STV is the abbreviation Amazon Ads and the agencies that buy from it use for streaming TV advertising: full-screen video commercials served inside television programmes, films and live streams that reach viewers over the internet, mostly on the television set itself. The inventory includes Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV, ad-supported channels sold through Prime Video Channels and a growing list of outside publishers. The label exists because Amazon sells this inventory through several tools, and STV is the common name that ties them together in campaign setup, deal curation and reporting.

In Amazon's list of ad products the term sits beside Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display and DVA+, formerly Amazon DSP. Outside Amazon, STV is informal shorthand rather than an industry standard.

How streaming TV ads are bought

There are two routes into the same pool of screens, and they work differently.

The first is the self-service streaming TV campaign type, which until 2026 was called Sponsored TV. It runs in the same console as Sponsored Products and is aimed at sellers and brands with no programmatic experience. Amazon's guide states that "all streaming TV campaigns are billed on a CPM basis with no minimum budget required." CPM, or cost per mille, is the price of 1,000 impressions. The advertiser sets a daily budget, chooses audience segments and enters a CPM bid for each one. Each ad group needs at least one segment and can hold up to 20. Segments come in two families: Content Interests, built from what households watch, and In-market Categories, built from shopping behaviour with a look-back of up to 30 days. Amazon suggests bids of $10 to $15 for broad audiences, $20 to $25 for narrow ones. On supported devices a viewer can add the advertised item to an Amazon basket with the remote.

As of November 2026 the self-service product is sold in the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and the UK. Minimum spend figures conflict. Amazon's own product guide says there is none for self-service, while agency guides from Adbrew and Eva cite a recommended $10,000 campaign minimum for self-service and $50,000 for managed service, attributed to an Amazon page that could not be verified.

The second route is programmatic. Until September 29, 2026 this meant a streaming TV line item in Amazon DSP, the demand-side platform (DSP) Amazon has run under that name since September 2018. The DSP is now sold as DVA+, short for display, video and audio. Here the buyer, usually an agency or a large brand, creates a campaign whose inventory type is streaming TV and attaches deals: programmatic guaranteed deals, which reserve a fixed volume at a fixed price, and private marketplace deals, which give selected buyers priority access in an auction. In the Amazon Ads API this inventory carries the value STREAMING_TV. Optimisation runs through Brand+ for awareness or Performance+ for sales.

When a viewer reaches an ad break, Amazon's ad server, or a publisher's server connected through Amazon Publisher Direct, offers the slot; eligible campaigns compete on bid, deal priority and audience match, and the winning commercial plays without a skip option. Delivery data then flows into reporting and into Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC), the company's clean room.

Inventory and creative

Amazon-owned supply is the core. Prime Video moved its standard tier to ad-supported viewing on January 29, 2024, with an extra $2.99 a month in the US to remove ads. Twitch and the Fire TV operating system add more. Freevee, Amazon's free ad-supported service previously known as IMDb TV, was folded into Prime Video and its standalone app closed in late July 2025.

Netflix became available in Amazon DSP from the fourth quarter of 2025 across 11 markets, its fifth major programmatic partnership. A June 2025 partnership with Roku gave Amazon DSP buyers logged-in access to an estimated 80 million US connected TV households.

Creative specifications vary by publisher. Adbrew, citing Amazon, lists 15 to 60-second spots for Prime Video and 15 or 30 seconds for Twitch, at a minimum of 1920 by 1080 pixels; Eva gives 1280 by 720 as the minimum.

Ad load has risen. Adweek, as reported by eMarketer, said Amazon roughly doubled Prime Video ad time after launch, from two to 3.5 minutes an hour to four to six minutes, still below the 13 to 16 minutes typical of linear television.

Origin and evolution

Amazon sold television-screen inventory before it had a consistent name for it. In July 2019 Amazon Publisher Services opened its Fire TV connected TV inventory to Amazon DSP, dataxu and The Trade Desk through private marketplace deals, the first time it offered its own supply to outside buyers. For several years the product was described as Amazon OTT, for over-the-top. A January 2023 Perpetua guide already referred to "Streaming TV (STV, formerly Amazon OTT)."

Sponsored TV launched on October 25, 2023 as a self-service option with no minimum spend and no upfront commitment, opening television to sellers who had only bought search ads. Adbrew dates its expansion to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the UK to July 25, 2024.

Measurement followed. On August 6, 2024 Amazon added show-title breakdowns to streaming TV transparency reports for Prime Video and Freevee in eight markets, building on genre and rating reports from January 2024. In December 2024 it introduced the Amazon Exclusive Reach Rate for STV inventory, which estimates unduplicated reach across Amazon's own streaming channels. On October 31, 2025 Amazon enabled zip code-level creative variants on Prime Video.

On April 15, 2026 Amazon DSP launched automatic deal selection for streaming TV campaigns with an awareness goal and reach KPI in the US. On July 22, 2026 the feature became the default on new Brand+ STV prospecting lines, ending single-deal STV buying in Brand+. Nicole Goksel, a senior product manager at Amazon Ads, wrote that such campaigns had previously run "on a single, pre-configured deal."

Amazon's product page now states that "Sponsored TV is now known as streaming TV ads" and that this "is not a replacement." Amazon gives no date for the change; the earliest dated reference found is an Eva guide of April 24, 2026. At unBoxed on September 29, 2026, Amazon retired the Amazon DSP name and relaunched its console as Amazon Ads Agent, with DVA+ described as a single campaign type combining what was built in Amazon DSP, Sponsored Display and Sponsored TV.

Why STV matters to marketers

Streaming TV is where Amazon's retail data meets television budgets. Amazon can tie a television exposure in a signed-in household to later searches and purchases. Amazon's internal data from January and February 2024 in the US claims "58% better New to Brand Conversion Rate" and "110% better Purchase Rate" for shopping journeys that included a streaming TV ad.

It also matters as competition. Amazon's share of tracked programmatic spend rose from under 10% to just under 20% in about 15 months through the first quarter of 2026, according to figures PPC Land reported. Full-Funnel Campaigns, with a minimum daily budget of $100, now allocate budget across search ads and streaming TV automatically.

Limitations and disputes

Attribution is the central argument. A streaming TV ad cannot be clicked in the usual sense, so its effect shows up as later activity that Amazon itself measures. Amazon's own guide suggests naming campaigns "STV" so they can be excluded from return on ad spend (ROAS) calculations, an implicit admission that the numbers are not comparable with search ads. The uplift figures above are Amazon's own, unaudited, and Perpetua's study of purchase timing is undated and vendor-run.

Control is the second issue. Default-on automatic deal selection turns inventory choice into something a buyer opts out of. Amazon's July 22, 2026 launch page lists the Brand+ STV feature as US only, while Goksel's post describes it as enabled across the Americas, and PPC Land noted that the two have not been reconciled.

Reporting coverage is incomplete. Amazon's unified reporting dimensions page, updated November 11, 2026, says "We do not support Streaming TV Smart mode/ Sponsored TV yet," even though PPC Land counted at least 80 attributes marked for the product. The Exclusive Reach Rate, too, measures Amazon's channels with Amazon's data.

STV and adjacent terms

Connected TV (CTV) refers to the device: a television connected to the internet, whether a smart TV, stick or console. STV is Amazon's commercial product built largely on CTV screens; PPC Land's CTV explainer covers the wider category.

OTT (over-the-top) describes the delivery method, video sent over the open internet without a cable or satellite operator, on any screen. Amazon used "OTT" for this product before settling on streaming TV.

Other meanings. In politics, STV is the single transferable vote, a proportional system in which voters rank candidates and surplus votes transfer down the ballot, used in Ireland, Malta and Scottish local elections. In the UK, STV is also STV Group, the Scottish commercial broadcaster that holds two ITV network licences and began transmitting as Scottish Television on August 31, 1957. Neither is related to Amazon's product.

Recent developments

Since September 29, 2026 streaming TV has become an inventory type inside DVA+ and Full-Funnel Campaigns rather than a standalone product. Amazon's four-step DVA+ builder launched in extended closed beta in the US, with general availability across 35 markets targeted for the first quarter of 2027. PPC Land reported on October 29, 2026 that the Ads Agent conversational tool remained in closed beta.

Reporting is catching up. On November 12, 2026 PPC Land found that 85 of Amazon's 156 unified report dimensions apply to Sponsored Products, with streaming TV markers present but support pending. Legacy reports are due to sunset on December 31, 2026, though a later Amazon migration page cites January 31, 2027.

Timeline

  • August 31, 1957 - Scottish Television, later STV, begins broadcasting.
  • September 2018 - Amazon Advertising Platform is renamed Amazon DSP.
  • July 2019 - Amazon Publisher Services opens Fire TV inventory to Amazon DSP, dataxu and The Trade Desk.
  • January 2023 - Perpetua describes Streaming TV as "STV, formerly Amazon OTT."
  • October 25, 2023 - Sponsored TV launches as a self-service product with no minimum spend.
  • January 29, 2024 - Prime Video introduces ads to its standard tier in the US.
  • March 2024 - AMC adds Sponsored TV signals.
  • July 25, 2024 - Sponsored TV expands to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the UK, per Adbrew.
  • August 6, 2024 - Show-title transparency reports launch for Prime Video and Freevee.
  • December 23, 2024 - Amazon Exclusive Reach Rate for STV inventory announced.
  • March 2025 - Complete TV launches in Amazon DSP.
  • June 16, 2025 - Amazon Ads and Roku announce their authenticated CTV partnership.
  • Late July 2025 - Freevee app closes; content moves into Prime Video.
  • September 10, 2025 - Netflix and Amazon Ads announce Amazon DSP access from Q4 2025.
  • October 31, 2025 - Zip code-level creative variants arrive on Prime Video.
  • November 11, 2025 - Ads Agent and Campaign Manager presented at unBoxed 2025.
  • April 15, 2026 - Automatic deal selection launches for streaming TV awareness campaigns in the US.
  • April 24, 2026 or earlier - Sponsored TV renamed streaming TV ads.
  • July 22, 2026 - Automatic deal selection becomes default on new Brand+ STV prospecting lines.
  • September 29, 2026 - Amazon DSP name retired; DVA+ and Amazon Ads Agent launched.
  • November 11, 2026 - Unified reporting dimensions page notes Sponsored TV is not yet supported.

Summary

Who. Amazon Ads sells STV inventory from Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV and outside publishers including Netflix and channels reached through Roku. Sellers and brands buy it self-serve; agencies and large advertisers buy it programmatically through DVA+, formerly Amazon DSP.

What. STV stands for streaming TV: non-skippable video ads inside internet-delivered programmes, films and live streams, mostly watched on television sets, bought on a CPM basis by audience segment or through programmatic guaranteed and private marketplace deals.

When. Amazon sold Fire TV inventory programmatically from 2019, launched self-service Sponsored TV on October 25, 2023 and brought ads to Prime Video on January 29, 2024. Sponsored TV was renamed streaming TV ads by April 2026, and STV became an inventory type within DVA+ on September 29, 2026.

Where. Self-service streaming TV runs in the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and the UK as of November 2026; programmatic STV reaches more markets, with several features, including automatic deal selection and exclusive reach measurement, limited to the US.

Why. STV links television exposure to Amazon's shopping data, letting advertisers of any size buy TV-style reach and measure later purchases. Its growth is contested by attribution that relies on Amazon's own measurement, default automation that reduces buyer control and reporting that does not yet fully cover the product.