Amazon Becomes Latest Streamer to Join Upfront Week

Amazon is the latest streaming company to join TV upfront week, following YouTube’s addition in 2022 and Netflix’s entrance last year.

The company will host its first upfront week presentation on Tuesday, May 14, at Pier 36 in New York, with a reception after the event.

During its presentation, the tech giant plans to highlight its extended media and streaming offerings, including Prime Video, Prime Video Sports, Twitch, Amazon Music and Freevee.

In addition to Freevee, Prime Video’s ad-supported tier, an opt-out service that had an estimated reach of more than 115 million in the U.S. at launch, will likely be a highlight of the presentation.

With the announcement, Amazon slides into the spot usually held by TelevisaUnivision—also using the same venue the media company used in 2023. This year, TelevisaUnivision is hosting a non-traditional, all-day event at a new venue, HK Hall, on May 14.

Though Amazon’s main presentation will now happen during upfront week, the company will likely maintain a smaller presence during NewFronts, sans a presentation.

The company hosted a NewFronts event on May 1 last year at New York’s Lincoln Center, where it announced more than 100 Prime Video original series would be arriving on Freevee.

Last year’s NewFronts presentation also heavily emphasized Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football (Amazon also added an NFL playoff game to the slate for this upcoming season), Freevee programming like Jury Duty and streaming service Twitch.

ADWEEK previously reported that Amazon planned to shutter AVOD service Freevee as early as the second quarter and ahead of the upfront; however, Amazon denied that in a statement.