Amazon Ads introduced shoppable and skippable formats at TwitchCon San Diego. Here's how they work and what they mean for Canadian advertisers.
Canadian marketers know the drill. A platform announces a new ad product, and then comes the fine print: US only, for now. This time, Canada made the first cut. At TwitchCon San Diego, Amazon Ads launched shoppable ads on Twitch, and they went live in Canada on day one.
The format launched in the US and Canada at the same time, alongside a new skippable ad option, with Europe, MENA, Latin America and Asia-Pacific to follow through the first half of 2027.
How shoppable ads work
The format adds an interactive overlay to Twitch video ads. Viewers can add a featured product to their Amazon cart or complete a purchase from within the ad, without leaving the stream they’re watching.
e.l.f. Cosmetics tested an early version of in-stream shopping on its own Twitch channel last year. The new format opens that idea up to any advertiser running Twitch video campaigns.
Shoppable ads are live now as an open beta on Twitch desktop. Mobile and connected TV will follow the international rollout.
Built for brands already on Amazon
Because the ads draw on products already sold on Amazon, advertisers don't need a separate landing page or custom creative. The format can be switched on within existing Twitch video campaigns and purchased alongside Prime Video's interactive ads through Amazon Ads Agent.
That lowers the barrier for brands with an Amazon storefront. For those without one, the format isn't an option at this time.
A pay-for-attention model
The second format, skippable ads, changes how advertisers are charged. They pay only when a viewer watches past the 30-second mark, completes a shorter ad, or clicks. Skippable ads open as a worldwide beta in December, including Canada.
Amazon Ads is positioning the format as a lower-risk entry point for performance advertisers and smaller brands. Its early case study comes from Razer, which ran skippable ads in the US from August to October. The gaming hardware brand reported a 2.44x return on ad spend, roughly double that of its previous standard Twitch video campaigns, and reached a third of those viewers as new-to-brand customers. Amazon notes the results reflect a single campaign and are not indicative of future performance.
What the attention data shows
Both formats are built on Amazon's case that Twitch audiences pay closer attention to ads than viewers elsewhere.
Research Amazon Ads conducted with attention measurement company Lumen found 92% of Twitch ads are actually looked at, compared with a social platform average of around 62%. Each impression held attention for an average of 10.6 seconds, and the study found 1.9 Twitch impressions were enough to build the attention needed for measurable brand lift.
Andrea Garabedian, Director of Global Go-to-Market for Twitch at Amazon Ads, described shoppable formats as the link between that attention and measurable results. “Shoppable ad formats give advertisers a way to meet that intent instantly, turning the most attentive audience in video into one that can be measured against real business outcomes," she said.
What it means for Canadian advertisers
Brands that already sell on Amazon can start testing shoppable ads now by switching them on in their existing Twitch video campaigns. For everyone else, including Canadian brands that haven’t advertised on Twitch before, skippable ads may be the easiest place to start when they open to self-service advertisers in December. Because advertisers pay only when viewers choose to keep watching, the format may also suit smaller budgets.
A few things are worth knowing before you plan. Streamers decide when ad breaks run and how often, though not which ads appear. Viewers can usually remove ads by subscribing to a channel or paying for Twitch Turbo, but sponsored content from streamers still reaches Turbo viewers. And the only campaign results shared so far come from the US.
MNC is at TwitchCon this weekend and will follow up with what Twitch and Amazon Ads leadership say about targeting in Canada and how ads are matched to streams.
