Amazon Enlisted Thousands Of Creators To Host Prime Day Livestreams

Amid inflation and talks of a looming recession, Amazon still managed to pull off its biggest Prime Day in the company’s history since debuting the promotional event in 2015. Creators presumably did a lot of the heavy lifting as Amazon says its Live Prime Day activation streams had more than 100 million views and that thousands of creators streamed throughout Prime Day.

The ecommerce giant enlisted the likes of Kevin Hart, Porsha Williams, JoJo Fletcher, Chrishell Stause, Miranda Kerr and Kyle Richards, among others, to host live chats discussing their must-have Prime Day deals. During the sessions, viewers could purchase products directly from a scrolling carousel below the video that updated in real-time. On its blog, Amazon says customers engaged with creators more than 100,000 times via live chat.

Ahead of Prime Day, Amazon launched a slate of creator-led livestreams. The first, titled “Small business picks for Prime Day with Hilary Duff,” showcased the products and stories behind small brands. Next, fashion influencer and Amazon style host Sophie Sumner hosted a live try-on haul customized for her by Amazon Prime’s styling service, Personal Shopper. Father and son TikTok stars Joe and Frank Mele hosted a travel wardrobe livestream featuring Amazon Essentials’ new line of summer wear with styling tips.

Every year since Amazon Live’s launch, Amazon has amped up its influencer marketing efforts. In 2021, tens of millions of customers viewed Prime Day product demonstrations and try-on hauls, heard directly from creators and more during Amazon Live livestreams throughout Prime Day, the company said in a blog. And according to Amazon’s timeline of Prime Day history, during last year’s event, artists Billie Eilish, H.E.R. and Kid Cudi performed during a three-part immersive concert series on Prime Video.

According to Traackr, in a panel of more than 40,000 of the top fashion and beauty lifestyle influencers, the number of influencer mentions of Prime Day grew from about 4,000 in 2021 to about 5,000 this year. Top engaging influencers were TikTokers Zeth, Anna O’Brien, and Charli D’Amelio.

Meredith Silver, director of creator growth at Amazon, told The Drum that the company is focused on building out a diversified program that includes many different ways for influencers to earn, including commissionable links and “bounties,” which allow creators to earn a commission when they drive their audiences to sign up for Amazon programs such as Prime.

A key differentiator for Amazon’s influencer program, its “commission halo effect” lets creators continue earning for 24 hours from the time a customer clicks through their associate link to Amazon and makes any qualifying purchases across the site.

In China, livestream shopping is expected to pass $400 billion this year but livestream shopping has failed to catch on in the US. Last year, a handful of influencers told Business Insider it’s hard to build an audience on Amazon Live.

One creator said they gave up using the platform because “I didn’t like that it was basically just me selling stuff.” Another creator said, “While I can go on TikTok Live and engage with my followers about all different subjects for hours, talking nonstop for an hour about Amazon products feels a lot like QVC.”