Amazon has become a growing threat to digital ad incumbents Meta and Google, attracting billions of dollars a quarter from brands that are trying to reach the masses of consumers who swarm to the site on a daily basis.

But it’s no longer just about digital ad dollars, and Amazon’s inaugural presence at this year’s Upfronts events is the clearest indication that the e-commerce giant is prepared to take on traditional media.

On Tuesday, Amazon gave its first presentation during the Upfronts, an annual advertising sales event featuring media heavyweights like Disney and Comcast‘s NBCUniversal. Amazon’s Prime Video and other streamers would historically be featured at Newfronts, which is digital media’s take on Upfronts. But internet video platforms have had a bigger presence on the main stage as Netflix and Google’s YouTube joined the party in recent years.

Amazon is making a fresh pitch to the ad industry as it nears a critical turning point. Advertisers continue to spend more on digital than linear TV. This year, they’re projected to spend roughly $18.8 billion on traditional TV ads during Upfronts, an increase of 1% from a year earlier, according to eMarketer. By contrast, digital advertising during Upfronts and Newfronts is forecast to grow 32% to about $16.5 billon this year.

More ad-supported streaming platforms have also entered the ring, providing advertisers yet another alternative to traditional TV, where viewing has shrunk. Amazon announced it would begin showing ads on its Prime Video streaming service in January, adding to its stable of ad offerings like free streaming TV service Freevee, and Twitch, its livestreaming site popular among gamers.

The company stands to generate up to $3 billion in U.S. ad revenue this year from an estimated 58 million households who will see commercials in Prime Video content, TD Cowen analysts wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday. The firm has a buy rating on Amazon’s stock.

“When I joined Amazon nearly four years ago, the No. 1 question all of you asked was, ‘When are you going to show ads on Prime Video?'” Alan Moss, Amazon’s vice president of global ad sales, said onstage. “Well, at Amazon we like to deliver for our customers. By introducing ads on Prime Video, we’ve created the largest ad-supported premium streaming service in the world.”

The company said its ad-supported streaming content now reaches 175 million U.S. viewers every month, up from more than 120 million in 2021. It also disclosed that Prime Video counts 200 million global customers, 115 million of whom are in the U.S.

Amazon’s advertising business still primarily makes money from charging brands to promote their products across its properties in a variety of ways, from sponsored listings on its website to ad spots on Fire TV streaming devices. Revenue in the ad business climbed 24% in the first quarter to $11.8 billion.

Amazon has also spent billions on live sports programming in a bid to attract more streaming viewers and ad dollars. The company recently reaffirmed its commitment to live sports, snagging the exclusive rights to a National Football League playoff game next season.

Amazon executives on Tuesday tried to win over advertisers with a packed programming slate, and a cavalcade of celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal to tout new original content. The company also emphasized its “billions of customer signals” that allow brands to target ads.

Paul Kotas, who runs Amazon’s ad business, said the company “made a big bet” 18 years ago when it first rolled out ads on its website. He showed how the business has evolved to include digital video ads on Prime Video.

“We’ve been working towards this moment for years, and that’s why being here on stage today means so much,” Kotas said. “And of course, at Amazon, we’re never done innovating.”

— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman contributed to this report.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

WATCH: Advertising volume won’t go down, it’ll just shift

British computing startup Raspberry Pi on Wednesday said it plans to list in London, in a rare win for the U.K. stock market.

Raspberry Pi, which makes tiny single-board computers, is considering an initial public offering on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. In a filing, the company said it plans to publish a registration document to make disclosures about its business as part of the IPO process.

The IPO is a win for the London stock market, which has been struggling to attract high-growth tech companies. A slew of major U.K. tech firms have chosen New York over London for their listings over the last year.

British chip designer Arm listed in September 2023 on the Nasdaq in New York, in a major blow to London’s bid to attract large tech listings. More recently, British retail tech pioneer Ocado has faced calls from investors to move its listing from London to New York, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Sky News reported on Tuesday that Klarna is eyeing up New York as the preferred venue for a highly anticipated IPO slated for early 2025. A Klarna spokesperson said the company has nothing to share on the location of an eventual IPO.

The IPO serves as an opportunity for the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the firm’s majority shareholder and a charity promoting the study of computer science, to double down on its “outstanding work to enable young people to realise their potential through the power of computing,” said Raspberry Pi CEO and founder Eben Upton.

Raspberry Pi produces the iconic line of small single-board computers of the same name, which are roughly the size of a credit card and have been used to build everything from high-altitude balloons to small radio-controlled submarines.

The company is backed by Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony and British chip designer Arm.

Upton established Raspberry Pi in 2012 to make computing more accessible to young people, gaining traction among hobbyists and teachers in the early days. The company has since become a much larger business, with sales of 60 million units in over 70 countries to date. Around 72% of the firm’s unit sales come from commercial customers embedding its products into factories or consumer devices.

Raspberry PI said Wednesday that it posted revenues of $265.8 million in the year ending December 2023, with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization reaching $43.5 million.

SHANGHAI — Chinese tech company Baidu said Wednesday its Apollo Go robotaxi arm expects to turn profitable next year.

The projection comes as Elon Musk has emphasized his plans to build up Tesla’s robotaxi efforts amid a decline in revenue. 

Baidu is one of the major players in China’s nascent robotaxi market and received permission from a Beijing city district to begin charging fares in November 2021.

While most of the cars still have a human staff worker inside for safety, the same Beijing district officially let Baidu and start-up Pony.ai charge fares for robotaxi rides with no staff in the vehicle in September 2023. 

Apollo Go operated about 839,000 rides in the last three months of 2023, according to Baidu’s latest earnings report. The company is due to release quarterly results Thursday.

About 45% of the orders in the fourth quarter in Wuhan were fully driverless, up from 40% the prior quarter, the company said.

In addition to growing usage and reducing labor costs per ride, Baidu is making the cars cheaper.

Baidu on Wednesday announced Apollo’s 6th generation robotaxi will cost around 200,000 yuan ($28,169) — or less than half that of the prior generation, the company said.

This year, Baidu plans to deploy 1,000 of those 6th generation robotaxis in the city of Wuhan, where the company already operates a number of vehicles without any human staff inside.

“With decreasing costs and increasing orders, Apollo Go’s unit economics (UE) is nearing break-even, expected to achieve balance in the fourth quarter of 2024 and turn profitable by 2025,” Baidu said in a press release.

Rival robotaxi operator Pony.ai is preparing for a listing outside mainland China, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission website in late April.

Others in the auto industry remain more skeptical about fully driverless cars, which require broad regulatory approval in order to operate.

Xpeng Vice Chairman Brian Gu told reporters last month he didn’t expect robotaxis to be a real business for at least five years.