Amazon brands dominate consumers’ preferred ad spaces

Three of consumers' top five preferred ad platforms are Amazon brands, according to Kantar, the world's leading marketing data and analytics company. The findings come from Media Reactions 2025, Kantar's annual global study of the media landscape based on interviews with 21,000+ consumers and c. 1,000 senior marketers.

Media Reactions ranks ad platforms based on consumers' and marketers' preferences, and no brand is in the top five across both groups. Amazon brands dominate the consumer ranking, with Amazon in first place, Twitch in fourth and Prime Video in fifth. The two other brands in the consumer top five are Snapchat in second and TikTok - its future in the US now looking secure - in third.

Snapchat's ads are seen as fun and entertaining, and consumers feel like they're less intrusive than they were in 2024. Meanwhile consumers praised TikTok ads for being particularly attention-grabbing, fun and entertaining. Marketers' preferred ad brands are YouTube, Instagram, Google, Netflix and Spotify - the same ranking as 2024.

Gonca Bubani, global director, media at Kantar explains: ""Brands need to fight for people's attention, but marketers are not always reflecting consumers' ad preferences. Amazon's ad properties buck the trend by offering a variety of different experiences from its various channels. Twitch is a good example: consumers trust ads there more than anywhere else, but many marketers assume that passionate and substantial gaming and live-streaming audiences are niche, narrow groups."

"One brand missing from both rankings is X. One year after Elon Musk sued brands for pulling their investment in the platform, things haven't improved. A net 29% of marketers plan to decrease their spend on X next year, and nearly one in eight intend to pull their investment entirely. Having failed to make progress on content moderation, marketers have ranked X last among all global brands for trust for the third year in a row."

Top-ranking media brands by preference, global

^{Brackets denote change in ranking from 2024}

As part of its study, Kantar asked marketers their investment plans for 2026 across ad channels.

· Creators and influencers should benefit as a net 61% of marketers plan to increase their spend on influencer content next year. This coincides with a predicted increase in social commerce investment, where a net 53% of marketers are planning to increase spend.

· 54% of marketers plan to increase their investment in TV streaming and 19% have indicated they'll up their spend on TV and online video product placement. This is offsetting the net 26% of marketers planning to decrease their spend on linear TV.

Bubani continues: "Creator campaigns demand a departure from traditional ways of working. Creators aren't actors doing a brand's bidding, so the value exchange is very different. Every dollar spent on an influencer is a dollar over which marketers don't have complete control. The most successful and authentic creator partnerships depend on flexibility within clear guardrails around a brand's values, tone and assets."

On the shift in TV investment, Bubani explains: "People love to speculate about the death of linear TV but the decrease in ad investment is only one part of the story. Consumers trust broadcast TV advertising, and it still delivers the most significant brand impact. But the cost of creating TV ads makes it tempting to spend big to get them seen, meaning marketers tend to overinvest in TV relative to its return. Marketers are right to reallocate some of this budget so that their media mix is more efficient, but the creative process has to start by considering each platform's strengths - not by adapting assets down the line."

Consumer receptivity to ads is climbing

For the first time, more than half of people (57%) say they are generally receptive to advertising, jumping from 47% last year. Bubani explains: "Ad campaigns are seven times more impactful among more receptive audiences, and people are more receptive than ever. That's good news for marketers in a tough economy, but not enough to overcome their anxiety over the fragmented media landscape, with only two-thirds of marketers confident that they're successfully integrating their campaigns across media channels."

Trust implications are swaying consumers, with the number of people bothered by AI-generated ads up slightly to 44% from 41% last year, and 57% concerned about fake GenAI ads. At the same time, general attitudes towards GenAI are getting more positive among both consumers and marketers, though more marketers use the technology to work more efficiently (70%) than creatively (53%).

Gonca Bubani continues: "AI is most valuable when it's also embraced as a creative partner. It's giving marketers new ways to explore ideas, test what resonates, and make smarter decisions faster. The opportunity it presents is huge but that will only come from a mindset of curiosity rather than caution."

Top-ranking media channels by preference

^{Brackets denote change in ranking from 2024
*Compared with 'sponsored events' - these have been broken out as in-person / digital for the first time in 2025}