- Amazon boosts brand ties in original TV shows and films, tapping Lauren Anderson to lead.
- She'll manage ad collaborations while continuing to head Freevee content.
- Brands have upped their spending in entertainment as ad-free streaming rises.
Fresh off bringing ads to Prime Video, Amazon is looking for more ways to get brands involved in its original TV shows and films.
Amazon named one of its Amazon MGM Studios execs, Lauren Anderson, to manage collaborations with brands, working with the video advertising sales teams on advertising sponsorships, integrations, custom content, and brand-supported originals.
The company also made several other appointments to develop projects that are funded by or focused on brands and work on integrating ads into Prime Video entertainment.
Anderson will continue to head up content for Freevee, Amazon's free, ad-supported video service, as head of AVOD, Unscripted, and Targeted Programming for Amazon MGM Studios.
Her future role at Freevee had been the subject of internal speculation after Amazon added advertising to Prime Video. Some expected Amazon would sunset Freevee, reasoning it wouldn't need a second ad-supported service. Anderson is best known as the exec behind Freevee's biggest hit, James Marsden-starring "Jury Duty," and some insiders had expected her to get a bigger creative role. Freevee continues to exist, but Amazon is expected to stop developing original content for it.
Brands have been pouring money into filmed entertainment as the rise of ad-free streaming has made it harder to get their messages in front of people. Streamers like Amazon and Hulu work with companies like Marriott to distribute brand-produced films and arrange product placement. In theory, having a creative person as a go-between can facilitate the process.
Streamers have been adding ad-supported tiers, which has expanded the available ad inventory. Advertisers still struggle to reach big TV audiences, though. That's because the rise of streaming shows and movies, which have few ads per hour, hasn't made up for the decline in traditional TV, where the number of ad minutes per hour is much bigger.
Here's the full memo from Amazon MGM Studios TV head Vernon Sanders announcing the changes:
Team –
In keeping with "Day 1" culture, our org continues to evolve, as we seek to deliver the entertaining content our customers crave. This includes both our global audience and, with the introduction of advertising in Prime Video, our advertisers. It is imperative that we are creating a world class experience for our brand partners and the agencies with whom they work. With this in mind, I am pleased to share that Lauren Anderson's remit is expanding to support those efforts for Amazon MGM Studios.
In the newly created role of Head, Brand and Content Innovation, Lauren will manage Studios' creative collaboration with brands, helping them find engaging moments to partner across our Originals slate. In close partnership with the Amazon Ads, Prime Video Ads, and Studios Marketing teams, Lauren will drive Studios' efforts to generate advertising sponsorships, integrations, custom content, and brand-supported Originals for our AVOD, FAST, and SVOD customers across Film and TV. This new endeavor will be supported by a single-threaded partnerships team. Additionally, Lauren continues to maintain oversight of her AVOD Originals leaders and their creative teams who have been integral to building many, differentiated Original programming successes for Prime Video, Amazon MGM Studios, and Freevee:
Christel Miller will continue to report to Lauren, leading the newly named Scripted Hybrid team, whose remit will be tailored to titles that reflect bespoke business models, hybrid formats, and custom-built opportunities. This team will lean into unique, financially-efficient creative and production, including brand-funded scripted.
Jenny Falkoff and Alysia Russo will continue in their roles as Head, Reality Series and Docu-series, respectively, maintaining their reporting structure and helping to oversee the robust Unscripted slate.
Benoit Landry will lead the newly created Branded & Talk group. Remaining a direct report to Lauren, Benoit's group is designed to be a one-stop Studios destination for our development of brand-centered Originals as well as a resource for creators seeking to meaningfully leverage brands within their series.
Justin Holt will lead Creative Ad Operations. In addition to their on-going work supporting the operational needs of our titles, this group will obsess over the bespoke ways in which ads are integrated into the creative. Justin will also maintain oversight of the ad-supported S&P process on which our partner teams rely when selling custom packages.
Claudine Atout will continue to lead Business Operations for the Brand and Content Innovation team, serving as the hub for information sharing, mechanism building, and high-level organizational support across the group, with a special focus on the relationship between Studios, Amazon Ads, and Prime Video Ads.
As part of these changes, Traci Blackwell, who will continue as Head of Targeted Content, will now report to Kara Smith, Head of Co-Pro development for Amazon MGM Studios.
Finally, Lauren will continue her oversight of Amazon MGM Studios 1P FAST Programming delivered to Prime Video and Freevee. FAST is an increasingly popular way for customers to engage with content in a lean-back environment and we want to ensure our owned titles, inclusive of the MGM library, are being packaged in a way that both customers and advertisers find compelling. As they help grow our offering of 1P/Exclusive programming for Amazon MGM Studios' FAST Channels, this single-threaded team will continue to partner closely with the Prime Video FAST team.
Please feel free to cascade this information to others in our organization.
Thank you to Lauren, her leaders and their team members for working so diligently on these important efforts on behalf of all of our customers.
Vernon