Amazon Buys Super Bowl Ad Slot To Promote John Krasinski-Led Prime Series

Amazon is shelling out millions for a Super Bowl LII ad to promote its latest original series, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.

The series, which is based on Clancy’s popular spy novels starring protagonist Jack Ryan, will debut on Amazon Prime Video this August 31. Starring The Office’s John Krasinski in the title role, the series will portray his character taking on his first CIA field mission. Other stars include Wendell Pierce (The Wire) and Abbie Cornish (Candy), with Carlton Cuse acting as executive producer and showrunner.

Set to clips of past presidents’ speeches, from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, the John Ryan Super Bowl trailer aims to take advantage of “the scope and the scale of the series coupled with the popularity of Tom Clancy’s novels,” said Amazon Studios head of marketing, Mike Benson, in a statement. Watch it for yourself:

Amazon’s Big Game ad for the series will run for 60 seconds on NBC. Thirty-second Super Bowl slots on the network are going for upwards of $5 million this year, so it’s safe to say Amazon is parting with more than that to show off its new action series to the game’s over 100 million viewers. (Last year, around 111.3 million tuned in for Super Bowl LI on Fox, according to Nielsen.)

This is the online retail giant’s first time using a Super Bowl ad slot to showcase its Prime Video service. Amazon first advertised during the Big Game in 2016 with a minute-long commercial for voice assistant Alexa that featured Jason Schwartzman, Alec Baldwin, former NFL player Dan Marino, and Missy Elliot.

In addition to the Jack Ryan trailer this year, Amazon will run another Alexa ad. This 90-second spot will feature CEO Jeff Bezos along with celebrities like chef Gordon Ramsey, Cardi B, and Rebel Wilson.

Ever since losing out to Netflix and Hulu at the Emmy Awards in September, Amazon Studios has been trying to up its original series game by touting big names like Seth Rogen, Maya Rudolph, and Fred Armisen. Krasinski-led Jack Ryan’s appearance in a Super Bowl ad slot should certainly help put Amazon Studios series top of mind for many streamers.