Build Anticipation for Upcoming Titles with Pre-Orders

Create a detail page before your content goes live. Give customers a reason to come back on launch day.

What Customers See
When your pre-release detail page is live, customers see:

• Content details such as synopsis, genre, and rating (pulled from your parent metadata).
• “Coming soon” messaging (static until you provide an announce date).
• “Watch trailer” button to play your promotional trailer or teaser.
• “Add to Watchlist” button so customers can save the title for later.

Prime Video automatically adds a “COMING SOON” badge to your cover art, title metadata, and search results. You do not need to do anything extra to enable this badge.

What to Deliver

To activate a pre-release detail page, deliver a trailer or teaser as Value-Added Material (VAM).

Important

Your VAM does NOT share a Content ID (SKU) with the parent title. Each trailer or teaser is a separate entity. It needs its own unique Content ID (SKU) and its own set of deliverables. The only link between the VAM and the parent is the ParentContentID field in the VAM MEC. Do not reuse or reference the parent Content ID (SKU) for VAM assets.

For complete VAM deliverables, metadata (MEC), manifest (MMC), avails (EMA), artwork, ratings, and sequencing specifications, see Value-Added Material (VAM).

Parent Deliverables: Movie Pre-Release Page

Parent Deliverables: TV Pre-Release Page

Delivery Order and Matching

Follow this order to avoid ingestion failures:

1. Deliver parent metadata first. Submit your movie or season MEC before your VAM MEC. If VAM metadata arrives first, Prime Video attempts matching for 20 hours. If no match occurs, redeliver the VAM metadata.
2. Match IDs exactly. The ParentContentID in your VAM MEC must match the parent’s ContentID exactly, including case. Any mismatch prevents ingestion.
3. Remember: separate Content IDs (SKUs), linked by reference. The ParentContentID is the sole mechanism connecting your VAM to the parent. If it is incorrect or missing, the VAM will not appear on the parent’s detail page.
For detailed matching and ingestion requirements, see Value-Added Material (VAM).

Avail Start Date

Your VAM avail start date must be earlier than the parent content’s launch date. For example, if your movie launches December 1, the VAM avail must start before December 1.

Show customers exactly when your title launches and how they can watch it.

Important

Prime Video supports enhanced pre-release detail pages for SVOD, AVOD, and FVOD titles only.

What Customers See

Customers with Access (Entitled)

• Launch date information (“Coming soon” with increasing specificity).
• How to watch (for example, “Included with Prime”) displayed under the Watch trailer button.

Customers without Access (Non-Entitled)

• Launch date information.
• How to watch (for example, “Requires a Prime subscription”) with a “Subscribe” call-to-action button.

How to Activate

Meet all standard pre-release detail page requirements first. Then populate the AnnounceDate field in your movie or episode 1 EMA Avail.

Movie EMA Avail

Important

Avails with AnnounceDate set equal to or after the movie Start date will be rejected.

TV Season (Episode 1) EMA Avail

Important

Rejection warning: Avails with AnnounceDate set equal to or after the episode 1 Start date will be rejected.

How Messaging Evolves

Starting on the AnnounceDate, “Coming soon” messaging becomes more specific:

Messaging Overrides

• New trailer added: Adding a new trailer 27 to 0 days before launch changes the messaging. It temporarily shows: “Watch trailer: New series/season/movie Date.”
• Premiere flagged: Flagging a TV series or season as a Premiere updates the messaging. It shows: “Series premiere: Date” (Season 1) or “Season premiere: Date” (Season 2+).

What Customers See

• Next episode title and release date highlighted at the top of the page.
• Additional upcoming episodes in a carousel with “COMING SOON” badging.
• “New episode Thursday” messaging for the next upcoming episode.
• “NEW EPISODE” badge on cover art, in search results, and in metadata.
• “First 3 episodes available” messaging when 2 or 3 episodes launch with episode 1.
• “All episodes available” messaging after all episodes are live.

To avoid spoilers, Prime Video hides the synopsis. It shows an availability date message instead until the episode goes live.

How to Activate

Populate the AnnounceDate field in each individual episode’s EMA Avail.

Quick Tip

Upcoming episodes will not appear until after episode 1 has gone live.

Required Deliverables per Upcoming Episode

Episode EMA Avail Fields

Important

If you do not provide episode artwork, Prime Video defaults to the TV season artwork.

Highlight milestone moments and drive anticipation with high-value messaging.

What Customers See

• Season finale or premiere date messaging on the detail page.
• “SEASON PREMIERE” or “SEASON FINALE” badge once the episode is available.

How to Activate

Include both of the following:

• A value for AnnounceDate in the EMA Avails file.
• A DisplayIndicators attribute in the Episode MEC file.

DisplayIndicators Values

Episode MEC Field

Your VAM content publishes before the main content goes live. Take these steps to prevent accidental exposure of the parent title.

• Use a separate Content ID (SKU). Your VAM is a completely separate catalog entity. Never reuse the parent Content ID (SKU). The only link is ParentContentID in the VAM MEC.
• Keep TitleDisplayUnlimited generic. Use only the VAM type (for example, “Trailer”, “Teaser”). Never include the parent title name. This is the most common source of unintended parent title exposure.
• Apply the same rule to localized metadata. All localized versions of TitleDisplayUnlimited must also exclude the parent title name.
• Check your artwork. If the title has not been publicly announced, keep trailer artwork free of text overlays or title treatments.
• Control timing with AnnounceDate. Do not set AnnounceDate earlier than your intended public announcement window.
• Deliver parent metadata first. This ensures proper matching and prevents orphaned VAM from appearing without context.
• Verify ParentContentID. Double-check that it matches the parent exactly (case-sensitive). Mismatches can cause VAM to fail ingestion or associate with the wrong title.