Below is a roundup of last week’s notable industry news, with summaries and our opinions. We finally might have a resolution on the horizon for TikTok!? And, another BIG win for Amazon…

Netflix to sell ads through Amazon’s DSP🔒
Source: Ad Age
September 10th, 2025

Summary: Netflix and Amazon are becoming unlikely business partners in advertising, despite being fierce streaming competitors. Amazon's DSP will now have access to Netflix's premium ad inventory, making Amazon a go-to platform for brands wanting to buy ads across virtually all major streaming services.

Netflix has been building its own ad server since initially launching with Microsoft in 2022 and now partners with multiple DSPs, including Google's DV360, The Trade Desk, and Yahoo. Amazon joins this roster as Netflix pushes to double its ad business this year, with the streaming giant expected to hit $2B+ in US ad revenue, per eMarketer.

For Amazon, Netflix represents the final major piece of the streaming puzzle. Amazon's DSP already has deals with Disney, Roku, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery—plus its own Prime Video inventory. This gives Amazon's DSP major reach across the streaming ecosystem.

The numbers show why this matters: Netflix commands 8.8% of US TV viewing time, second only to YouTube, while Prime Video holds 3.8%, according to Nielsen. Amazon generated $15.7B in ad revenue in Q2, up 22% year over year, partly driven by DSP and connected TV growth.

Both companies will use clean rooms and data collaboration to help advertisers optimize performance across their combined inventory in a privacy-safe way. The new service will be available in the US, UK, France, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Japan, and other markets in Q4.

In related news, Amazon continues to bolster its DSP beyond CTV, announcing an expanded integration with SiriusXM that gives advertisers better targeting and analytics on streaming audio inventory.

Opinion: The Amazon wins keep on coming. Getting Netflix—a direct streaming competitor—to plug into its DSP is a statement to the entire industry: Our ad demand is now indispensable. Even our biggest consumer-facing competitors NEED us to prop up their ad businesses.

This Netflix deal represents a final piece to Amazon's CTV story. They already had Disney and Roku. Now with Netflix on board, Amazon can offer advertisers true one-stop shopping across premium streaming inventory (OK, fine, they don’t have YouTube, and that’s big, but they’ve got everything else!). And they can layer in all the juicy purchase data and closed-loop measurement as well. Along with Google (for YouTube), Amazon has essentially become a “must-buy” for streaming television ads. No one else (sorry TTD) currently sits in that “must-buy” category.

Meanwhile, Netflix is following Disney's playbook: maximize the value of your own premium content through ad tech partnerships and skip the operational nightmare of building, or even white-labeling, transactional ad tech. Even if it means striking partnerships with competitors. Doesn’t seem like Netflix will be buying a DSP any time soon.

Speaking of a mature market, Judge Mehta's toothless remedies in the Google search case—letting them keep Chrome and Android while politely asking Google to share search data once in awhile—sent a clear signal that aggressive, dare we say, monopolistic, platform expansion is okay again. Amazon watched Google get a slap on the wrist for being a convicted monopolist and thought: Our turn. Seems like big tech and walled gardens will continue to rule digital advertising for years to come.

But will there be a passing of the torch? Amazon has already surpassed Google in open web CTV monetization, the fastest-growing segment in digital advertising. Google’s ad tech business may not be long for this world, depending on the outcome of their ad tech antitrust case. Google’s search business is eroding due to the growth of AI, and due to retail search on platforms like Amazon. 

So, we must ask: Is Amazon the next Google?

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