Amazon and Netflix are two of the major competitors in Hollywood’s streaming wars, but in at least one instance, they’re ready to team up.
Amazon will give advertisers the chance to buy up programmatic advertising inventory from Netflix via its demand-side platform, the latest in a series of similar alliances media companies have been striking in recent months. Amazon unveiled a similar agreement with Disney in June, while Netflix unveiled a partnership with Yahoo.
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“Our goal is to remove the guesswork for advertisers by making it simple to manage all of their TV planning and buying with Amazon Ads,” said Paul Kotas, senior vice president of Amazon Ads, in a statement.
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Such alliances may help as Madison Avenue grapples with a glut of broadband-TV inventory on the market, much of the supply growing due to the entrance of both Amazon and Netflix into ad-supported streaming. This partnership will deal primarily with so-called “programmatic” advertising, or digital inventory that gets bought based on algorithms that define qualities of the specific consumers being sought by a marketer. The hope is that giving marketers the chance to buy a broader set of programmatic inventory from a single venue might reduce the number of commercials they show to the same consumer, and improve the effectiveness of commercials by distributing them with more precision.
Under terms of the agreement, advertisers can use Amazon DSP to gain direct access to Netflix’s premium ad inventory. The offering will be available in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Germany and Australia. The new service will be available starting in the fourth quarter of 2025.
“By integrating Amazon DSP and enabling even more advanced capabilities together over time, we’re making it easier than ever to connect with Netflix’s global engaged audience,” said Amy Reinhard, president of advertising at Netflix.
Netflix already works with The Trade Desk, Google and Microsoft to sell programmatic advertising, but held off from an alliance with Amazon. The pact makes nearly every streaming service and platform available to advertisers who use Amazon’s DSP.
