopping data, Duryanani revealed.
“Our key investment priorities are focused on machine learning and AI to enhance content discovery for our customers, ensuring they find what they're truly interested in. This also empowers advertisers by leveraging Amazon's extensive shopping data. A key point we emphasise at this event is Amazon's unparalleled understanding of shopping, honed over years of serving India. This translates to trillions of shopping signals across the country, providing advertisers with invaluable insights to reach their desired audiences,” she said.
Remodelling content for advertisers
Dusad, who heads the content slate of Amazon MX Player, bulleted three reasons that make Amazon MX Player a fertile ground for advertisers.
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“First, we offer significant scale and precise targeting. Second, they value our curated content, created in-house under existing regulations. This contrasts with user-generated content, where brand context can be unpredictable. Partnering with us, brands have detailed knowledge of the shows where their ads will appear. Third, we collaborate closely with our ad sales and brand teams to organically integrate brands into our shows,” Dusad said.
He corroborated with examples of partnering RealMe with Hip Hop India, Hero with Playground, and Mama Earth with Highway Love.
Throwing light on the structure, Dusad apprised that the brand solutions team sits on the cusp of the content team as well as the ad sales team. This tiered structure aims at churning organic engagement for brands without hindering customer experience. “This solves the problem for brands who are trying to find ways beyond the 30-second boundary and convey their message across in a cluttered environment,” Dusad added.
Wider content pool, deeper brand solutions
Speaking on what has changed since Amazon amalgamated with MX Player, Bedi highlights the scale of content getting wider and solutions to brands getting deeper. Unlocking the first part of his response, he revealed that Prime Video will soon be available on MX Player. From an advertising perspective, the streaming platform is now able to leverage Amazon’s expertise in relevant advertising.
“We can now engage with customers not just after they've made a purchase decision (e.g., searching for a "40-inch TV" on Amazon) but also while they're engaging with content on MX. This is particularly valuable for both new and existing brands. For instance, a customer watching a show on MX might later search for a specific TV on Amazon. Amazon's strength in connecting these touchpoints allows us to engage customers at a much earlier stage in their decision-making process,” Bedi elaborated.
Amazon MX Player has unveiled its slate of over 100 new shows for 2025, including 40 new originals, at the StreamNext event hosted in Mumbai on January 30, 2025.
Immersive Ads
Prabhi spoke about introducing immersive ads being incorporated into Amazon MX Player’s user interface. Explaining the mechanics of it, he said, “These ad formats allow brands to reach customers through highly engaging videos while simultaneously facilitating instant consideration and purchase.
For example, during a natural break between episodes, we might identify a viewer's potential interest in a specific headphone or television based on shopping signals. A video ad for the product would then play, accompanied by a detail page and "add to cart" button directly below the video player. This seamlessly combines timely delivery, brand and product relevance, and ease of engagement.”
He then shared another example of an ad monikered ‘fully immersive ads.’ Instead of static or less dynamic ads, viewers get a full-screen experience. “For example, an ad for a tangerine-infused shampoo might feature visually appealing slices of tangerine dropping down the screen,” Prabhu said.
These types of ads, Prabhu said, increase engagement, which is crucial at a time when attention spans, especially for video content, are shrinking. He added, saying, “Viewers frequently have little recall of what they've watched. Immersive experiences, however, command higher attention. MX Player combines its advertising technology with Amazon's vast data insights to reach a wider audience with compelling and evolving content.”
Gaming on the crosshair
Dusad shared that gaming as a sector is at the crosshair for the platform and that this cohort works very well with advertisers. “Gaming, as a segment, generates a lot of excitement among brands and consumers. We've been involved in gaming for about a year and a half. Our gaming captive reality show, Playground, has seen significant positive traction,” Dusad said.
This year, Amazon MX Player is bringing out a scripted gaming show, Gamerlok, produced by Abhinav Deo’s production house, RDP Films, which tells a story based on an e-sports competition. Dusad also shared that they recently created Gaming Insaan, showcasing the three-month-long trajectory of YouTuber Nischay Malkan, a.k.a. Triggered Insaan, from an amateur to a professional gamer.
MX Fatafat
Amazon MX Player is also bringing out micro-drama content this year under the moniker MX Fatafat. This category will feature short, one-to-two-minute episodes, with 80 to 100 episodes per series. The fast-paced format, the team shared, is designed to keep viewers highly engaged.
Panorama of Amazon MX and JioStar
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When asked about strategies to tackle competition coming from the biggest merger in the entertainment industry, Bedi said, “Our strategies are driven by our customers and their needs, not by our competitors.” Adding to his statement, Bedi told BestMediaInfo.com that nobody is better at connecting the dots between ad exposure during content consumption and subsequent purchase behaviour than Amazon.