At Cannes Lions 2025, Amazon Ads and Roku dropped a bombshell that could reshape the competitive landscape of connected TV (CTV) advertising. The two companies unveiled an partnership that integrates Amazon’s demand-side platform (DSP) with Roku’s CTV operating system, forming the largest authenticated CTV footprint in the United States. Advertisers will now be able to reach over 80 million logged-in U.S. households – more than 80% of the domestic CTV market – through a unified pipeline that spans Prime Video, The Roku Channel, and third-party streaming apps like Disney+, Paramount+, Tubi, and Warner Bros. Discovery on the Roku platform. The deal is exclusive in the sense that the Amazon DSP has sole access to logged-in, i.e., authenticated traffic on Roku and its proprietary identity resolution data. Roku’s partnerships with The Trade Desk, Google DV360 and Yahoo! continue for other inventory and data.
A First-Party Powerhouse for Advertisers
From an advertiser’s perspective, this is one of the most consequential steps toward solving one of digital advertising’s gnarliest problems: fragmentation. Brands buying through Amazon’s DSP will now have seamless access to a single, logged-in audience layer across two of the most important CTV ecosystems. That means better frequency capping, deduplicated reach, and deterministic measurement. In early tests, advertisers using the new integration achieved 42% more unique reach, a 27% drop in ad repetition, and tripled their return on ad spend – all without increasing budgets.
By marrying Amazon’s retail and streaming data with Roku’s user identity graph, the platform now supports full-funnel attribution – brands can measure whether a CTV impression on Tubi or Prime Video actually drove a purchase on Amazon.com, a holy grail for performance marketers.
A Strategic Win-Win: Amazon DSP and Roku Get Stronger
This partnership is a strategic coup for Amazon’s DSP, which has long trailed The Trade Desk in terms of flexibility and adoption outside retail-heavy verticals. Roku essentially just handed Amazon the crown of the most addressable DSP. The integration isn’t superficial: it uses a shared identity resolution layer, enabling Amazon DSP to target logged-in Roku users with deterministic precision across apps and devices.
For Roku, the deal is a savvy shift. Rather than building a rival DSP of its own, the company is leaning into its strengths – scale, logged-in data, and a dominant presence on the TV screen – and choosing to partner with best-in-class demand sources. Amazon brings in-demand advertisers, unparalleled shopper insights, and automation tooling, allowing Roku to extend its ad footprint without diluting its platform neutrality. Roku continues to support other DSPs like The Trade Desk and Yahoo, but this partnership elevates Amazon DSP above the rest.
The Trade Desk Just Got Put on Notice
This move is intensifying the competitive threat to The Trade Desk. While Amazon and Roku both emphasize that Roku will remain interoperable, the messaging is clear – Amazon DSP will enjoy a privileged, deep integration that no other DSP can currently match.
The Trade Desk has made significant strides with its own innovations, from Kokai to the Ventura TV OS. But it doesn’t have a logged-in footprint that touches 80% of U.S. CTV households, nor does it control commerce and streaming data in the way Amazon does. With this integration, Amazon can now credibly offer advertisers a unified, data-rich, full-funnel alternative to The Trade Desk’s open-web model – especially as more brands prioritize retail media and closed-loop measurement.
This could trigger a shift in media budgets, particularly among CPG and retail advertisers who have historically depended on Amazon’s ecommerce audience for sales attribution. If the performance numbers from the pilot hold up at scale, some buyers may begin reallocating spend away from The Trade Desk toward Amazon DSP for CTV buys.
Implications for Other CTV Publishers and the Ecosystem
For other CTV publishers, this deal is both a challenge and an opportunity. On one hand, it raises the bar: advertisers will increasingly expect deduplicated reach, deterministic measurement, and outcome-based pricing. On the other hand, publishers participating in the Amazon-Roku ecosystem – including those on Fire TV and Roku OS – could see improved monetization and more premium demand.
But there’s also a strategic warning here. If this model proves successful, CTV publishers that lack scale, login data, or DSP relationships may be left behind. The age of “spray and pray” programmatic CTV is fading. Publishers without tight identity infrastructure or commerce data will struggle to justify premium CPMs, and buyers may consolidate spending into fewer, more measurable platforms.
This also turns up the heat on Netflix and Google TV. Netflix, despite its partnership with Microsoft, lacks the authenticated scale and attribution precision of this combined Amazon-Roku offering. Google, though strong in data, is a distant player in living room time spent compared to Roku. Expect a new wave of alliances, product updates, and perhaps even M&A as platforms race to keep up.
The Bigger Picture: A New Chapter for TV Advertising
CTV advertising is no longer just about replacing linear TV. It’s becoming a performance-driven, data-rich, commerce-aware engine – and this Amazon-Roku partnership is a blueprint for where the entire industry is headed. Logged-in scale, identity resolution, retail data, and AI-powered optimization are now table stakes.
By fusing the reach of the largest CTV OS with the measurement and performance chops of the largest retail media platform, Amazon and Roku have created something rare in digital media: a win for advertisers, publishers, and consumers alike.
It’s not an overstatement to call this the most important CTV adtech deal of 2025. And for everyone else in the ecosystem, it’s time to play catch-up.
About Amazon Advertising: Amazon Advertising is the adtech arm of Amazon, offering performance-driven solutions across retail media, video, and display – powered by the company’s unmatched first-party shopping and streaming data.
About Roku: Roku is the leading TV streaming platform in the U.S. by hours streamed, known for its operating system, The Roku Channel, and advertising tools that deliver scale, simplicity, and measurable outcomes for marketers.
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