In the context of a thriving digital economy and e-commerce platforms looking to attract and maintain user traffic, Amazon is constantly experimenting with new strategies to strengthen its position in the market. After partnering with social giants such as Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Pinterest, Amazon continues to expand its traffic strategy by partnering with Spotter — a company that invests in YouTube influencers. In particular, with this collaboration, Amazon will not only simply exploit the celebrity network but also create a new ecosystem where creators can monetize various channels in Amazon's system. Let's take a look at these strategic steps of Amazon and predict the development potential of the influencer marketing market in the future.
With the goal of maintaining and increasing traffic from various sources, Amazon continues to take bold steps in partnering with social platforms. After partnerships with Meta, TikTok, and Pinterest, Amazon recently bought a minority stake in Spotter, a company with close ties to YouTube. This isn't the first time Amazon has sought to harness the power of influencer marketing, but this time, its strategy has been pushed even further as Amazon begins to connect creators to its diverse ecosystem, from Prime Video to Twitch to Amazon Live.
With the participation of influencers, Amazon can leverage their huge following to drive new users to products and services on its platform. This is one of the ways Amazon solves the problem of user traffic in the context of an increasingly competitive market and the declining effectiveness of traditional advertising.
Spotter is an MCN (creator network management) organization that has a very close relationship with YouTube, the largest video platform in the world today. Recently, Spotter successfully raised $2 billion from SoftBank in a Series D funding round and invested a total of $9.4 billion in more than 735 YouTube channels, including big names such as MrBeast, Dude Perfect, and The Try Guys.
Manage the top YouTube channels: Spotter owns a network of famous and influential YouTubers. Spotter channels not only have a huge following, but they also deliver strong engagement and loyal viewers, creating great value for brands and advertisers.
Unique investment model: Spotter is not just a regular MCN company but also acts as a strategic investor, providing financing to assist YouTubers in developing high-quality content. This is part of the reason why they have access to top creators like MrBeast, who can make millions of dollars from each video.
Supporting income optimizationOne of Spotter's strengths is that it helps influencers tap into potential revenue streams from a variety of channels, including not only from YouTube ads but also from commercial partnerships such as products sold through Amazon, sponsorship programs, and brand deals.
Long-term development orientation: Spotter not only helps influencers make money instantly, but also focuses on building a sustainable development strategy, helping them maintain stable growth in the long term. This not only benefits influencers, but also partners like Amazon, as Spotter can create a long-term presence and long-term value for brands.
Expand collaboration opportunities: With Spotter's partnership, brands can leverage the power of influencers, especially in integrated media campaigns, to help build long-term relationships with customers and build strong credibility.
Strong relationship with YouTube: Spotter has an extremely close relationship with YouTube, which makes it easy for them to reach creators and receive special incentives when implementing promotional campaigns. This is a big advantage for Amazon when they want to partner with influencers in the YouTube ecosystem.
By partnering with Spotter, Amazon will easily reach these creators, help them find new ways to monetize the Amazon platform, and expand Amazon's reach to millions of consumers through popular YouTube video content.
YouTube currently has more than 2.7 billion monthly users and is the world's largest long-form video platform, so this is a potential goldmine that Amazon cannot ignore. Leveraging the power of these influencers will be one of the driving forces for Amazon to strengthen its position in the e-commerce industry and increase revenue.
Over the years, influencer marketing has become an integral part of the marketing strategy of e-commerce platforms. However, for Amazon, this is the first time they have systematically and permanently brought content creators into their ecosystem. Through this partnership, Amazon not only wants to grow its revenue, but also seeks to solve the traffic problem.
In the context that traditional advertising is no longer as effective as it used to be, Amazon needs to find new sources of traffic, and influencer marketing is an ideal solution. Influencers with millions of followers can help brands get promoted organically, effectively, and at a low cost. Many other platforms such as Shopee and AliExpress have also tested this strategy with certain success.
For example, Shopee has partnered with YouTube to make it easier for consumers to shop for products featured in influencer videos. Amazon hopes that the partnership with Spotter will help them not only reach consumers, but also create a positive vortex between brands and content creators.
Through its partnership with Spotter, Amazon opens a new door for content creators. Creators can monetize from a variety of channels in Amazon's ecosystem, including Amazon Live, Prime Video, Twitch, and Amazon MGM Studios. This is a great opportunity for influencers to not only make money from YouTube, but also to grow their careers in a broader ecosystem.
However, this also raises some questions about the relationship between creators and brands. Famous creators like MrBeast and Dude Perfect may already have a huge source of income from YouTube, but are they willing to partner with Amazon to make marketing videos? According to information from Amazon, influencers will likely make money through promoting Amazon products on platforms such as Prime Video or Twitch, but whether this partnership can generate a large revenue stream for creators is still an open question.
While this partnership is still in its early stages and there aren't too many clear details, it can be seen that influencer marketing will be an important part of Amazon's long-term strategy. Experts say that the connection model between e-commerce and social networking platforms will grow stronger. In fact, platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram have been developing integrated shopping tools, allowing consumers to buy products right in the influencer's videos or posts.
However, for small brands or products that don't have a strong brand, using influencer marketing to achieve immediate revenue is still a challenge. Experts say that big brands will have an advantage in cooperating with influencers, because they are able to provide quality products and have a clear marketing strategy.
There is no doubt that the collaboration between Amazon and Spotter will open a new chapter in the application of influencer marketing to e-commerce. By connecting influencers to its ecosystem, Amazon not only creates a new revenue stream, but also builds a diverse community of content creators, thereby attracting more users and increasing revenue. However, for this strategy to be truly successful, Amazon needs to overcome a number of challenges related to how to get influencers to actually participate in marketing campaigns and help brands grow sustainably.
We can expect that in the coming years, influencer marketing will become an integral part of the strategy of e-commerce platforms, and Amazon will continue to play a pioneering role in harnessing this potential.
