Real game-changer lies in reaching consumers during high-attention moments: Girish Prabhu

When you search for a new phone on Amazon, you might also see recommendations for sneakers or a toaster. This isn't random—there's a strategy behind it. Girish Prabhu, Head of Amazon Ads India, speaks to e4m about how Amazon Ads prioritizes relevance and discovery, helping brands connect with customers at key decision moments. He also shares insights on innovations like Amazon MX Player integration, which expands reach through non-intrusive, context-driven ads, and more.

Edited excerpts: 

How has Amazon Ads evolved beyond its traditional stronghold in electronics and gadgets to encompass a diverse range of categories? Which industries are now prioritizing the offering, and what’s driving this shift?

Amazon Ads attract a mix of both established and emerging brands. Legacy brands leverage the to reinforce consumer habits and deepen engagement, while newer brands focus on carving out their space in competitive markets.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen established brands evolve to stay relevant while new brands—in categories like D2C—rapidly scale by reaching customers at key moments of consideration. With Amazon’s vast selection spanning all categories, our approach isn’t about prioritizing one industry over another; instead, we work backward from the customer, ensuring they find what they need in a way that drives meaningful outcomes.

Product discovery plays a crucial role. Consumers open to new experiences or upgrades often seek variations of what they already use. Our goal is to facilitate that discovery, helping brands connect with customers through relevant recommendations.

At its core, advertising on Amazon is about relevance. It’s about aligning brand messaging with customer intent, ensuring that the right message reaches the right audience at the right time. Often, brands seek to shift perceptions or introduce new narratives about their products. Our role is to amplify those messages in ways that enhance customer experience and drive value.

Ultimately, our focus remains on elevating the customer journey—whether through discovery, engagement, or seamless shopping experiences.

As you innovate to enhance advertiser experiences, can you share specific examples of how brands are leveraging Amazon Ads to solve unique industry challenges?

To meet the needs of our advertising customers and partners, we continually innovate within ourselves to create better experiences for them. The digital advertising landscape is rapidly evolving; we are making it possible for all advertisers to navigate the changes with advertising technology that allows for precise reach, deeper insights, and improved advertiser outcomes.

For example, Ugaoo, a leading brand in gardening category, wanted to offer its shoppers a hassle-free experience to choose the right plants for their home settings. Shoppers buy plants in offline stores basis nursery gardener recommendations. However, in online world, replicating nursery gardener recommendation was not possible. So, we created an immersive experience for Ugaoo on Amazon brand store via interactive widgets. Shoppers enter their home lighting condition with location preferences and the store automatically recommends relevant products. Each visit to new store not only led to 25% uplift in plants sales, but also provided insights on shopper behaviour basis their interactions with the widget.

In the global landscape of Amazon Ads, where does India currently stand? How significant is the India market compared to other major regions, such as the US or Europe?

Instead of tracking India as a percentage of other markets, we focus on the value we drive for brands and customers.

Rather than just measuring media, commerce, or retargeting spend separately, we take a holistic approach. The real objective isn’t just visibility on TV or OTT—it’s about growing brands, staying relevant, and driving sales.

Brands see Amazon as a key part of this journey because we uniquely connect customer intent with product recommendations. While other offerings excel in specific areas, few can tie everything together like we do. That’s how we gauge our relevance and impact, rather than through a market-size comparison.

From an advertiser's perspective, which new categories have recently started investing heavily in Amazon Ads—ones that weren’t as prominent a few quarters or years ago?

The way we see it, the ambition to create new brands, and scale has been a consistent trend over the past few years. Many new brands are now targeting specific aspects of customer expectations. For instance, lifestyle-driven categories are growing, kitchen essentials are gaining traction, and gardening has expanded significantly.

We look at this across the entire spectrum—from everyday essentials that consumers stick to, to discretionary purchases and experience-driven products. For example, a kitchen gadget that enhances convenience, or a high-end appliance where seamless installation matters just as much as the product itself.

We're also seeing growth in lower ASP (average selling price) products, which appeal to customers looking for quick, easy purchases at the right price. At the same time, discretionary lifestyle purchases—such as premium smartphones, wearables, fashion, and appliances—are seeing strong demand.

New brands are increasingly looking to integrate into customers' lives, and our advertising programs are designed to support these goals. While some categories require tailored approaches, we focus on creating solutions that work across various price points and segments. The digital advertising space is also evolving rapidly, bringing new opportunities and disruptions that continue to shape brand strategies.

Amazon Ads has revolutionized shopping through smart recommendations, often leading users to discover products they didn’t initially search for. What’s the next big game-changer in your ad offerings? Are there any major innovations in the pipeline that could redefine user and advertiser experiences in the next few years?

There are two key aspects to this. First, we continuously refine our ability to drive better outcomes for brands—sharpening messaging, improving relevance, and maximizing value. Our goal is to help brands get more from their investment by making recommendations smarter and more effective.

The second, and perhaps bigger, focus is discovery beyond active shopping. While Amazon is highly effective in showing relevant recommendations while users shop, we also want to reach customers when they aren’t actively searching. For instance, someone looking for running shoes might also get a relevant suggestion for a kitchen appliance based on their broader interests.

The real game-changer lies in reaching consumers during high-attention moments. Unlike fast-scrolling environments where attention is fleeting, long-form content—whether on Fire TV, Amazon MX, or partner offerings—captures deeper engagement. By integrating relevant brand messaging into these experiences, we create a seamless link between content consumption and shopping intent.

This is the big unlock—helping brands move beyond standard impact metrics to true relevance. Instead of just showing ads, we enable a journey from awareness to consideration, ensuring brands remain top-of-mind when customers make their next purchase.

Moving on to the next bit, how does integrating Amazon MX Player enhance Amazon’s full-funnel advertising solutions for advertisers?

The key to bridging awareness, consideration, and conversion is unique distribution—reaching customers while they are watching content. Viewing is deeply integrated into daily routines, with different cohorts consuming content at various times. Amazon MX Player plays a crucial role here, offering massive reach, free original content, and high engagement across India. It caters primarily to the 18-40+ demographic, making it a valuable for brands.

The second major aspect is diverse ad formats that enhance engagement. MX enables deep brand integrations, ensuring ads are seamlessly woven into content rather than being interruptive. For example, in Hip Hop India and scripted series, brands become part of the narrative rather than just appearing as short clips.

Additionally, MX’s mobile ad experience is highly immersive—with video ads displayed alongside product listings, making it easy for users to add to cart directly. This seamless integration ties back to Amazon’s shopping experience, ensuring credibility, convenience, and reliability for customers.

Ultimately, Amazon MX Player expands Amazon’s advertising offering by offering wide reach, innovative ad formats, and a direct link to commerce, strengthening the full-funnel experience for brands

How do you balance user experience with advertiser needs without disrupting viewing? Is there a key principle or threshold that guides this balance behind the scenes?

We analyze customer viewing habits and identify natural transition moments where ads feel less intrusive. For example, moving from one episode to the next is a prime opportunity, as viewers are mentally prepared for a break. Similarly, when users pause content to take a break, it’s another ideal moment to introduce a message.

Within shows, we place ads at points where the storyline naturally aligns with the brand, ensuring relevance. The highest level of integration is when the brand is embedded directly into the content, making it a seamless part of the viewing experience.

Unlike traditional TV, where ads are frequent and often irrelevant, we focus on delivering fewer, well-timed, and highly relevant messages based on user behaviour. Our goal is to enhance, not disrupt, the experience—offering a smoother, more engaging alternative to traditional ad placements.