Amazon's new advertising partnership with Netflix is a pivotal move in its long game to build a 'one-stop shop' for TV advertising. The deal expands Amazon's reach into new living rooms, directly connecting an ad viewed on a streaming service to a product bought in its store. More than inventory, that closed-loop attribution is what makes Amazon a power player in this space.
To get the inside track on the strategy, we spoke with Tommy Burton, VP of Global Partnerships at Pacvue and a former senior leader at Amazon, focusing on Ad Tech Sales and the Amazon DSP.
From rivals to allies: He frames the Netflix deal as the culmination of a long journey where Amazon now regularly forms alliances with direct competitors. The move is part of a wider pattern across its business, from providing fulfillment services for retail rivals like Shein to its recent ad-tech partnerships with Roku, Disney, and ESPN. "Roku was seen as a competitor to Amazon's Fire TV offering, and Netflix is a direct competitor to Prime Video," Burton says. His colleague Melissa Burdick expands on the theme, noting, "It's another example of a broader trend where competitive markets are shifting to become partnerships."
Screen to skillet: While the expanded inventory is a big deal, Burton clarifies that the key advantage of these alliances comes from Amazon's measurement capabilities. Connecting what people watch with what they buy is at the heart of the Amazon DSP's pitch. "Think about the ability to serve a user watching a cooking show a real-time ad for a cast iron skillet, and then directly tie that ad exposure back to a new sale on Amazon," Burton explains. "The fact that you have that closed-loop attribution from the first touchpoint to the final purchase is truly invaluable. That's why retail media is growing so fast—because it's measurable."
The move directly challenges players like The Trade Desk, which built its market dominance on exclusive access to premium TV inventory. For years, that was the key advantage, but the basis of competition now appears to be moving from inventory access toward data ownership. The shift is directly impacting Trade Desk's bottom line as the company reported missing its quarterly earnings target for the first time ever earlier this year.
Leveling the field: "It's a big game changer. The Trade Desk was looked at as the go-to one-stop shop because of its direct access to premium CTV inventory, but that playing field has now been leveled," Burton says. "Amazon has always wanted to be that one-stop shop where you could do all your CTV buying, and now it's actually possible to do that."
The fee fight: Beyond its data advantage, Amazon is also competing aggressively on price, a strategy that some industry reports have characterized as a "loss-leader" tactic to quickly attract media buyers and add another layer of pressure on its rivals. "Advertisers are going to consolidate their buying on the DSP that gives them the lowest fees but also has that connective tissue to drive strong measurement at the end of the day," Burton explains.
Amazon's 'one-stop shop' claim has one massive exception: YouTube. The biggest player in online video remains a walled garden accessible only through Google's own advertising tools, a fact that makes YouTube a major outlier in the CTV space. It's a position Google is actively working to reinforce with recent moves to integrate more retail media data into its campaigns.
An open-ish relationship: But will these alliances last? Burton points to a historical parallel, suggesting the partnerships may be a temporary play for publishers while they build out their own capabilities. "Facebook took this approach in the early days," he says. "They opened up access through the Facebook Exchange, but once their own products were good enough, they closed off third parties. We know Netflix is investing in building its own ad server and ad tech. So this may be a situation where they are open for now, but close in the future once their own products are good enough."
The consequences of the Amazon-Netflix alliance extend far beyond Amazon itself, likely setting off the next wave of industry partnerships as competitors re-evaluate their own alliances. "If I were in the shoes of Walmart, Instacart, or Amazon's other strong competitors, I would be trying to do my own deals with YouTube and Netflix," Burton says. "The goal would be to have that same closed-loop measurement to offer back to clients."
