Amazon is intensifying efforts to position its demand-side platform (DSP) as a major player for buying ads across the open web, not just on Amazon-owned inventory. This holiday season, the company is presenting its DSP as a key tool for advertisers seeking broad reach and improved performance.
A recent pitch deck circulated among agencies highlights Amazon’s partnerships with publishers like Hearst and premium media owners such as Netflix, NBCUniversal, Disney, and Spotify. These partnerships allow Amazon to claim monthly reach covering 86% of the U.S. population—over 300 million people.
However, reach alone doesn’t distinguish Amazon from competitors like The Trade Desk, as many inventory deals are non-exclusive. Success depends on Amazon’s ability to deliver better ad buying performance, a challenge it aims to meet by leveraging data signals from its retail business and ad tech collaborators including PubMatic, Index Exchange, and TripleLift.
CTV (connected TV) advertising forms a core part of Amazon’s growth strategy, directly competing with The Trade Desk, which derives nearly half its revenue from this sector. Industry analysts note that Amazon’s timing could capitalize on The Trade Desk’s current focus on publisher offerings, opening opportunities on the buy side.
Amazon also promotes lower fees on its DSP platform, claiming programmatic guaranteed deal fees as low as 1%, compared to the industry average near 4%. Media agency executives report Amazon’s platform can be 4% to 6% more cost-efficient than The Trade Desk, though exact figures are not disclosed.
Accessibility improvements include reducing the minimum spend to open a DSP account from $50,000 a month to just a few dollars, making the platform available to smaller advertisers.
The integration of AI tools enables marketers to combine their own data with Amazon’s extensive signal collection to optimize brand and performance campaigns. Additionally, Amazon highlights its measurement and attribution tools—the Amazon Ad Tag and Conversion API—which help track and connect ad performance across web and apps.
CTV remains a crucial focus, especially since Amazon’s launch of ads on Prime Video last January, contributing to the overall growth in advertising revenue. In Q3, Amazon generated $17.7 billion from ads, a 24% increase compared to the same period last year.
Amazon declined to comment on these developments. The Trade Desk did not respond to requests for comment.