Listen: Amazon courts creators to scale brand deals
On Variety's Strictly Business podcast, Amazon creator chiefs Matt Sandler and Angie More explain how Listen Amazon courts creators as entrepreneurs, not just influencers. The company is pairing social stars with commerce, ads, and platforms so brands can scale attention into measurable customer journeys across Amazon's creator suite.
Key Takeaways
- Matt Sandler, general manager of creator services, and Angie More, head of creator ad partnerships, detailed Amazon's strategy on Variety's Strictly Business podcast.
- Amazon is prioritizing entrepreneurial creators whose businesses grow from content and fan communities, not only platform-native influencers.
- Case studies include the Kelce brothers' New Heights hub with an Amazon-built Kelce Clubhouse storefront and Keke Palmer's Amazon Creator Services podcast pact with planned Twitch lives.
- For marketers, the pitch is closing the full customer journey with stronger measurement and impact across Amazon's creator tools.
What did Amazon say about courting creators?
In the latest Variety Strictly Business episode, Sandler and More describe Amazon diving into the creator economy to help talent build businesses and give big brands scalable paths into ad buying.
Sandler said the conversation around creators has shifted dramatically over the last year. Creators once framed mainly as digital-endemic talents from YouTube or Twitch are now seen as culture-shapers who influence how media is consumed and how customers choose products.
That reframing is central to how Listen Amazon courts creators today. Sandler cast them as entrepreneurs at the center of gravity for businesses rooted in content—whether a YouTube channel, Twitch livestream series, podcast, or social series—with extensions that reach beyond any single platform.
Why does this matter for brands and the attention economy?
More said advertisers want Amazon to help close the full loop of the customer journey by linking the company's creator suite to the connective tissue between creators and their fan communities.
Sandler and More's mandate is to make creator-brand work more adaptable and scalable for marketers. That means pairing storytelling with tech so the industry can mature on measurement and impact—not just reach.
For readers tracking streaming and platform deals, more coverage lives in our Streaming & TV Alerts hub, where creator and commerce stories sit alongside the wider attention economy.
Which creator partnerships show Amazon's approach?
The pair pointed to the growing business around Jason and Travis Kelce's podcast New Heights. That show anchors a wider wheel that includes the Amazon-built e-commerce storefront Kelce Clubhouse, selling fan and lifestyle merchandise that is not all tied directly to the NFL siblings.
Keke Palmer has also worked with Amazon Creator Services on her Baby, this is Keke Palmer podcast. That deal has led to further Amazon-verse pacts, including Palmer's plan to go live on Twitch twice a month.
Together, those examples illustrate why brands find the sector appealing: creators can move fluidly across podcasts, merch, livestreams, and community commerce. Amazon's bet is that packaging those options into a connected suite will help marketers scale attention into lasting customer relationships.
Strictly Business is Variety's weekly podcast with industry leaders on the business of media and entertainment, with new episodes debuting every Wednesday.