“Locally rooted, universally resonant”: Amazon Upfronts 2026 focuses on CanCon expansion for advertisers and audiences alike
This week, Amazon revealed its slate of programming, ad tech capabilities, and intentions for Canada at the Amazon Upfront event in Toronto–and brought a memorable supporting cast of characters and industry heavyweights to do it.
Amazon’s message throughout the event was clear: they are focused on creating the environments and opportunities that fuel the conversations, the content and the communities that make Canada a lucrative opportunity for advertisers to invest in and for audiences to engage within their lives.
Canada: A land of increasing opportunities (and solutions) for advertisers
As the digital content landscape continues to evolve, the opportunities for advertisers to connect with their audiences can be fascinating and frustrating at once, especially as advertisers are asked to do more with less while needing to display progress and growth results. Amazon’s offer to those who find themselves in this position: work with us, and we’ll make it easier to connect with the audiences you need through our established services, networks and consumer data.
“A fragmented media landscape with so many different silos makes it so much more difficult for them to plan and execute, and this is where we believe that our solutions can really help give our agency partners so much time back in their day,” said Tamir Bar-Haim, Vice-President of International Expansion at Amazon. By working with Amazon, advertisers “can drive full funnel outcomes at scale, aided by AI, in order to drive real business outcomes, get a cleaner view of the customer along their journey, aided by our differentiated signals”.
Full-court press: Amazon’s NBA & WNBA partnerships & offerings expand in Canada for 2026/2027 season
The major highlight of the event came with a highly charged announcement from honorary Canadian and Toronto Raptors alum Kyle Lowry and industry heavyweight analyst Taylor Rooks: the NBA arrives on Prime Video in Canada this October, and its WNBA partnership has expanded with 30 regular season games and exclusive postseason coverage for the next 11 years. The WNBA Finals come to Prime in 2028.
Welcome news, considering the continued interest in the NBA and the fresh excitement of the WNBA in recent years, especially for the Toronto Tempo, Canada’s first WNBA team. 63% of Canadian sports fans already stream their games, according to Amazon; this gives advertisers the opportunity to reach new, engaged audiences from tip-off.
“...the goal in live sports is not just to broadcast the way that everybody else does,” says Bar-Haim. “We see a really unique opportunity to change the game and really enhance the viewing experience by investing in more immersive features.”
Amazon is actively onboarding new-to-live-sports advertisers and helping them build audiences around game moments — not just during the broadcast, but across the entire viewer journey. This means reaching curious new fans as they discover the team, engaging them in-game, and re-engaging them afterward through streaming, digital, and the open internet. For example: Twitch's Creator Cast, which enables creators to rebroadcast live sports with interactive commentary — reaching the Gen Z and Millennial fans fuelling WNBA growth through their own passion for the game and real-world discussions with fellow fans.
Created in Canada, powered by Prime: 2026/2027 original programming expands with demand
In a nod to the surge in interest in Canadian stories and programming across the country, Amazon presented a slate of seven new and returning Canadian original shows on Prime Video, and brought the star power to bring the point home, tapping in stars such as showrunner and producer Jacob Tierney, Scott MacGillivray, Drew Scott and Michael Buble to present their new shows, intended to expand the ways that Canadians can see life in other parts of the country and for advertisers to reach them as they do.
“Canada is a really unique and complex country with diverse pockets of population and culture spread out all across this very large and special place,” said Tamir Bar-Amir when asked about the unique opportunity that these shows present. “it's really important for us to show up in a way that is relevant and it's really going to help our local advertising partners.”
Also expanding through the 2026/2026 season is French-language programming created and produced in Quebec and distributed throughout Canada and abroad through Prime Video, such as the newly-greenlit fifth season of LOL: qui rira le dernier, and Operation Deception, a French-language true crime series exploring a controversial undercover operation.
“Prime Video has a special role to play and a responsibility in terms of how we show up in the living rooms of so many Canadians around the country,” says Bar-Amir. “We not only want to use Pride video as a canvas to tell those stories for our consumers here at home, we also think it's a really unique opportunity to tell Canadian stories all around the world.”
Contributed by June Findlay:
June Findlay is a multifaceted communications professional with 15 years of marketing and advertising experience, specializing in digital and social media marketing, including roles on brand and agency sides. Throughout her career, she's worked with agencies such as Dentsu and WPP and developed campaigns for brands such as The Lincoln Motor Company, The YMCA of Greater Toronto, UNICEF Canada, and MadeGood. A sharp writer, insightful commentator, and founder of Little Kernel Communications (her freelance practice serving B2B and B2C clients), she is also a sought-after speaker empowering audiences to make meaningful changes in their lives and their work. June has spoken for notable organizations and institutions like the University of Toronto, Global News Radio, Toronto Metropolitan University, The National Forum for Voluntary Organizations (Sweden), CBC Newsworld, and more.
