We Spent $1,000 on an HVAC Company's Prime Video Ad

We wanted to know what happens when you put a real budget behind a real local business on Prime Video. Not a hypothetical. So we took about $1,000, pointed it at a local heating and cooling company, and ran the campaign for four weeks. Home services is the single biggest slice of the businesses we run ads for, so this is the kind of advertiser we know best. This post walks through exactly what we did, what $1,000 buys at our real platform rates, and what we'd do differently next time. We'll keep the company's name private, but everything else is straight.

The setup

The business: an owner-operated HVAC company. A few trucks, a tight crew, strong reviews, and the usual problem for a home services business. Plenty of happy repeat customers, but thousands of nearby homeowners who had never heard the name and would just Google "AC repair near me" the day their system died.

The budget: about $36 per day for four weeks, putting total spend right around $1,000. That's higher than the median campaign on our platform (which runs about $25 a day), but we wanted enough spend to see clear patterns without blowing past what a real owner would actually consider.

The goal was simple. Get the company in front of local homeowners before the emergency, so when the furnace quits in January, the first name that comes to mind is already theirs. That's a classic awareness job, and it's exactly what streaming TV is good at.

The ad we made

We made the video for free. That's standard on Trusted TV. Every campaign gets a commercial at no cost. The owner sent over a handful of clips and photos: a technician at a condenser unit, a truck in a driveway, a comfortable family at home with the thermostat reading a nice 72. Our AI turned those into a 30-second spot with a voiceover, music, and a clear call to action.

No film crew. No $3,000 production invoice. The whole video was ready the same afternoon. Was it Super Bowl quality? No. Was it good enough to look right between scenes of a prestige drama on Prime Video? Yes. And that matters more than people think. Your ad runs full-screen and non-skippable, in the same stream as ads from brands spending millions. It has to hold up. Ours did.

One thing we got right from the start: we led with the offer, not the logo. The first two seconds put "$59 A/C Tune-Up" on screen over the technician shot. That hook matters because the viewer can't skip, but they can mentally check out. You have to earn those first seconds.

The targeting

Two layers made this campaign precise instead of wasteful:

• ZIP-code radius. We targeted the company's real service area, a radius around the shop that matched how far the trucks actually drive. For a home services business that radius can be wider than a single-location storefront's, but it's still local. You don't want to pay to reach someone two counties over.
• Amazon audiences. We layered on Amazon's first-party data: homeowners, people in-market for home improvement, and related signals. These aren't guesses. They're built from what people actually browse and buy, which keeps the ad off renters' screens and on the homeowners who can actually book a service call.

You don't pick shows or time slots. Amazon's system finds the right households wherever they're watching, whenever they're watching. A Tuesday night thriller, a Saturday afternoon game. Doesn't matter. The targeting follows the person, not the programming.

The numbers

Here's what about $1,000 buys on Prime Video, using our real platform rates.

Let's put that in context. For about a thousand bucks, this HVAC company put a full-screen, non-skippable commercial in front of thousands of local homeowners on premium streaming TV. That's a meaningful chunk of the service area. And the CPM of about $42.50 already bundles in everything: the video production, the targeting setup, the management, the reporting. There's no hidden agency fee sitting on top.

What you don't get is an instant flood of phone calls that afternoon. Streaming TV is an awareness play. The payoff is being the name a homeowner already recognizes when the system finally dies. For a deeper look at what these costs mean, see our full breakdown of streaming TV advertising costs.

What worked

A few things stood out.

• The offer-first hook. Leading with "$59 A/C Tune-Up" instead of a logo or a phone number gave the viewer a reason to keep watching. A specific number beats a vague "quality service" every time.
• Tight geography. Matching the radius to the actual service area meant near-zero waste. Every view was a household the trucks could reach.
• Homeowner audience layering. Amazon's first-party data filtered out renters and people far outside the area. We didn't just reach locals. We reached the right locals.
• The format itself. Non-skippable, full-screen, on a TV. Not a three-second scroll-past in a phone feed. The ad played. The whole thing. Every time.

What we'd change

Honest list.

• We'd A/B the opening hook. The first two seconds decide whether a non-skippable viewer stays mentally present. We'd test the offer on screen ("$59 A/C Tune-Up") against a relatable problem ("AC out in July?") and keep whichever opening held attention better.
• We'd lean harder into the season. "$59 A/C Tune-Up" is great heading into summer. A furnace message hits different in October. Timing the offer to the weather is free leverage we'd use more aggressively.
• We'd run longer. Four weeks is enough to see signal, but awareness compounds. The company's name showing up on the living-room TV every few days for two or three months builds a different level of familiarity, and home services is a "remember them later" purchase.
• We'd split the message. One ad for cheap, urgent tune-ups, another for big-ticket system replacements. Those are different buyers, and the creative can speak to each.

None of these are failures. They're iteration. The first campaign gives you a baseline. The second one gets sharper.

What it means for your business

You don't have to run an HVAC company for this to apply. The mechanics are the same for a plumber, a roofer, an electrician, a landscaper, a dentist, or a gym. A defined local area. An audience you can describe by what they own and shop for. A service that looks good on a big screen. If that's you, this works.

The old version of TV advertising required a media buyer, a production company, a five-figure budget, and a lot of faith. This version requires about $25 a day, a few photos, and 41 minutes. That's the median time from signup to live on our platform.

If you want to understand how the ads actually get delivered, our guide on how Prime Video ads work covers the mechanics. And if you want to see how your campaign would compare to the broader landscape, the 2026 small-business streaming TV benchmark has the full picture.

Or just skip the reading. Make a free video and see what your own ad looks like on Prime Video. It takes minutes, costs nothing, and there's no commitment. Most businesses run about $25 a day.

FAQ

How much does it cost for a home services company to advertise on Prime Video?

Most small businesses on Trusted TV run about $25 a day. For this experiment we ran a heating and cooling company at roughly $36 a day, which put total spend near $1,000 over four weeks. The all-in CPM averages about $42.50 per 1,000 views, and that includes the free commercial and the campaign management.

How many people will a $1,000 Prime Video budget reach?

At our average CPM of about $42.50 per 1,000 views, a $1,000 media budget works out to roughly 23,500 views. Reach is a subset of that, since some households see the ad more than once. For reference, the median four-week campaign on our platform reaches about 5,900 people.

Can I target just my service area?

Yes. Trusted TV uses ZIP-code radius targeting, and you can layer on Amazon audiences like homeowners and people in-market for home improvement. The median campaign targets about a 10-mile radius, so your budget only goes toward households you can actually service.

Is streaming TV worth it for a home services business?

Yes, if your goal is to be the name people already trust when their furnace quits or their roof starts leaking. Streaming TV is an awareness channel: the ad is non-skippable and full-screen, so your whole message lands on the living-room TV in your service area, before the emergency call happens. It is not a click-now channel, and that is fine.

How fast can I get a Prime Video ad live?

The median business on Trusted TV goes from signup to a live campaign in about 41 minutes. That includes the free video we make for you. If you have a question this didn't answer, email support@trustedtv.com.