Interview with Hannah Broadhurst, Head of Entertainment & Content Marketing at Amazon
Back in 2013 was around the time I first met Hannah Broadhurst. We were both studying at Georgetown. Well she was studying, I was probably skipping class (don’t do that). Since then Hannah has become one of my best friends, and married my high school buddy. Up until last year, my wife (who is weirdly from the same hometown as Hannah) and I lived a block away.
I only share those details because I’ve truly gotten a front row seat to witness her incredible journey for the last decade plus.
I'll let her share the deets, but check out this resume!!
That type of rise to a leadership role often changes people in the worst ways, but throughout her ascension, she's continued to be one of the kindest, most humble and hardest-working people I know.
Read below, and prepare to be inspired..
AvA: You started out as a production assistant at Jimmy Kimmel Live. What advice do you have for those starting out in the industry in that role?
Broadhurst: Always be doing something to add value. Kimmel shared this lesson with a group of PAs during my time at the show. He said that as a young waiter, his manager taught him to always stay busy: if you see a dirty table, wipe it down.
I took his cleaning example way too literally and one day found myself scrubbing a stack of French Onion Soup ramekins for an overwhelmed Crafty. This was nowhere in my PA job description. But in lending a helpful, efficient hand, I’d always make a new friend on the crew, have a conversation with someone in the studio, or unlock a new opportunity.
Lean into paying your dues on set with disproportionate enthusiasm. Some tasks will be tedious, but they will put you in rooms and around people you wouldn’t otherwise access. Embrace those moments with a contagiously good attitude, people will notice.
AvA: Did you consider working as an assistant at a talent agency?
Broadhurst: I technically worked in the ICM mailroom for about five days. I started on a Monday and by that Friday had two offers: an Unscripted desk (lucky timing) and a new offer at JASH, a small digital comedy production company. I chose JASH. It was the fun choice. I figured if I spent most of my free time obsessing over comedy, I should probably follow that curiosity. The ICM HR manager who had just processed my paperwork wasn’t thrilled, but no one else cared. It was the right call. At JASH, I learned scrappy production, digital distribution, how to identify interesting talent, and spot repeatable, scalable formats. What felt like a detour at the time looks a lot like the playbook now.
AvA: Were you a good assistant during your time at JASH?
Broadhurst: I’d like to think so. I tried to anticipate needs and solve problems before they were even noticed, quietly smoothing things out. I was present, engaged, reliable*, and kept a good sense of humor, which was essential since we were working in comedy after all. On harder days, I’d remind myself of the almost unbelievable proximity to comedy legends I deeply admired. I got to support the inception of Norm MacDonald Live, a video podcast so ahead of its time. Being around that process sharpened my instincts for producing talent and developing formats which I lean on to this day.
*I did call in sick the day after Coachella, which my former boss, who I’m still in touch with, reminds me of to this day. So, mostly reliable. If you’re going to Coachella, put your PTO requests in NOW!
AvA: From there, you transitioned to work in entertainment marketing at Lyft in it’s pre IPO phase. Tell me a bit about your experience shifting to the brand side.
Broadhurst: It was 2017 and the brand was riding a huge wave of good will. Our CEO famously said he never wanted to hear the word Uber on television again, so the small team I was on got to work embedding Lyft into culture. We had Issa Rae driving for Lyft across two seasons of Insecure, Denzel Washington behind the wheel in Equalizer 2. These weren’t regular product placements, they were intentional alignments with talent and moments audiences already cared about deeply that resonated with the brand’s ethos. We created digital originals like Undercover Lyft, Billy on the Street with FunnyorDie and Lyft Legend with Kevin Hart. We were experimenting with what brand-funded entertainment could be before other brands even knew how to consider an investment in the space or access the opportunities.
Working on a smart team inside Lyft’s marketing org was also my crash course in brand marketing. Our mandate was to earn cultural relevance, not buy attention. On the brand side, you’re not just making content, you’re shaping perception, building emotional connection, and using entertainment as a growth lever. It’s just as strategic and powerful as it is fun.
AvA: At Amazon, you’ve helped scale digital entertainment into a measurable media channel. What did that transformation require?
Broadhurst: It started with reframing entertainment from a campaign tactic to an always-on channel. Once you make that shift, you start thinking about storytelling and cultural impact first: slates instead of one-offs, formats instead of executions, and scalable franchises instead of individual hits. From there, it becomes about building the operating system behind the work: a clear content strategy, greenlight criteria, repeatable format development, and measurement frameworks that allow you to learn and iterate.
That structure creates space for creative risk while still driving accountability. Our priority at Amazon was to create a slate of creator-led formats like Celebrity Substitute, Boy Room, and Girl Room that deepen audience connection while making the brand feel inevitable in the story, not incidental to it. Ultimately, the goal isn’t just to make shows, but to build a content engine that compounds cultural relevance and brand impact over time. When you get formats, amazing partnerships, and clear measurement right, entertainment stops being experimental and starts behaving like a true media channel.
AvA: You’ve worked across entertainment, brand marketing and in tech. What do you think the future of entertainment and marketing looks like?
Broadhurst: I think one of the biggest shifts is the blurring of the lines between entertainment and marketing. Culture moves incredibly quickly now. Trends, formats, and new voices emerge constantly, and that momentum is happening inside entertainment rather than traditional advertising environments. Because of that, the brands that will win in the next five years won’t just advertise around entertainment ecosystems; they’ll build within them by co-creating stories and worlds that audiences genuinely want to spend time with.
Marketing starts to look less like a brand showing up for a big campaign moment and then disappearing, and more like a continuous engagement with audiences through evolving formats and franchises that live where culture is already happening. For that to work, brands also need a very clear sense of identity, what they stand for and who they serve, so that when they participate in culture, it feels natural and additive rather than like an interruption. There is a real opportunity for brands, platforms, and creative partners to build the next generation of entertainment together.
AvA: If you could talk to someone right now who feels stuck and quietly panicking that they’re “behind,” what’s the one thing you’d tell them?
Broadhurst: I’d remind them that feeling “behind” is almost a rite of passage in this industry. Even people who look incredibly established are quietly questioning whether they’re on the right path. The pace of change and comparison makes that hard to avoid. The most helpful thing you can do is reach out to your peers. Not for networking, but for perspective and collaboration. Those conversations normalize the uncertainty and often turn into relationships that last your entire career.
The industry is much smaller and more interconnected than it seems early on. I’d also encourage them to zoom out. Careers are not linear, they’re accumulative. The skills, relationships, and instincts you’re building in less obvious moments tend to compound later in ways you can’t fully see at the time. Feeling behind often just means you’re in the middle of something that hasn’t revealed its value yet.
Hannah Broadhurst is the Head of Entertainment & Content Marketing at Amazon, where she leads creator-led format development and entertainment strategy. Previously, she held marketing roles at Lyft during its pre-IPO growth phase and began her career in production at Jimmy Kimmel Live and JASH, where she worked on the launch of Norm MacDonald Live
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