Amazon Port 2026: all the news from the Cannes Festival and what changes for those who sell on Amazon

Every year the Cannes Festival of Creativity also becomes the showcase where Amazon Ads reveals where it is taking advertising on its own platform. In the 2026 edition, Amazon Port certainly did not disappoint expectations. And, as was to be expected, the event had a single common thread: artificial intelligence.

Let’s look point by point at what was announced and, above all, how an e-commerce business selling on Amazon can start getting ready.

AI-recommended brands will grow faster than the others

One of the most debated topics at Cannes was that of machine trust, and not only people’s trust. With the growth of AI agents that help customers choose what to buy, a brand now has to appeal both to users and to the algorithms that recommend them.

So, during one of the panels the concept of Share of Answer. was introduced. Which, in practice, is the share of times AI proposes your product when a customer asks it for a purchase recommendation. In some ways, it is the natural evolution of share of voice or share of search, but applied to a world where it is no longer only the user who chooses among search results, but a conversational assistant that chooses for them.

For those who sell on Amazon, the implications are quite significant. We have tried to sum them up in these points:

• Product listings need to be even more structured and complete. Hence clear titles, bullet points rich in verifiable attributes, A+ content and technical specifications filled in for every available field. An AI, even more than a human user, reads well-organized content better than confusing content.

• The history of reviews, returns and customer service is a trust signal for the algorithm. So looking after the after-sales experience now also has an impact on algorithmic visibility.

• Brand equity is a priority asset, just like technical optimization. Anyone who invests only in advertising without building a recognizable brand over time risks being left out of the AI’s recommendations.

Alexa+ Agentic Ads: from discovery to purchase in a single conversation

The most concrete news announced during Amazon Port, however, is Alexa+ Agentic Ads, the first advertising format designed to guide the customer from viewing the ad all the way to completing the purchase, all within the same conversation with Alexa+.

The launch started on Echo Show devices, with the first partners including a food delivery chain for food orders and some music artists selling concert tickets through Ticketmaster.

The context in which this format is born is not new and, moreover, is of particular interest to those who sell online. Alexa for Shopping, the service that combines product knowledge, personal context and memory shared across devices, has already surpassed 300 million customers in 2025 and generated almost 12 billion dollars in annualized sales, with engagement growing 400% year on year.

Here too, we can try to lay out in this list what it means for an Amazon seller and why it is worth dealing with this topic before others do it in our place:

• The funnel shortens drastically. If today a customer discovers a product and then searches for it on their own, in the future they could discover and buy it in the same voice interaction. It thus becomes even more important to be “the right answer” on the first try.

• Voice and conversational formats, so far marginal for most sellers, deserve to be monitored. It is worth following the expansion of these tools over the coming months, getting ready to act.

• Amazon confirmed that, starting in July 2026, conversational prompts will extend beyond Amazon.com to third-party publisher sites on the open internet. That is why the surface on which a brand can be “recommended” by AI will tend to spread more and more outside the marketplace.

Ads Agent and Creative Agent: less setup time, measurable results

Amazon also shared some data on the adoption of its agentic tools designed to simplify the management of advertising campaigns.

The first is Ads Agent, which was created to simplify campaign setup. During the (closed) beta phase, advertisers who used it for targeting recorded an 18% reduction in CPM and a 16% reduction in CPA. 65% saw improvements in ad delivery. In the first quarter of 2026, adoption of the tool grew by 82%.

The second is Creative Agent, which generates professional ads in just a few hours. This reduces the need for complex photo or video productions. Then there is the new Amazon MCP server, which connects external AI agents to the Amazon Ads API through natural language prompts, with no need to develop custom code. The tool is designed above all for agencies and software houses that manage multiple accounts.

In this area too, the implications for sellers are far from few:

• If you manage PPC campaigns in-house, it is worth testing Ads Agent as soon as it becomes available on your account. The CPM and CPA reduction figures shared by Amazon are significant, even considering that these are results self-reported from the beta phase.

• Those who rely on an agency or a third-party tool should ask whether and how they will integrate the MCP server. It is in fact a sign that automation of ad management will become the rule and no longer the exception.

• Cutting the time spent on manual campaign setup frees up resources to invest in what AI still does not do well. Think of catalog strategy, pricing, stock management and customer care.

Creative content becomes automatic and determines performance

Another announcement that is highly relevant for those doing display advertising is REC – Responsive Ecommerce Creative. The solution, in fact, dynamically generates and optimizes display ads based on

• placement

• device

• buyer intent

• campaign objectives.

The figures shared by Amazon for those using REC point to click-through rates up to 37% higher. And, on top of that, conversion rates improved by 26% compared with traditional static creative.

As for how it works, the system relies on Amazon’s so-called authenticated graph, which connects retail purchase signals and streaming behaviors. According to the company, it now reaches more than 90% of US households.

For sellers this means that:

• If you sell through Amazon DSP or Sponsored Display, it is worth testing REC as soon as it is available. It can in fact reduce the time spent producing creative variants manually for each placement.

• For small and medium brands, the ability to generate creative content via AI lowers a historic barrier. You can in fact compete with more expensive formats, such as streaming TV, without a significant production budget.

• It is still worth remembering what was said again and again during the panels. Namely, that human creativity remains a fundamental element in setting a brand apart. AI speeds up production, but it does not replace the original idea.

Live sports and interactive video ads: a channel to keep an eye on

Another strand of Amazon Port concerned advertising tied to live-streamed sports. Amazon tends in fact to invest heavily across Thursday Night Football, NBA on Prime and the Champions League, and will step up its efforts in the coming months.

The format mentioned most insistently is that of interactive video ads (IVA), which let the viewer

• explore a product
• add it to the cart
• receive it on their phone without leaving the video they are watching.

As a case study, a restaurant brand was cited that, during the NBA Conference semifinals on Prime Video, generated around 27 million impressions with a click-through rate 110% higher than category benchmarks, leading to over 6,000 orders.

Of course, at least for now, we are not talking about a channel accessible to most small sellers. It is, however, useful to follow how the phenomenon evolves. It shows us where Amazon is pushing its premium advertising inventory. That is, increasingly toward shoppable formats, ones that allow a direct purchase inside the content.

What we take home from Amazon Port 2026

Beyond the glamour of the event, three practical takeaways emerge for those who sell on Amazon:

1. Invest in the quality and structure of product data. With AI increasingly becoming the intermediary between brand and customer, complete and consistent product listings are a requirement to be recommended by AI assistants.

2. Get ready for a shorter funnel. Formats like Alexa+ Agentic Ads and interactive video ads all point in the same direction: reducing the distance between discovery and purchase. Those who have sales processes and content ready for these scenarios will start with an advantage.

3. Experiment with automation tools as soon as they are available. Ads Agent, Creative Agent and REC promise to drastically cut the time spent on setup and creative production. For a seller with small teams, testing them early can be a real competitive advantage over those who stay tied to manual processes.

In other words, Amazon Port 2026 confirms a well-known trajectory. Automation and AI are becoming the base layer on which Amazon advertising is built. Yet the difference between brands that grow and brands that fall behind will keep depending on more “human” factors. Think of product quality, the reputation built over time and the ability to tell a story that customers (and now machines too) can believe in.