The news: Amazon is going all in on AI-powered advertising solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The company is testing a free beta of Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands prompts feature and democratizing access to connected TV (CTV) ads through its new Creative Agent tool.

• Sponsored Products and Brands prompts are AI-powered features that act as a virtual product expert, showing shoppers relevant information on a brand or product—leading to faster purchase decisions.
• Amazon’s recently launched Creative Agent tool simplifies the process of creating CTV ads. The feature uses AI to develop streaming ads, allowing advertisers to quickly identify selling propositions, generate ideas, and use AI to create campaign material.

Why it matters for SMBs: Both updates simplify digital advertising for Amazon’s pool of SMBs by eliminating the number of resources needed to build engaging creative.

• Sponsored Products and Brands builds on top of the ads that SMBs are already running on Amazon, eliminating the need for brands to develop new assets at a higher cost. And since SMBs typically have fewer creative and technical resources compared with larger brands, the resource acts as a critical cost-saving tool.
• Creative Agent simplifies CTV ad creation for SMBs already advertising in Amazon’s ecosystem, giving access to what is typically considered a high-cost, high-barrier-to-entry format.

​​The trend: Amazon isn’t the only player looking to simplify access to digital advertising resources for SMBs.

• Platforms like LinkedIn, Reddit, Meta, and more have debuted AI-driven ad automation tools geared toward SMBs, reducing the need for high-cost in-house expertise.
• CTV democratization is increasingly becoming a reality. Sell-side platform Magnite recently acquired streamr.ai, a CTV ad platform for SMBs. Meanwhile, nonprofit organization AdGood launched a media fund in September to open access to CTV advertising for nonprofits.

What it means for SMB advertisers: SMBs can now create high-quality campaigns without requiring costly resources, giving access to creative capabilities that were once out of reach. And with over one-third of SMBs now using AI in some capacity, Amazon’s move continues a trend that will help SMBs operate on the same playing field as larger enterprises.